The case is set in the early 1990s when General Mills was getting its strategic house together in anticipation of an initial public offering of its restaurant division - what is now known today as Darden Restaurants, Inc. The General Mills Restaurant Group was comprised of Red Lobster, The Olive Garden, and the Company's most recent concept, China Coast. With stagnating growth of its cash-cow concepts Red Lobster (seafood) and the Olive Garden (Italian), shareholders were anxious for the company to deliver the next big multi-unit casual dining concept. Management created the China Coast concept to fill this need. China Coast was an attempt to consolidate and standardized the large, highly fragmented full-service casual dining Chinese restaurant market.
Orginally Published InYang, S. S. (2021). China Coast: A case on multi-unit restaurant feasibility. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Cases, 9(1), 54-62.