If you're in the restaurant business as an independent, as couple of my in-laws have been, it's certainly a sign of the times.

Good luck to the little guy trying to stay in business by offering high quality when the giants move in. It can be done but... :(

It's why, for example, we patronize this joint when we're near SEA, although they're now up to three operations and may eventually become another Olive Garden. ;)

Familiarity and Branding is a plus.. but there are quite a few excellent local restaurants that has a good reputation where we visit.. and the good ones seemed to open up a few locations.

But perhaps being a tourist going down International Avenue if in Orlando, one tends to get drawn into the chain restaurant if a bunch of restaurants are offering pretty much same.

Back when I was in Grand Forks I probably would have been thrilled to eat in an Olive Garden. I don't remember there being a whole lot up there.

This right here is the key. I live in a city with about 100,000 people. We have no decent city-like restaurants. We have two "fine dining" places that just aren't. But people here think eating at those places is "like you are eating in New York". I don't particularly like going to Olive Garden but I go there here since the food isn't bad, the service is good, and the experience is consistent. It's all about what you have for comparison.

Similar story for me when I went to Tupelo, MS on business. We were taken the first night to a local Italian place and the second night to Outback Steakhouse. Outback was a far better choice even though the first place was local and more expensive.

As a former boss of mine liked to say, if you're forced to eat sh*t or nothing at all, sh*t tastes pretty good.

I've tried Olive Garden restaurants in a handful of places (in a handful of different states) and found them to be consistently over-salted, to a ridiculous degree. Keeps their drink sales going, I suppose. I generally avoid them when given the choice.

There is only one Olive Garden in Calgary a city of over a million.. and the place is always packed out. To avoid line ups, you pretty much have to show up 4 pm or 9 pm in the day. Lunch is packed as well.

Olive garden
 

Olive Garden purposefully neglects salt to avoid invalidating the extended warranty agreement it has with the manufacturer of its cooking pots.

Apparently, there is an official Olive Garden policy that dictates the number of breadsticks provided at the start of each meal.Starboard claims that $5 million is wasted annually on breadsticks that go uneaten when a server doesn’t follow the formula and unnecessarily serves too many.

This and other fascinating facts about the hedge-fund takeover of the parents company of Olive Garden.


https://medium.com/the-spaghetti-inc...d-1abc09cfc86a

I bet the report doesn't describe the 5 million excess pounds that are waisted annually by those who eat all the breadsticks. :eek:

I have to eat at Olive Garden tonight and I'm not looking forward to it. There are so many better choices in Italian restaurants in the area that offer better food and a better value. I haven't been to Olive Garden in a long time and was hoping someone here could give a recommendation on what items might not be too bad.

Eggplant parmesan.

Lemon Cream Cake.

I've sworn off going to Olive Garden because it's turned into Chuck E Cheese with dozens of unruly children running amok. But I do miss the lemon cream cake.

Take out.

I ate lunch there today, for the first time in 5 months. Other than the reduced breadsticks count, it was pretty good. Comfort food, certainly.