ORLANDO Fla. Darden Restaurants veteran Doug Doran confirmed Monday that he has left Group Four Restaurants, the development company he joined last December after working for the Red Lobster parent for 11 years.
Doran said he left Group Four in March because of the deteriorating economic environment, especially in Florida, where the company was based. He has since signed on as director of operations for celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse's three Florida restaurants.
Doran had joined forces late last year with Kevin Azzouz, a real estate developer in the region who was Group Four’s primary investor. The pair had intended to develop at least five restaurants in a 300,000-square-feet center in MetroWest, a planned Renaissance-Italian-style district in the southwest Orlando market. MetroWest was also meant to be a testing ground for an entertainment district concept that Doran and Azzouz had hoped to roll out to other parts of the country.
To date, however, the only finished concept was a makeover of a former Dan Marino's Tavern on the Lake, which reopened in February under the name Tavern on the Lake.
“The terrible market in Orlando currently and the overall tough banking situation made it not a friendly financial environment for gaining funding. It was just very clear that the timing is not right,” Doran said. “Tavern on the Lake, however, is profitable.”
Doran said that he and Azzouz parted ways amicably, and that four other restaurants are “ready to go” once the economic environment changes.
“The restaurants, menus and training packages are all designed. We’ve done everything but the hiring and the construction,” he said. “When the economy brightens, these restaurants will be good to go.”
However, a report Monday in the Orlando Sentinel indicated that Doran's former partner Azzouz faces foreclosure lawsuits related to condo developments in Florida.
Doran joined Darden in 1996 and helped launch its Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52 concepts. Before his tenure at Darden, he worked for several eateries in California.