You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: Joining me on the call today are Gene Lee, Darden's CEO; and Rick Cardenas, CFO.
We plan to release fiscal 2021 third quarter earnings on March 25 before the market opens followed by a conference call.
Rick will then provide more detail on our financial results and share our outlook for the third quarter.
And then Gene will share some closing comments.
As -- we continue to operate in a very fluid environment, and I was pleased with our ability to once again deliver strong profitability in an unpredictable sales environment.
Total sales from continuing operations were $1.7 billion, a decrease of 19.4%, same-restaurant sales decreased 20.6% and diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.74.
The last two weeks of the quarter negatively impacted our same-restaurant sales by approximately 200 basis points as we quickly went from 97% of our dining rooms being opened in the middle of the quarter to only 80% being open at the end of the quarter.
During the quarter, we remain focused on four key priorities.
The health and safety of our team members and guests, in restaurant execution in the complex operating environment, deploying technology to improve the guest experience and transforming our business model.
The health and safety of our team members and guest has always been our top priority.
We continue to follow latest guidance from the CDC as well as our own enhanced safety protocols to create a safe environment for everyone.
This includes daily team member health monitoring, requiring mask for every team member, enhanced cleaning procedures and social distancing protocols.
I'm proud of the commitment our teams make every day to keep our guests and each other safe.
Second, our restaurant teams remain focused on our Back-to-Basics operating philosophy to drive restaurant level execution that results in great guest experiences whether our guests are dining with us or ordering curbside to-go.
Our teams have been operating in this environment for 10 months, and they have become very adept at adjusting to the ever-changing COVID restrictions, but it's still not easy.
That's why we remain committed to our simplified operations, including streamline menus, processes and procedures which continue to strengthen our execution and our guest satisfaction metrics confirm that our restaurant teams are doing a great job delivering exceptional guest experience in this challenging environment.
Third, we continue to deploy technology to improve the guest experience.
Our brands benefit from the technology platform Darden provides, allowing each of them to compete more effectively by harnessing the power of our digital tools, including the 25 million email addresses in our marketing database.
During the quarter, Olive Garden LongHorn Steakhouse launched refresh websites and all our brands continue to use their digital storefronts effectively.
More than 55% of our off-premise sales during the quarter were fully digital transactions where guest ordered and paid online.
And at Olive Garden, 20% of our total sales for the quarter were digital.
During the quarter, we also rolled out Curbside I'm Here, which allows our guests to easily notify the restaurant that they've arrived to pick up their curbside to-go order by simply tapping on a link embedded in a text message.
As a result, our operators are spending less time on the phone and more time focused on ensuring orders are accurate and on-time, which is leading to improved guest satisfaction scores.
We also introduced Wait List Visibility, allowing guest to see their place on the waiting list using their phone regardless of whether they've checked in online or in person.
And we're working on several other initiatives, including streamlining our online checkout process and adding additional mobile payment options to provide even more convenience for our guest.
We continue to accelerate our digital journey, and I'm encouraged by the progress we are making.
Finally, we continue to view this environment as a rare opportunity to transform our business model for long-term growth.
We continue to make investments in our team members, product quality and portion sizes to ensure we emerge even stronger and better positioned to grow share.
Olive Garden same-restaurant sales declined 19.9% as capacity restrictions continue to limit their top-line sales.
Olive Garden began November with 56 dining rooms closed, and that number accelerated to 208 by the end of the month.
However, they were able to deliver strong average weekly sales during the quarter of more than 73,000 per restaurant, retaining 80% of last year's sales.
Olive Garden also continue to realize operational efficiencies and strengthened margin as a result of their simplified menu and the elimination of promotional activity, including discounts.
In the current limited capacity environment, their reduced marketing spend was focused on showcasing the convenience of their off-premise experience, while featuring compelling core menu items rather than limited time promotions.
This led to increased segment profit margin, while making additional investments in abundance and value.
Additionally, off-premise sales grew 83% in the quarter, representing 39% of total sales.
Enabled by the technology investments I mentioned earlier, Olive Garden improved their to-go experience and achieved another all-time high in guest satisfaction for having orders ready to pick up at the time promised.
Finally, Olive Garden successfully opened three new restaurants in the quarter.
LongHorn Steakhouse had another solid quarter.
Same-restaurant sales declined 11.1%.
Almost 20% of their restaurants grew same-restaurant sales in the quarter.
They also successfully opened three new restaurants during the quarter.
The LongHorn team remains laser focused on their strategy of increasing the quality of their guest experience, simplifying operations to drive execution and leveraging their unique culture to increase team member engagement.
During the quarter, the team did a great job of managing controllable costs while their simplified menu drove improved labor productivity.
Finally, LongHorn grew off-premise sales by more than 175%, representing 22% of total sales.
For the second quarter, total sales were $1.7 billion, a decrease of 19.4%.
Same-restaurant sales declined 20.6%, EBITDA was $206 million and diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.74.
Our second quarter start was encouraging with weekly sales building on results from the first quarter.
However, as COVID-19 cases began increasing in November and many state and local governments reimposed dining room restrictions, the last two weeks of the quarter trended down significantly.
We estimate that this downward shift in sales over the last two weeks negatively impacted operating income by approximately $15 million.
Turning to the P&L.
Food and beverage expense was 30 basis points higher than last year, primarily driven by investments in food quality and increased to-go packaging.
Restaurant labor was 140 basis points lower than last year with hourly labor improving by over 310 basis points, driven by operational simplification.
