The History of the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

Olive Garden serves a wide range of Italian dishes.

Olive Garden is an Italian-themed restaurant chain with sites in every American state, except Alaska and Hawaii, as well as outlets in Canada. It is marketed as a family style restaurant that takes its menu inspiration from Tuscany. Does this Spark an idea?

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Founding
- The Olive Garden chain was founded in Orlando Florida in 1982 by General Mills Inc, being added to the companies long list of well-known brands including Red Lobster, Hamburger Helper and Bisquik.
The Split
- In 1995, the restaurant division of General Mills split away to become its own publicly traded company, Darden Restaurants.
Culinary Institute
- Olive Gardens commitment to authentic Tuscan cooking led to the creation in 1999 of a culinary institute in Tuscany. The brand sends hundreds of its managers and chefs to spend time at the institute to further their understanding of Italian Cuisine.

Photo Credit Pasta image by Yvonne Bogdanski from Fotolia.com

Comments

Mae Ann Mar 28, 2011
i love all recipes of OLIVE ITALIAN RESTAUARANT!

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