The Olive Garden Gets a (Much-Needed) Extreme Makeover [POLL]

Olive Garden

The Garden Is Facing Sagging Sales

The Olive Garden may be "committed to providing every guest with an authentic Italina experience," but if sales are any indication, the American restaurant-going public has said "Ciao."

There may be 750 Olive Garden restaurants across the country, but the once popular chain has lost much of its appeal in recent years and, as the Chicago Tribune reports, is need of a revamp.

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"They pour subpar wine and play Dean Martin music and call it an Italian restaurant," a disgruntled Olive customer tells the Chicago Tribune, "it feels like the same thing all over again." His viewpoint will ring true for many and, with sales slipping, Olive Garden is now trying to win back customers who have fallen out of love with the Italian Stallion. Their plan is simple, and threefold:

- New menu focusing on lower-priced items
- Remodeled restaurants
- Nixing those cloying commercials

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"Can Olive Garden be fixed? Absolutely. Yes. Is it an easy fix? No," says Mark Kalinowski, a restaurant analyst who covers Darden for Janney Capital Markets. We have to agree that it won't be an easy fix, but you only have to look at Wendy's to see how a little facelift can do wonders for a struggling chain."

Maybe the first order of business should be to figure out who the core customer is. The chain is not child-focused (they once served alcohol to a toddler), and it hardly satisfies the high-demands of a true foodie. Further, according to Yahoo Finance, some have called into question the supposed Tuscan school where Olive Garden trains its chefs. A former employee who had been there, claims that “sporadic classes lasted maybe an hour here or there where they would 'talk about spices or fresh produce for a minute.”

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Seems like that could be at the crux of the issue. if you're going to preach that you're authentically Italian, you'd better be.