Big Changes Are Coming to Olive Garden and Idahoans Aren’t Happy

Growing up, was there a restaurant that your family celebrated every occasion at? It didn’t matter if it was birthdays, anniversaries or holidays, you knew what restaurant you were looking forward to. 

Apparently Olive Garden’s old “when you’re here, you’re family” slogan really resonated with our parents because the Italian chain restaurant was that restaurant for us. We’ve got a lot of fond memories of sipping on raspberry lemonade, picking all the croutons out of the endless salad and reminding the server that we were ordering the Create a Sampler Italiano “as a meal.” 

READ MORE: Popular Restaurant Chain With 4 Locations in Idaho Abruptly Closes

Olive Garden’s been making family dinners memorable for decades, but their CEO recently said something that didn’t sit well with even the most loyal Idaho customers. Thanks to inflation and a shaky economy, more and more people are cutting dining out from their list of luxuries. That’s why struggling chains like Red Lobster, Chili’s and Applebee’s have started trying to woo back customers with discounted meal deals. 

Red Lobster will admit that they kind of messed up by adding their “Endless Shrimp” offer to the regular menu. It did increase foot traffic but because the meal was so filling, people weren’t ordering additional items like apps, drinks and desserts. At $20 a plate, they were losing more money than they were making. In Q3 2023 alone, they lost more than $11 million. 

That’s probably why Chili’s and Applebee’s put a little more thought into their discounted meals. Chili’s is doing a “3 For Me” combo where you can pick a beverage, starter and main course. Some of those combos are as low as $10.99. Applebee’s occasionally does a “2 for $25” deal where customers can get two entrees, a full sized appetizer and salads for a really reasonable price. 

Olive Garden Says “NO” to Discounts

Meanwhile, the Darden Restaurants owned chain says they absolutely will NOT be creating special meal deals and discounts in an attempt to increase traffic. CNN reveals that Darden’s CEO said “We’re not doing that. Even at a time that our competitors have ramped up discounting”  during a recent earnings call. 

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In fact, they’re doing the exact opposite. They’re slowly increasing prices across their menu and that’s been hard for cash-strapped Idahoans who frequent the chain’s six locations in the Gem State. CNN notes that Olive Garden has already hiked prices up by 3.5%.

During that same call, their CFO said that Olive Garden will probably raise their prices another 2.5-3% to keep in line with inflation. He also noted that the restaurant’s menu has been underpriced by about 20% for the last five years. 

While customers aren’t happy about the price hikes, Darden is confident that it’s the right move and is not willing to try high-risk discounting tactics. They fear that once you do a deep discount, customers will keep expecting bigger discounts in the future and that could lead to losses similar to what Red Lobster experienced. 

They’re perfectly content with raising prices but continuing to offer refills on soup, salad and breadsticks like they’ve always done.