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With a twang resonant of Southern aristocracy, a distinguished mane of white hair and a button-down, gentlemanly persona, William B. Darden appeared more like a studio extra from "Gone With the Wind" than the pioneer of casual seafood dining in the United States.
But underneath his antebellum exterior, the late founder of Red Lobster was a shrewd, calculating entrepreneur, who was satisfied with nothing less than perfection -- particularly in operations and customer service.
His idea of opening a chain of affordable seafood restaurants -- hovering between the quick-service and white-tablecloth segments -- eventually spawned the eponymously named Darden Restaurants Inc., the Orlando, Fla.-based, casual-themed conglomerate boasting more than 1,200 units and $3 billion in systemwide sales.
The 715-unit Red Lobster chain is accorded the distinction of introducing many parts of the United States to seafood. Red Lobster and its 480-unit sibling, The Olive Garden, are the first- and third-largest casual-themed restaurant chains in the country.
"Bill had an interesting mix of behaviors; he was very tough but very fair," said Joe R. Lee, who is chairman of Darden Restaurants Inc., and served as the first-ever manager of the inaugural Red Lobster unit.
Darden augmented his meticulous attention to detail with patience as a teacher. Many former and present General Mills/Darden restaurant executives were weaned on his operating fundamentals.
"He was a mentor to me and to a lot of others," Lee explained. "Bill took a lot of us under his wing and led by example."
Inside his restaurants no operations or customer-service detail escaped Darden's discerning eye. If things were not up to his stringent standards, some unsuspecting unit manager would bear the brunt of a vintage Darden lecture.
"I remember one day he came and told me that my night crew hadn't done a proper job in cleaning up," Lee remembered. "And I heard about it from Bill. He told me we were not to leave again until the place was spotless. He even went out and bought several toothbrushes so we could get...