Olive Garden's Tuscan Cooking School Is Not What We Thought It Was
With 876 restaurants across the United States, it's safe to say that Olive Garden is a widespread and popular place to eat. It's also quite successful. According to a report from CNBC, the restaurant chain saw an increase in sales and is a large contributor to the earnings of its parent company, Darden. So, how is this not-exactly-authentic brand raking in the cash? It seems that Olive Garden has gone through many menu changes to stay up-to-date with consumer tastes, and also maintains its ties to Italy by sending managers on a yearly all-expenses-paid visit to the Olive Garden Culinary Institute in Tuscany.
According to CNN, the Olive Garden Culinary Institute started hosting company employees for cooking instructions in 1999. But for this casual dining chain, the devil is in the details. A Reddit post by an ex-employee alleges that the culinary institute is not a cooking school at all, but something else entirely. In fact, it seems that employees spend more time sightseeing when visiting the institute than cooking or learning.
The culinary school controversy
In 2011, a Reddit user posted to the Ask Me Anything forum detailing their experiences visiting Olive Garden's Culinary Institute. In their post, the employee claimed that they were sent to the cooking school along with other restaurant managers in 2007 only to find that it wasn't really a cooking school at all, but rather more of an all-expenses-paid vacation with a few short classes about spices thrown in.
The employee also stated that after their return to the U.S., they were made to "wear a special chef coat and make conversation with guests who ordered the promotional meals". Olive Garden also released an article in the employee's local paper complete with made-up quotes about the experience.
So, the culinary institute may not be a school, but what is it? According to CNN, the property where the Olive Garden employees are sent is called the Riserva di Fizzano and is a hotel located on a beautiful piece of land in Tuscany. For most of the year, the hotel caters to travelers and foodies visiting the region and during the off-season it's rented out by Olive Garden for supposed culinary courses.
So, free trip to Italy?
We know what you might be thinking. Step 1 — work at Olive Garden, step 2 — become manager, step 3 — all-expenses-paid trip to Tuscany!
Unfortunately, while this program was active from 1999 to at least 2011, it is unclear whether or not the restaurant still sends its employees to Italy. Considering that the webpage on the Olive Garden website titled "Culinary Institute of Tuscany" doesn't have any information on the program, it's possible that it is no longer active.
According to The Week, the public's reaction to the news of what was really going on at Olive Garden's culinary school was quite negative. Some people were angry and upset, while others felt that no one should expect a real culinary school from a restaurant that cooks prepackaged food. So, it could be that Olive Garden canceled the program due to negative press and backlash. However, a cryptic photo posted to the Riserva di Fizzano Facebook page from 2022 prominently displays the restaurant's signage, deepening the mystery.