Free Republic

Retirees have lost their appetite for Cracker Barrel and Olive Garden since the pandemic — and it’s not clear when they’ll come back, according to the chains’ top brass. No amount of biscuits and gravy or unlimited pasta refills seems to be enough to entice the 65-and-older crowd as they continue to pinch pennies amid high inflation and duck the coronavirus, according to Rick Cardenas, chief executive of Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden. “I do believe that they were a little bit more spooked on the COVID side,” Cardenas told analysts on a Thursday conference call. “We’d love to...

Olive Garden is known for a few things. Namely, its never-ending offerings, like soup, salad, breadsticks, and pasta. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end—even those that are supposed to be never-ending. Olive Garden's incoming new CEO revealed that the restaurant may never bring back its never-ending pasta bowl promotion. According to Business Insider, the deal, which gets you a bowl of pasta with endless refills for $10.99, was one Olive Garden would roll out periodically. Customers could enjoy as much pasta as they could stomach under the promotion, as well as unlimited breadsticks and salad. For an...

You won't see this on the Food Channel! Italian cooking Instructor touring America visits Olive Garden! "If you serve this in an Italian Restaurant at a minimum they will burn the place down."

The CNN anchor made the comment Wednesday as video of angry protesters storming the Capitol appeared on the screen. “Look at them, they’re high-fiving each other for this deplorable display of completely unpatriotic, completely against law and order, completely unconstitutional behavior, it’s stunning,” Cooper said. “And they’re going to go back to the Olive Garden and to the Holiday Inn they’re staying at, or the Garden Marriott, and they’re going to have some drinks and talk about the great day they had in Washington … They stood up for nothing other than mayhem.”

A customer at an Olive Garden restaurant in Indiana on Saturday loudly demanded a server who is not black, an employee and an observer said. A manager acquiesced, and is no longer employed by the company. Amira Donahue, a hostess at the restaurant in Evansville in southwestern Indiana, said the customer, a white woman, complained to a manager about her and the other black hostess working during Saturday's dinner rush. "She made comments about me to my co-workers concerning my race and saying that I should work at a strip club instead," Donahue told NBC News on Wednesday. "She asked...

Olive Garden on Sunday refuted a viral tweet that claimed the company donated to President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, sparking calls for a boycott of the popular Italian restaurant. A tweet Sunday went viral with nearly 50,000 retweets that alleged Olive Garden is funding Trump’s 2020 campaign, writing: “It would be terrible if you shared this and Olive Garden lost business.” “We don’t know where this information came from, but it is incorrect,” Olive Garden tweeted in response Sunday night. “Our company does not donate to presidential candidates.” SNIP TWEET: "So here’s a list of companies supporting Trump’s re-election: -...

A uniformed Kansas City, Mo., cop hoping to celebrate his birthday with lunch at Olive Garden on Sunday was kicked out because of his duty firearm.A hostess caught sight of Officer Michael Holsworth’s holstered handgun as he waited for his family and asked the decorated officer to leave the restaurant at once, he ranted in a Facebook post Sunday afternoon.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Darden Restaurants says it will sell its Red Lobster chain to investment firm Golden Gate Capital in a $2.1 billion cash deal. The company, which also owns Olive Garden, had announced late last year that it planned to either spin off or sell Red Lobster to improve its financial performance. Both Olive Garden and Red Lobster have been losing customers in recent years. The company has tried various menu changes and marketing campaigns in hopes of winning back business. Part of the problem is the growing popularity of chains like Chipotle, where customers feel they can...

Fret not, Olive Garden lovers: The “endless” breadsticks aren’t going away. But new management has big changes in store for the casual dining chain, which touts family-style Italian food and has struggled with declining sales. The chain's president, Dave George told investors on Tuesday the changes include creating a new logo and toning down its the “Old World Style," the Tuscan-style stonework and wooden archways that have been a signature part of Olive Garden restaurants since 2000. "You're not going to see stainless steel showing up tomorrow in a Tuscan Farmhouse," George said, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Darden Restaurants (DRI), struggling to draw more customers into its Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants, said Friday that its third-quarter profit could fall below Wall Street's expectations and cut its outlook for the year. The Orlando, Fla.-based chain has tried to revamp menus and marketing for its flagship chains. But revenue at Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse locations open at least one year is expected to fall 4.5 percent in the quarter ending Feb. 24, indicating those efforts have yet to pay off...

