Olive Garden's sales are dropping as customers cut back. Now, it's revamping its menu.
Olive Garden's menu of pastas and endless breadsticks failed to keep customers coming back this summer, with sales wilting at the Italian-restaurant chain. Now, the company plans to bring back some dishes it discontinued during the pandemic to convince diners to return.
The chain is bringing back its steak gorgonzola alfredo and stuffed chicken marsala, two dishes that it stopped serving during the pandemic, according to Ricardo Cardenas, the CEO of Olive Garden parent company Darden Restaurants. It's also expanding its Never Ending Pasta Bowl offer by adding a new sauce — garlic herb — as an option.
Cardenas, who spoke during a September 19 earnings call, said the returning dishes will give "guests another reason to visit in the back half of this fiscal year."
Olive Garden blamed its sales slump on "the sales softness that impacted the industry in July," according to Darden Chief Financial Officer Raj Vennam on the call. Several restaurant chains have reported struggling to attract inflation-weary customers this year, especially as restaurant prices have surged 28% since January 2020, prior to the pandemic, prompting some to roll out savings promotions, such as McDonald's $5 value meal.
"We always want to give our guests more of what they love when they come to Olive Garden, which is why we're bringing back our Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo and Stuffed Chicken Marsala later in our fiscal year," said Olive Garden spokeswoman Brittany Baron in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.
The company has also seen a rebound in the first three weeks of September, she added.
Olive Garden's same-restaurant sales dropped 2.9% in its fiscal first quarter, which ended August 25. Darden CFO Vennam noted the company was "surprised by the significant step down in traffic beginning with the 4th of July holiday," but also added that sales picked up in August.
Olive Garden's new menu additions
The Italian chain added the garlic herb sauce as of September 23, Baron said. She added that the $13.99 price of the Never Ending Pasta Bowl hasn't changed since 2022.
The company had discontinued the steak gorgonzola alfredo and stuffed chicken marsala dishes during the pandemic because it "streamlined our menus to help simplify operations and ensure the highest level of execution for our guests," she added.
Darden CEO Cardenas said bringing back the two dishes will help the restaurant add more protein-based main courses.
"Both have been recast with higher-quality ingredients and easier execution for their restaurant teams," Cardenas said on the conference call. "This announcement received tremendous applause from their general managers at their GM Conference in August."
Darden last week also announced that Olive Garden is teaming up with Uber to offer third-party delivery service for the first time. Individual orders will be picked up and delivered by Uber Direct, a premium delivery service. Olive Garden won't be listed on the broader Uber Eats platform.
If the initial pilot is successful, the delivery option will expand nationwide by May 2025, Darden said at the time.