BUSINESS
Is Olive Garden permanently closing all its locations?
There is no truth in the social media adverts suggesting the company was shutting down for good and it is in fact flourishing.
If you opened up Facebook or Instagram over the weekend you may have been met with advertisements of an Olive Garden restaurant with the word “CLOSING” above it. The caption of the advert, “All The Restaurant Chains Closing”, suggested that the Olive Garden’s business was on the ropes.
In reality, as proven by Yahoo, the adverts actually linked to an article of over 200 businesses that had locations closing this year. It claimed that Olive Garden had around 40 stores closing, but contact with the restaurant chain proves otherwise.
Olive Garden told Yahoo, “I’m not sure where the original information came from but I can assure you it is false.”
Olive Garden is not actually shutting down.
The financial strength of Olive Garden is healthy
On 21 September, Darden, the company that owns Olive Garden, published information of the most recent financial quarter. Olive Garden sales had increased by 6.1% on the same period a year prior. The restaurant chain had profits of $262.3 million, nearly $50 million more than the same period last year.
“Looking across our entire portfolio, I am pleased with our first quarter results,” said Darden President & CEO Rick Cardenas. “Our strategy is working. We continue to grow share, strengthen margins, and make meaningful investments in our business while returning capital to shareholders.”
Instead of widespread closures, Olive Garden actually increased its number of restaurants. At the end of August 2022 the chain could boast 887 restaurants, that number has now increased to 906, representing the faith Darden have in the brand and its financial success.