Darden Restaurants, Inc.

Your lines have been placed on a listen only until the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star one on your touch tone phone. The conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Kevin Kalacak. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Thank you, Jess. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating on today's call. Joining me on the call today are Gene Lee, Darden's chairman and CEO, Rick Cardenas, President and COO, and Raj Vinam, CFO. As a reminder, comments made during this call will include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. Those risks are described in the company's press release, which was distributed this morning, and in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We are simultaneously broadcasting a presentation during this call, which is posted in the investor relations section of our website at Darden.com. Today's discussion and presentation includes certain non-GAAP measurements and reconciliations of those measurements are included in the presentation. Any reference to pre-COVID when discussing second quarter performance is a comparison to the second quarter of fiscal 2020. This is because last year's results are not meaningful due to the pandemic's impact on the business and the limited capacity environment that we operated in during the second quarter of fiscal 21. We plan to release fiscal 2022 third quarter earnings on Thursday, March 24th, before the market opens, followed by a conference call. This morning, Jean will share some brief remarks, Rick will give an update on our operating performance, and Raj will provide more detail on our financial results and an update to our fiscal 2022 financial outlook. Now, I'll turn the call over to Gene.

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. As you saw from our release this morning, we had a fantastic quarter. Sales trends remained strong throughout the quarter as all our brands stayed laser-focused on creating memorable guest experiences. Despite the toughest inflationary environment we've seen in years, we achieved strong, profitable sales growth. Our ongoing success navigating the pandemic is a testament to the power of our strategy driven by our back-to-basics operating philosophy and the strength of our four competitive advantages. Our disciplined commitment to our strategy has allowed us to manage this environment well while returning significant cash to our shareholders. People and product will continue to be our focus, and Rick will share more details about that in a minute. Additionally, our teams have done a great job managing inflation effectively and Raj will provide more color on that during his remarks. The holidays are the busiest time of year for our restaurant teams as they delight our guests and help create lasting holiday memories. This time of year is also a great reminder that being of service is at the heart of our business, which is why we're committed to serving our guests, our team members, and our communities. One of the ways we serve our communities is by helping fight hunger. This fiscal year, through our foundation, Darden provided $2.5 million to help our partners at Feeding America add refrigerated trucks for 15 food banks to support mobile pantry programs, and distribution in communities facing high rates of food insecurity. We are uniquely positioned to help, and by leveraging our scale and relationships with partners like Penske Truck Leasing and Lineage Logistics, we're proud to do our part to help get food into the hands of people who need it. On behalf of our management team and the board of directors, I want to thank our team members for everything you do to serve our guests and our communities, and I wish you all a wonderful holiday season. Finally, earlier today we announced that effective May 30th, Rick will succeed me as chief executive officer and will join Darden's board of directors. This is the right time for this transition, and I look forward to continuing to serve as Darden's chairman. Our company is in a clear position of strength, And this is also the right time for me and my family. I'm excited for Rick, who's been a tremendous partner over the last seven years and is one of the best strategic thinkers I've worked alongside. Our brands have tremendous opportunity ahead of them, and Rick is the perfect person to lead Darden into the next chapter. On behalf of the board, Darden's management team, and our 170,000 team members, I want to congratulate Rick and wish him all the best. Rick.