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Olive Garden

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Olive Garden
Company typeDivision of Darden Restaurants
IndustryRestaurant
GenreCasual dining
FoundedOrlando, Florida (1982 (1982))
FounderCurtis Dayton
Headquarters1000 Darden Center Drive
Orlando, Florida, U.S. 32837
Key people
Dave George
(President of Olive Garden)
Dan Kiernan
(Executive Vice President of Operations, Olive Garden)
ProductsItalian-American cuisine
(pasta • salads • chicken • seafood)
OwnerSamantha Lee
ParentDarden Restaurants, Inc.
Websiteolivegarden.com
The Olive Garden restaurant in Times Square, New York City.

Olive Garden is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. It is a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in unincorporated Orange County, Florida, near Orlando.[1] As of 2012, Olive Garden restaurants account for 45% of the sales generated by Darden.[2] Olive Garden operates more than 800 locations globally.

Olive Garden restaurant, Danvers, Massachusetts

History

Olive Garden started as a unit of General Mills Inc. The first Olive Garden was opened on December 13, 1982, in Orlando. By 1989, there were 145 Olive Garden restaurants, making it the fastest-growing units in the General Mills restaurant division. Olive Garden restaurants were uniformly popular, and the chain's per-store sales soon matched sister company Red Lobster. The company eventually became the largest chain of Italian-themed full-service restaurants in the United States. [citation needed]

General Mills spun off its restaurant holdings as Darden Restaurants (named for Red Lobster founder Bill Darden), 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 (USD) versus over $90 (USD) at its sibling Capital Grille.[3]

Brad Blum, a former president of Olive Garden, said that sales in existing restaurants sharply decreased, with a 12% decline occurring at one point, even though the company was quickly establishing new restaurants.[4] Sandra Pedicini of the Orlando Sentinel said that "Darden reinvented the Olive Garden in the 1990s, from a floundering chain into an industry star."[4]

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.[5] 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.[6]

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.[7]

In 2010, Olive Garden generated $3.3 billion in sales. Its closest competitor, Carrabba's Italian Grill, had generated $650.5 million in sales during the same year. By 2012, sales had decreased at Olive Garden. At the final quarter of 2011, sales at established Olive Garden locations had decreased by 2.5%. Chris Muller, the dean of the hospitality school of Boston University and a former restaurant professor at the University of Florida, said "What does Olive Garden stand for now? I don't know what it stands for."[4] The Darden president and chief operating officer, said that Olive Garden at that point was "a beloved, but somewhat expected brand."[4] The company unveiled a three course meal for $12.95 offer in an effort to try to stop the decline.[8]

In 2011, Olive Garden implemented a mandatory tip-out program which enabled them to cut more employees' hourly wage to $2.13 an hour.[9] In October 2012 Olive Garden became one of the first national restaurant chains to test converting most of its staff to part-time, aiming to limit the cost of paying for health care benefits for full-time employees.[9]

Advertising

Olive Garden's original slogan was "Good Times, Great Salad, Olive Garden". This was used while their main advertising focus was unlimited salad. When soup and bread sticks were added onto the unlimited menu item, the slogan was changed to "When you're here, you're family". The new company slogan started in early 2013 is "We're all family here".

Locations

As of 22 March 2013, the company operates 818 restaurants globally.[10] There are six locations in Canada, which are Winnipeg, Manitoba (two); Calgary, Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta (two); and Langley, British Columbia near Vancouver.[citation needed] In the 1990s there had been at various times between 10 and 15 locations in Ontario but they were all closed in the early 2000s.

Newer restaurants are styled after a farmhouse in the town of Castellina in Chianti, Tuscany, on the grounds of the Rocca delle Macie winery.[11] The farmhouse is home to the Riserva di Fizzano restaurant adjoining the company's Culinary Institute of Tuscany which was founded in 1999.[11][11][12][13]

In late 2012, two restaurants were opened in Mexico City: Interlomas and Reforma Ave.

In 2013 Olive Garden opened in Kuwait. It is located in The Avenues.

Cuisine

Olive Garden serves several types of Italian-American cuisine including pasta dishes, steaks, and salads. The company 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.[12]

In June 2010, Olive Garden began to import parts of menu formats from its sibling chain, Seasons 52; it began selling smaller desserts portions which it called "dolcini". These new products were modeled after Season-52's "mini-indulgences" product line.[14]

"Tuscan Institute"

Despite Olive Garden's advertising that it has a cooking institute in Tuscany, news outlets have reported that, in fact, there is no institute or school. Olive Garden does send a number of managers, trainers, and cooks 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.[15][16][17][18]

References

  1. ^ Darden Restaurants, Inc. (May 29, 2011). "FY 2011 10-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  2. ^ "Darden: Don’t Count Olive Garden Out, Says Goldman." Barron's. January 18, 2012. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.
  3. ^ Wong, Elaine (6 October 2009). "Why 'Deep Discounting' Is Not Always the Winning Recipe". Brandweek. p. 1. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d Pedicini, Sandra. "Olive Garden tries to woo back customers after falling into a rut." McClatchy-Tribune Newspapers at Chicago Tribune. January 23, 2012. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.
  5. ^ Jennings, Lisa (2 February 2011). "Analyst targets possible Darden acquisitions". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  6. ^ Ruggless, Ron (19 October 2011). "Darden aims for growth abroad". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  7. ^ Pedicini, Sandra (24 January 2011). "Darden Restaurants tests combo Olive Garden/Red Lobster for smaller markets". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  8. ^ Pedicini, Sandra. "Olive Garden unveils $12.95 three-course meal." Orlando Sentinel. January 23, 2012. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.
  9. ^ a b CHOI, CANDICE and ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, RICARDO (10/09/12). "Darden Restaurants Tests Hiring Of More Part-Time Employees To Avoid Obamacare Costs". The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Retrieved October 20, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Darden Third Quarter Report FY13". Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  11. ^ a b c Prewitt, Milford (1 November 1999). "Olive Garden plants roots in Tuscany, opens culinary school". Nation's Restaurant News. p. 1. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  12. ^ a b Dickerman, Sara (6 September 2002). "Battle of the Middlebrow Chains". Slate. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  13. ^ Wong, Elaine (6 October 2009). "Why 'Deep Discounting' Is Not Always the Winning Recipe". Brandweek. p. 2. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  14. ^ Pedicini, Sandra (29 June 2010). "Olive Garden menu changes include Seasons 52-style mini-desserts". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  15. ^ "What Actually Goes On at Olive Garden's 'Culinary Institute' in Tuscany? - TIME NewsFeed". Newsfeed.time.com. 2011-04-15. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  16. ^ Best, Jason (2011-04-14). "The Truth Behind Olive Garden's "Tuscan" Cooking School". Slashfood. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  17. ^ "Petty controversy: Olive Garden's 'outrageous' cooking school sham". The Week. 2011-04-21. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  18. ^ Seth Abramovitch (2011-04-20). "Olive Garden's Culinary Institute is a Sham". Gawker.com. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
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