Olive Garden facts for kids
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Formerly
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The Olive Garden (1982–1998) |
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Genre | Casual dining |
| Founded | December 13, 1982 in Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| Founders | Blaine Sweatt Mark Given Gino DeSantis Dave Manuchia |
| Headquarters | 1000 Darden Center Drive Orlando, Florida 32837 |
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Number of locations
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900+ |
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Area served
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United States Puerto Rico Guam Aruba Brazil Canada Costa Rica Ecuador El Salvador Mexico Panama Philippines Saudi Arabia |
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Key people
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Dan Kiernan (president) |
| Products | Italian-American cuisine |
| Parent | General Mills (1982–1995) Darden Restaurants (1995–present) |
Olive Garden is a popular American restaurant chain. It serves delicious Italian–American cuisine, like pasta, salads, and breadsticks. Olive Garden is part of a bigger company called Darden Restaurants, Inc.. Its main office is in Orange County, Florida.
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The Story of Olive Garden Restaurants
Olive Garden started as a part of a company called General Mills. The very first Olive Garden restaurant opened on December 13, 1982. It was in Orlando, Florida. Four people helped start it: Blaine Sweatt, Mark Given, Gino DeSantis, and Dave Manuchia.
By 1989, there were 145 Olive Garden restaurants. It was the fastest-growing part of General Mills' restaurant business. People really liked Olive Garden. Soon, its sales were as good as its sister company, Red Lobster. Olive Garden grew to be the biggest chain of Italian-themed restaurants in the United States.
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In 1995, General Mills created a new company just for its restaurants. This new company was named Darden Restaurants. In 1998, Olive Garden changed its name slightly. It dropped "The" from its name and started using the slogan "When you're here, you're family." By 2009, Olive Garden was Darden's most affordable restaurant chain.
Brad Blum, a former president of Olive Garden, noted that sales in older restaurants went down. However, the company kept opening many new restaurants. In the 1990s, Darden helped Olive Garden become a very successful restaurant chain.
Expanding and Changing Locations
In 2011, Darden announced plans to open more than 200 new Olive Garden restaurants. They also planned to expand into new countries. This included places in the Middle East and Asia. The company also decided to let other businesses open Olive Garden restaurants through special agreements. This was a new idea for them.
Also in 2011, Darden tried something new. They started putting Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants in the same building. These places had separate entrances and dining areas. But they shared one kitchen. The menus stayed separate. In 2014, Darden decided to sell Red Lobster. They also changed the shared locations into only Olive Garden restaurants.
By 2012, sales at Olive Garden had slowed down. To help, the company offered a special three-course meal for $12.95. In July 2014, Olive Garden launched a new logo and restaurant design. They also added online ordering and smaller lunch portions.
In 2019, some false rumors spread that Olive Garden was giving money to a political campaign. Darden quickly said this was not true. They stated that their company does not donate to presidential candidates. Financial records showed that Olive Garden had not given money to any campaign.
Advertising and Special Offers
Olive Garden's first slogan was "Good Times, Great Salad, Olive Garden." This was when they focused on offering unlimited salad. Later, when they added unlimited soup and breadsticks, the slogan changed to "When you're here, you're family." In 2013, it changed again to "We're all family here."
In 2013, Olive Garden started a popular deal called the "Never Ending Pasta Bowl." For a starting price of $9.99, customers could eat all the pasta they wanted. During this event, the restaurant served over 13 million bowls of pasta!
In 2014, they continued this deal. They also added the "Never Ending Pasta Pass." For $99, customers could eat all the pasta they wanted for seven weeks. Only the first 1000 people could buy this pass online. This Pasta Pass deal has been offered every year since. In 2019, Olive Garden even offered a "Lifetime Pasta Pass" to a very small number of lucky diners.
The Tuscan Institute Story
Olive Garden used to advertise that it had a cooking institute in Tuscany, Italy. However, news reports found that there isn't a real school or institute. Olive Garden does send managers, trainers, and cooks to Tuscany each year. They stay in a rented hotel. They spend a few hours at a local restaurant during its off-season.
Where to Find Olive Garden Restaurants
Newer Olive Garden restaurants look like a farmhouse in Castellina in Chianti, Tuscany. This farmhouse is near the Rocca delle Macie winery. The winery has a restaurant called Riserva di Fizzano, which is next to the company's Culinary Institute of Tuscany. This institute was founded in 1999.
As of February 2022, there are over 922 Olive Garden restaurants around the world.
Olive Garden operates in many countries outside the United States:
| Country | Details |
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 Aruba |
The first and only Olive Garden in Aruba opened in 2022. |
 Brazil |
Olive Garden opened its first restaurant in Brazil in 2014. It was at the Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo. Now there are several locations in São Paulo and Campinas. |
 Canada |
You can find Olive Garden restaurants in cities like Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, and Langley. |
 Costa Rica |
There are 3 Olive Garden locations in Costa Rica. |
 Ecuador |
The first Olive Garden in Ecuador opened in Guayaquil in 2022. There are now 2 in Guayaquil and one in Quito. |
 El Salvador |
There is an Olive Garden in San Salvador, at La Gran Vía. |
 Mexico |
As of March 2024, there are 13 Olive Garden locations in Mexico. You can find them in Greater Mexico City, Cancún, Guadalajara, León, Querétaro (city), and the Monterrey metropolitan area. |
 Panama |
As of 2024, there are 5 Olive Garden locations in Panama, including two at Tocumen International Airport. |
 Philippines |
Olive Garden opened its first restaurant in the Philippines in 2020. It was at Ayala Malls Manila Bay. More locations have opened at Mall of Asia and The Verve, BGC Taguig. |
 Saudi Arabia |
There is one Olive Garden restaurant in Jeddah. |
What's on the Olive Garden Menu?
Olive Garden serves many kinds of Italian-American food. This includes different pasta dishes, steaks, and salads. The company is famous for its breadsticks. The lunch menu often focuses on these breadsticks. Olive Garden also says that its soups and sauces are made fresh every day in each restaurant. They don't get them from a central factory.
In 2010, Olive Garden started to offer smaller dessert portions. They called these "dolcini." These were like the "mini-indulgences" from their sister restaurant, Seasons 52.
Feedback on the Menu
In 2014, a group of investors who owned a lot of Darden's stock shared their ideas. They pointed out ways the company could save money and make customers happier. Many of their ideas were about Olive Garden.
They mentioned things like the unlimited breadsticks. They said too many breadsticks went to waste because they got stale. They also said the menu was too complicated. It had 96 items, and some didn't make sense. For example, a vegetable lasagna with chicken on top. They also noted that the chain stopped adding salt to the water for cooking pasta. This was to keep the cooking pots lasting longer. The investors felt that pasta is Olive Garden's main dish and should be cooked perfectly.
Darden's management agreed with most of the feedback. They said they were already working on these issues. They defended the unlimited breadsticks. They said it showed "Italian hospitality." A month later, the shareholders voted to change the company's entire board of directors.
See also
In Spanish: Olive Garden para niños
