Posted on 10/12/2011 8:36:59 AM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear
ANNISTON, Ala. -- Officials with the parent company of Olive Garden restaurants say they're sorry if a decision regarding an Alabama Kiwanis club's desire to display the American flag caused any concern.
The comments come after 80-year-old Marti Warren of Anniston said she wasn't allowed to bring an American flag into an Olive Garden for a planned Kiwanis Club banquet in the east Alabama town of Oxford.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs12.com ...
LLS
I sure can’t argue with you there...I last went to an Olive Garden probably...eight or nine years ago, and the food was bad enough to make my wife and I vow to never go back.
I ate at an Olive Garden one time. Their bread was miserable, and the entre was not much better. It did not even qualify to be called an Italian restaurant in my opinion. That was my one and only experience. After this flag incident, I will not be patronizing any of the other Darden Restaurant brands.
Oh, come on! It’s the end of our Republic because of some stupid decision by a third-rank fake Italian restaurant?!
How silly.
You know how things work in this country. It’s unfortunate, but as soon as the Olive Garden says “yes” to one group and “no” to another, they’ll have a lawsuit and PR mess on their hands.
CAIR, the ACLU, atheist groups, La Raza, Westboro Baptist — you name it — they’re just waiting for the next opportunity to sue someone. They would intentionally schedule a banquet just to see what would happen.
I think it goes beyond a prohibition on flags and banners.
Lest we forget: Michelle Obama: Red Lobster and Olive Garden Cutting Calories!
ML/NJ
Possibly even worse than the flag decision is some freepers comments that Olive Garden is a great restaurant!
There is a difference between catering to special interest groups and allowing an American flag to be displayed in America.
Any lawsuit by a special interest group predicated on the notion that the national flag - displayed prominently in any courtroom they could pursue a lawsuit in - was actually an emblem exclusive to another special interest group, would be laughed out of any court except perhaps the Ninth Circuit.
And even then it couldn't be upheld.
“...it was likely in a separate or banquet room...”
Doesn’t look that way. I’d wondered about that, too. If they did have a separate room, fine. But they didn’t. Offhand, I can’t think of too many restaurants that have American flags displayed in the dining area. In fact, I can’t think of any.
If I were patronizing the Olive Garden, I might have found their hosting a banquet in the regular dining room more disruptive than the flag.
Love Buca. One of the few things I miss since we left CA for TN.
If you're in the Brea, Calif. area, don't go to the Olive Garden in the Brea Mall. You'll find far better food at Lomeli's, at 600 S. Brea Blvd.
OG has always been disruptive to my digestion experience. So long, Darden.
C’mon! A flag stand takes up what? All of a square foot of floor and is 7 feet tall or so?
Group should take their money to another business in my opinion. Some hard-on was being ridiculous.
A ballot for voting can only be used occasionally. Your hard earned dollars can be used everyday to vote.
WASHINGTON — Calorie by calorie, first lady Michelle Obama is chipping away at big portions and unhealthy food in an effort to help America slim down.
In the year and a half since she announced her campaign to curb childhood obesity, Mrs. Obama has stood alongside Wal-Mart, Olive Garden and many other food companies as they have announced improvements to their recipes – fewer calories, less sodium, better children’s menus.
The changes are small steps, in most cases. Fried foods and french fries will still be on the menu, though enticing pictures of those foods may be gone. High-sodium soups, which many consumers prefer, will still be on the grocery aisle. But the amount of sodium in each can will gradually decrease in some cases, and the taste of their low-sodium variety will be improved.
On Thursday, the first lady joined Darden Restaurants Inc. executives at one of their Olive Garden restaurants in Hyattsville, Md., near Washington to announce that the company’s chains are pledging to cut calories and sodium in their meals by 20 percent over a decade. Fruit or vegetable side dishes and low-fat milk will become standard with kids’ meals unless a substitution is requested.
Mrs. Obama said Darden’s announcement is a “breakthrough moment” for the industry. The company owns 1,900 restaurants in 49 states, including Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52.
“I believe the changes that Darden will make could impact the health and well-being of an entire generation of young people,” the first lady said.
McDonald’s, Burger King and more than a dozen other restaurants have also said this summer that they will revamp children’s menus. Changing recipes and menu items is good business for the industry because consumers want wider choices – chefs and food manufacturers say consumers are demanding more healthy food than ever before.
Nutrition advocates and food industry representatives say that the first lady embraced the issue just as consumers began to demand healthier foods and advocates were making headway in getting industry to make foods healthier. They say she has been a key catalyst in getting lawmakers and companies to jump on board.
“There’s been more progress on nutrition in the last several years than in the whole previous decade,” says Margo Wootan, a leading nutrition advocate and lobbyist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest who has been working on the issue for almost 20 years. “There is a lot of momentum in addressing obesity right now and the first lady adds significant momentum to that movement.”
Wootan says Mrs. Obama and her staff have done more than just public appearances, working behind the scenes with industry and Congress to affect change. “She does more than use the bully pulpit,” says Wootan.
The landscape has certainly changed for the food industry since President Barack Obama took office and the first lady launched her campaign. In that time, Congress has passed laws to improve school lunches, improve food safety and require calorie labeling in restaurants, all with industry support. The administration has proposed new food marketing rules for children and the food industry has come at least part of the way with their own proposal to limit marketing to kids. Major companies have launched a joint effort to cut calories and put more nutrition information on food labels.
The first lady’s effort has had “a dramatic impact on manufacturers, restaurants and retailers,” says Scott Faber, a lobbyist for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents all of the major food companies. “Until the first lady launched her initiative there was no one American who was inspiring this generation of kids and parents to do more to have a healthy lifestyle.”
Mrs. Obama’s participation with Darden Restaurants was her latest appearance with retailers and other private-sector players in support of her anti-obesity campaign. In January, she stood with Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest grocer, as it pledged to reformulate thousands of products it sells to make them healthier and to push suppliers to do the same.
This summer, the first lady applauded as Wal-Mart, Walgreens drug stores and several regional grocers committed to help eliminate “food deserts” by opening or expanding in rural and urban areas without easy access to healthy foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables.
One in three U.S. children is overweight or obese, putting them at greater risk of developing diabetes, heart disease or other health conditions. Mrs. Obama has said her goal is to help today’s youngsters become adults at a healthy weight by eating better and getting more exercise.
In a speech to the National Restaurant Association one year ago this month, the first lady asked members to “actively promote healthy foods and healthy habits to our kids.”
Dawn Sweeney, CEO of the association, said that was an “acceleration point” for many restaurants that were already starting to change their menus.
“Certainly the focus she has put on food and healthy living has been a great boost to create even broader consumer interest,” Sweeney said.
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That make my list of eating places smaller by one. I never liked their food anyway. The shrimp scampi was the only entree I could stomach anyway. Everything else is pasta with a bunch of tomato sauce poured on top.
If ever in Minnesota-D’Amico Cucina in Minneapolis (high-end Italian) DeGidio’s or Cossetta’s in St.Paul .
[ As a private corporation, Olive Garden is free to set whatever policies they want regarding displays in their restaurants. Apparently they don’t allow flags or banners of any kind in their restaurants.
As a private citizen I am free to eat wherever I want. I don’t think I’ll want to eat at Olive Garden anytime soon. ]
Indeed, and if you do go there, wear a red white and blue flag shirt.
How about this, find out what their loss leader is and storm the place wearing red white and blue flag shirts and order nothing but the loss leader. Tip the servers in cash of course and be polite but drain the leeches.
More effective than a boycott.
Call it a “Loss-Cot”
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