Darden Restaurants - Bahama Breeze

The Company
Darden Restaurants, Inc. is the world’s largest corporate-owned and operated restaurant company with almost $6.7 billion in annual sales.  Darden, through subsidiaries, employs approximately 180,000 employees; the company also owns and operates more than 1,700 restaurants including Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and LongHorn Steakhouse.

The Task
Since 1996 when Bahama Breeze first opened its doors in Orlando, Florida, the Caribbean inspired restaurant was setting records in the casual dining industry. Owned by Darden Restaurants, Bahama Breeze expanded its creative and diverse cuisine to 32 restaurant locations throughout the United States. Because the restaurant experienced extraordinary growth and success in such a short time, inconsistencies arose in the corporate identity.  Addison Whitney was hired to evaluate the corporate visual brand identity including the logo, color, image, interior décor and collateral usage in order to appropriately recommend visual brand and strategic options for a visual brand consolidation.

The Addison Whitney Solution

Research & Analysis
Addison Whitney traveled to several Bahama Breeze restaurant locations in Florida and Georgia to identify and assess the various interpretations of the corporate identity. From the research and materials collected Addison Whitney found the logo had over nine color, placement and design variations throughout the Bahama Breeze collateral. Design strategy recommendations regarding the usage of the logo were presented to the Bahama Breeze team and incorporated into the overall visual design strategy.

Visual Branding
Addison Whitney recommended a logo evolution, which would provide the opportunity to establish a stronger corporate identity portfolio while still maintaining the positive aspects of the logo. Addison Whitney also established the graphic standards content for the Bahama Breeze brand visualization guide.