Darden Restaurants Inc. won’t be looking as good as expected next week when the restaurant company is set to release its second-quarter earnings, it said Tuesday. The Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse parent lowered its profit and revenue projections for the quarter ended Nov. 25, blaming sour promotions in its eateries, Superstorm Sandy, its purchase of the Yard House USA chain and even its efforts to mitigate the coming costs of healthcare reform, also known as "Obamacare."

The owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants is putting more workers on part-time status in a test aimed at limiting the impact of looming health coverage requirements. Darden Restaurants declined to give details but said the test is only in restaurants in four markets across the country. The test entails increasing the number of workers on part-time status, meaning they work less than 30 hours a week. Under the new health care act, companies will be required to provide health care to full-time employees by 2014. That would significantly boost labor costs for businesses.

Analysts say many other companies, including the White Castle hamburger chain, are considering employing fewer full-timers because of key features of the Affordable Care Act scheduled to go into effect in 2014. Under that law, large companies must provide affordable health insurance to employees working an average of at least 30 hours per week. If they do not, the companies can face fines of up to $3,000 for each employee who then turns to an exchange — an online marketplace — for insurance.

A consequence of Obamacare. Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster) is cutting all of its workers to 30 hours to avoid having them fall under Obamacare requirements. 185,000 people with less hours. But think of all the new part time jobs Obama is creating! Many other companies will do the same.

In an experiment apparently aimed at keeping down the cost of health-care reform, Orlando-based Darden Restaurants has stopped offering full-time schedules to many hourly workers in at least a few Olive Gardens, Red Lobsters and LongHorn Steakhouses. Darden said the test is taking place in "a select number" of restaurants in four markets, including Central Florida, but would not give details. The company said there has been no decision made about expanding it. In an emailed statement, Darden said staffing changes are "just one of the many things we are evaluating to help us address the cost implications health care...

With sales slipping, Olive Garden is trying to win back customers who have fallen out of love with the nation's largest Italian chain. It is a major challenge for Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden, Red Lobster and other brands.

--Olive Garden's struggles continue to weigh down Darden's earnings --Darden says Olive Garden didn't change with the times coming out of recession --Expects lower commodity inflation, more cost savings initiatives in second half of FY12 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Darden Restaurants Inc.'s DRI -.00% fiscal second-quarter earnings fell 28% on continued woes at the casual-dining company's Olive Garden restaurant chain. Over the past year, Darden, which also owns Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouse, has struggled to garner momentum for Olive Garden, its largest chain, chalking up the sales and traffic declines to promotional misfires and increased competition.

Earlier this year, former Obama donor and CEO of Darden Restaurants, Clarence Otis Jr.met with the president to talk about putting Americans back to work. (It’s the parent company of Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse, so they have created a job or two in their time.) One has to wonder how well he thought that meeting went, given the recent editorial he penned for CNN “Businesses adding jobs” is a headline every elected official loves to read. Sadly, it’s one that’s getting harder and harder to find because of a policy and regulatory landscape that makes it increasingly...

Dear Guest: We are very sorry for any misunderstanding about this issue. We do not have a policy at Olive Garden concerning bringing the American flag into our restaurants. Some members of our team were misinformed about company policy by our corporate office. As a company we take responsibility for that and we regret it. We take pride in how we communicate to our restaurants and we are correcting this so it doesn’t happen again. Like all Americans we have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the American flag and everything it symbolizes. In fact, we periodically provide...

Olive Garden Denies Local Kiwanis Group the right to fly the American flag during pledge of allegiance