Aztecas Design President Gabriela Grabowski remembers her humble beginnings walking the streets of downtown San Diego with a small sample of her hand-blown glassware trying to make a sale. Backed by her faith and relentless spirit, she was not going to quit until she reached her goals.

Now, nearly 30 years later, her company still embodies her entrepreneurial spirit and stands as an example of what she has accomplished as an inspiring female, minority leader. Her drive to champion other women to reach their goals is what motivates her professionally.

“There are challenges that come from being a female especially with a strong accent in the business world,” said Grabowski. “I would like for other women to see what they can do regardless of what are the disadvantages. I encourage all women to take the first step and just do it.”

Grabowski recently celebrated her 24th anniversary as a supplier with Darden. She still remembers talking to a food and beverage representative from Darden at a trade show two decades ago. He loved her products and the rest was history. In the years since, her company has supplied the highest quality, hand-blown glassware and accessories for brands like LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze and Olive Garden.

“I could say a lot about Gabriela’s dedication and commitment to our company. Aztecas Design has played an instrumental role in our brand’s beverage initiatives, allowing us to showcase our margaritas in high quality, crafted glassware. But it’s Gabriela’s heart that truly allows her to stand out. She is passionate about her work, her family, and giving back to her community. Gabriela was one of the first suppliers I met when I came to Darden in 2001, and I’m proud that Aztecas has been a partner for all of my 20 years at Darden,” said Keith Kelly, Vice President, Supply Management and Purchasing.

Several years later, Grabowski’s daughter came walking down those same downtown San Diego streets as a student at the University of San Diego. This time, she and a friend were heading to volunteer at the homeless shelter. They quickly realized that there was not much they could do because the funding was not there to help the homeless population.

Grabowski opened her heart, and with her two daughters, founded a non-profit called Pancake Peeps. The mission of the organization was to give aid to the homeless, but more importantly, make them feel human again. The three women host 360 homeless people every weekend for a pancake breakfast, which equates to more than 18,000 a year. She does it because it makes her happy, but to each individual, it gives them hope for a better future.

“Every one of the people we feed will have one additional meal than they had before. We aren’t trying to solve the problem for the whole world. We are just doing what we can to help them today.” To her, the fight against hunger can be won as long as everyone does a little bit.

“I believe if we all team together, we can stop hunger. But we should not focus on what we can’t do. We should focus on what we can do.”

Providing guests with the option to carry their favorite dishes home if they choose, Ecopax LLC has provided Darden Restaurants with quality To Go containers since 2017. The company was founded by Peter Wong in 1998 as United Plastics Group in Somerset, NJ with only 45,000 square feet of manufacturing space, producing foam carry-out products for the foodservice industry.

With relentless grit, he was able to overcome language, cultural and countless other barriers to grow his company and add an extension of United Plastics – Ecopax. As of today, Ecopax is a member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council and features two additional facilities, totaling 400,000 square feet and offering a diverse collection of carry-out products made from polystyrene, polypropylene and paper.

In May 2017, Ecopax shipped their very first mineral filled polypropylene products to Darden. Two years later, the company began to support Darden’s newest brand – Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen – and replaced foam carry-out containers with a full line of chef-approved, polypropylene containers.

As the relationship between Ecopax and Darden grew, Ecopax expanded its commitment to sustainability efforts as a result of its supplier partnership. Beginning in 2021, the company committed to using carbon-free electricity only for all Darden products. With carbon-free electricity, Ecopax can avoid 30,029 metric tons of carbon dioxide entering into the atmosphere. This is equivalent to removing 6,322 passenger cars from the road or planting 24,614 acres of carbon sequestering trees.

According to the Ecopax team, “Darden has given a humble minority company the platform to innovate boldly. We couldn’t have journeyed this far without their partnership.”

Omar, Inc., has been a strategic partner to Darden for more than a decade providing gloves, bags, liners and trays for use in Darden’s family of restaurants. Established in 1997 by Dr. Willie L. WIlson, the company is a 100% minority-owned, SBA and MBE-certified business, distributing and directly importing a variety of safety supplies and equipment.

During the pandemic, their support of Darden increased significantly. The Omar team stepped up with supplies of additional gloves to help us maintain our high sanitation standards, and they provided a significant amount of disposable masks to allow our restaurant teams to quickly provide contactless, curbside takeout in a safe manner.

“We have built a longstanding relationship with Omar,” said Mindy Badolato, Darden’s Manager of Purchasing. “We knew that as our restaurants were adapting to a new environment caused by the pandemic, the entire Omar team would be ready provide the resources we needed and when we needed them the most.”

Ragozzino has supported Darden since 1999, initially providing lasagna layers to Olive Garden. They continued to develop new products over the years and were presented with Darden's Supplier of the Year award in 2008. Beyond Olive Garden, Ragozzino has provided spinach dip to Yard House and risotto to both LongHorn Steakhouse and Seasons 52.

Ragozzino credits its growth over the years to Darden, which mentored them in becoming certified as a Woman-Owned Business, a certification that has helped them tremendously. In return, Emilia Springett, senior director of purchasing at Darden, says the popular core and limited-time offer menu items created by Ragozzino have contributed significantly to Olive Garden’s success.

According to Nancy Ragozzino, president of Ragozzino, “I believe the level of trust that we have with Darden is pretty unique in our industry. There are always new opportunities coming our way, some more challenging than others, and Darden always seems to trust us to turn a chef’s idea into a menu item.”

Red Chamber Co. (RCC) has been a trusted and valued partner to Darden Restaurants for nearly 40 years continues to be a family owned and operated company in the heart of Los Angeles, California with its primary line of business in seafood harvesting, processing and distribution. 

Starting as a shrimp distributor with one delivery vehicle, RCC has grown to be one of the largest seafood companies in the Western Hemisphere. RCC has seafood production plants in California, Florida and Georgia, a series of cold storages throughout the United States and regional sales offices in more than 20 different states. In Prince Edward Island, Canada, RCC operates six wharfs, two processing plants and cold storage facilities. In addition, RCC has its own fleet of fishing vessels in California, Central and South America where it harvests and processes seafood products for a wide array of customers.

At each stage of the seafood production process, from harvesting, cold storage, and transporting, RCC has its own direct ownership and operation.  With its own fleet of fishing vessels and its own transportation fleet, RCC now has the ability to handle product from harvest to the customer’s door. RCC serves with one driving goal, “the customer comes first.”  

This level of dedication has been recognized by Darden on numerous occasions with awards like Darden’s “Supplier of the Year Award” in 2015.    

RCC continues, as it did nearly 50 years ago, to be a minority owned and operated company and is proud to be certified as a minority vendor by the National Minority Supplier Development Council.