Olive Garden is an American restaurant chain specializing in
Italian-American cuisineItalian American cuisine is the cuisine of Italian American immigrants and their descendents, who have modified Italian cuisine under the influence of American culture and immigration patterns of Italians to the United States...
. It is a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in an
unincorporated areaIn law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in
Orange County, FloridaOrange County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida and is part of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 1,145,956....
, near
OrlandoOrlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. Olive Garden operates more than 730 locations globally.
History
The first Olive Garden was opened by
General MillsGeneral Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
on December 13, 1982, in Orlando. By 1989, General Mills had opened 145 restaurants, making it one of the fastest-growing units in the company's restaurant holdings. While not a critical success, it was popular, and its per-store sales soon matched sister company
Red LobsterRed Lobster is a U.S. chain of seafood restaurants. It also operates in Canada, the UAE and Japan . It is aimed at the mid-level "casual dining" segment of the market...
. The company eventually became the largest chain of Italian-themed full-service restaurants in the US.
General Mills spun off its restaurant holdings as Darden Restaurants, a stand-alone company, in 1995. Olive Garden is Darden's most value oriented chain with an average 2009 check per person of $15.00 (
USDThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
) versus over $90 (USD) at its sibling Capital Grille.
, the company operates over 730 restaurants globally. Most Canadian restaurants have been closed except for a few in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Calgary, Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta; and
Langley, British ColumbiaThe City of Langley is a municipality in Metro Vancouver. It lies directly east of the City of Surrey, adjacent to Cloverdale, and surrounded on the north, east and south by Township of Langley.-History:...
.
Newer restaurants are styled after a farmhouse in the town of
CastellinaCastellina is the name of two cities in Tuscany, Italy:* Castellina in Chianti* Castellina Marittima...
in
ChiantiChianti is a red Italian wine produced in Tuscany. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco ; however, the fiasco is only used by a few makers of the wine now; most Chianti is now bottled in more standard shaped wine bottles...
,
TuscanyTuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, on the grounds of the Rocca delle Macie winery. The farmhouse is home to the Riserva di Fizzano restaurant adjoining the company's Culinary Institute of Tuscany which was founded in 1999.
As part of a February 2011 Darden analyst conference, the parent group announced it intended to add more than 200 Olive Garden locations in the following few years. The announcement came after a previous announcement that the company would be expanding into potential new international markets for the chain, including the Middle East and Asia, due to the maturity of the North American market. The company also announced it would begin licensing franchising partnerships, a new direction for the chain and its parent which had traditionally relied on expansion via company owned locations exclusively.
Parent company Darden also announced it was going to begin co-locating Olive Garden and sibling chain Red Lobster locations. The new format stores are designed for smaller market locations and will have separate entrances and dining areas but operate a single kitchen and support areas. The dining areas of the new format will be half the standard area found in more traditional Darden chains, but the actual building will be larger than stand alone operations of the chain. Menus will also remain separate, with customers only able to order from the location they are seated in.
Advertising
The original slogan for Olive Garden was "Good Times, Great Salad, Olive Garden". This was used when their main advertised product was the endless salad entree. When soup and bread sticks were added onto this menu item, the saying was changed to "When you're here, you're Family".
Cuisine
The menu is developed at its Tuscany Institute in Italy and is inspired by the local cuisine in the region.
Olive Garden serves Italian-American cuisine including pasta dishes, steaks and salads. The company heavily advertises its bread stick product and centers its lunch menu around it. Additionally, the company advertises that its soups are made fresh in each location daily instead of importing them from a commissary or outside vendor.
In June 2010, Olive Garden began to import parts of menu formats from its sibling chain Season-52; it began selling smaller desserts portions which it called "dolcini". These new products were modeled after Season-52's "mini-indulgences" product line.
Tuscan Institute
Although Olive Garden advertises heavily of having a cooking institute in
TuscanyTuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, many news outlets have reported that, in fact, there is no institute or even school. Olive Garden does send all of its managers to Tuscany each year, but they stay in a rented hotel and spend only a few hours at a local restaurant in its off-season.
See also
- Maggiano's Little Italy
Maggiano's Little Italy is an Italian-style chain of casual dining restaurants with locations throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Northern Ireland founded in Chicago's River North neighborhood in 1991 by Richard Melman's Lettuce Entertain You and named for Melman's late partner,...
- Romano's Macaroni Grill
Romano's Macaroni Grill is an Italian-style chain of casual dining restaurants with locations throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The first restaurant was founded by Texas restaurateur Philip J. Romano in Leon Springs, Texas, on April 19, 1988. Brinker International bought the...
External links