This was partially offset by deleverage and management labor due to sales declines and $3 million of emergency pay net of retention credits as we reinstated our emergency pay program for our team members impacted by dining room closures.
Restaurant expense per operating week was 13% lower than last year, driven by lower repairs, maintenance and utilities expenses.
However, sales deleverage resulted in restaurant expense as a percent of sales coming in 170 basis points higher than last year.
We reduced marketing spend by almost $50 million this quarter with total marketing 210 basis points favorable to last year.
Restaurant level EBITDA margin was 17.9%, 140 basis points above last year despite the sales decline of 19%.
General and administrative expenses were negatively impacted by $8 million of mark-to-market expense on our deferred compensation.
This is related to significant appreciation in both the Darden share price and equity markets this quarter.
As a reminder, due to the way we hedge this expense, it is mostly offset in the tax line.
Our hedge reduced income tax expense by $6.4 million, resulting in a net mark-to-market reduction to earnings after-tax this quarter of $1.7 million.
The effective tax rate of 8.3% this quarter was lower by 5.1 percentage points due to the tax benefits from the deferred compensation hedge I just mentioned.
After adjusting for this, the normalized effective tax rate for the second quarter would have been 13.4%.
Looking at our segment performance this quarter.
Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and our Other segment, all saw a segment profit margin increase despite sales declines.
This was driven by our continued focus on simplified operations, which significantly reduced direct labor and lower marketing expenses.
Our Fine Dining segment profit margin of 18.8% was impressive, although below last year, driven by a 30% sales decline.
We ended the second quarter with $770 million in cash and another $750 million available in our untapped credit facility, giving us over $1.5 billion of available liquidity.
We generated over $150 million of free cash flow in the quarter and improved our adjusted debt to adjusted capital to 58% at the end of the quarter, well within our debt covenant of 75%.
The board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.37 per share, 50% of our Q2 diluted earnings per share within our long-term framework for value creation.
We will continue to have regular discussions with the board on our future dividends.
As I mentioned earlier, the quarter started with sales building upon first quarter results.
As dining room closures increased, these improving sales trends reversed.
As of today, we have approximately 77% of our restaurants operating with at least partial dining room capacity versus a peak of 97% in the middle of the second quarter.
Moving forward, we may experience further dining room closures and increasing capacity restrictions in the third quarter.
As you may recall, in our last earnings call, we mentioned that the third quarter is historically our peak seasonal sales quarter, driven by the Christmas, New Year's and Valentine's Day holidays as well as travel time during this time of year.
At that time, we also stated that it will be more difficult to increase on-premise average unit volumes if capacity restrictions do not ease.
Current dining room closures, capacity restrictions and reductions in travel will exacerbate our same-restaurant sales comparison to last year due to the higher sales -- seasonal sales from last year.
Additionally, there are still uncertainties surrounding further capacity limitations and dining room closures and the duration of these impacts.
Given all these factors, we are providing a broad range of expectations for the third quarter.
We expect total sales to be between 65% and 70% of prior year levels, resulting in total sales of between $1.53 billion and $1.65 billion, EBITDA between $170 million and $210 million and diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations between $0.50 and $0.75 on a diluted share base of 132 million shares.
With dining rooms closures increasing, we are focusing on our playbook of expense management and off-premise sales.
While there is encouraging news on the broad distribution of COVID-19 vaccine in the spring, we currently don't anticipate meaningful sales trend improvements until some time in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.
Despite the short-term headwinds we faced with sales trends, operational complexity and impacts to our team members, I'm confident we are making the right decisions for the long-term to create a better guest experience and strengthen our business.
And consistent with our messaging last quarter, we continue to believe we can achieve 100% of our pre-COVID EBITDA dollars at approximately 90% of pre-COVID EBITDA -- pre-COVID sales, while continuing to make appropriate investments in our business.
Rick's career represents what our industry is all about.
He joined Darden as a Buster at Red Lobster 1984 and has worked extremely hard mastering many functions.
On January 4, he will become the President of the world's largest full service restaurant company.
He's been a great partner to me over the last five years, and I look forward to working side-by-side with him in his new role.
Additionally, we announced that Raj Vennam will become our Chief Financial Officer.
Raj began his career at Darden in 2003, and has done an exceptional job in every role he has held.
His promotion recognizes the significant contributions he has made to our individual brands as well as the greater organization.
With a brilliant mind and a keen understanding of our industry, Raj is the perfect person to take over for Rick.
I'm excited to see him expand his role in the company as CFO.
Rick and Raj are here with me in the room today, and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate both of them.
I want to close by recognizing our team members in the restaurants and at the support center.
I can't say enough about the dedication they've demonstrated throughout the year.
Their focus, commitment and determination is exceptional.
With multiple jurisdictions implementing dining room closures, we know many team members will not get the hours they needed during this holiday season.
That is why we have reintroduced our emergency pay program that will provide three weeks of emergency pay to team members who are furloughed from their restaurant when dining rooms are closed.
Our [Technical Issue] our greatest competitive advantage, and we are committed to taking care of them.
I wish you all a safe and a happy holiday season.

user
sees q3 earnings per share $0.50 to $0.75 from continuing operations.
qtrly negative blended same-restaurant sales of 20.6%.
qtrly diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.74.
sees fiscal 2021 q3 total sales between 65% to 70% of prior year.
sees fiscal 2021 q3 ebitda of $170 to $210 million.
qtrly same-restaurant sales down 19.9% for olive garden.

assistant