Olive Garden is still making a place for customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While shopping and eating locally is at the forefront of many internet memes and marketing plans, American chains are feeling the same
hardships as mom-and-pop restaurants.
Darden, which owns and operates restaurants, such as Olive Garden,
LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Yard House and Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, scrambled to make changes to 1,800 of its locations, just to keep its doors open.
Those changes did not just happen in one national sweep, though. Under the guidance of Darden’s national vision, and under restrictions in each state, establishments like the Champaign Olive Garden were making adjustments locally to meet local customers’ needs.
In Champaign, that implementation came under the direction of
Mahomet’s Jason Hodges.
Hodges knew early on that restaurant management is where he wanted to be professionally.
“I worked in the produce department of a grocery store and was a short order cook for a local burger place during my senior year of high
school,” Hodges said. “I decided to go to college at Purdue and earn a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management. It was at Purdue that I did a lot of research on companies in the hospitality industry and
Olive Garden was a top option.”
On June 1, Hodges will have been with Olive Garden for 22 years.
The anniversary will likely look unlike any other that has come before
June 2020. Illinois may be ready to move into another phase of the
Stay-at-Home order, but if the guidelines are similar to other states
at this time, the Champaign Olive Garden will have additional
adjustments to make.
Moving from a dine-in experience to providing quality food via
curbside or delivery was an adjustment for Olive Garden, which only
offered delivery with a large-order minimum prior to closing its
dining room.
Now, offering delivery within a 15-mile radius of its Champaign
location, Hodges also worked to make the pick-up experience at Olive
Garden a smooth transition within days of learning that dining rooms
would be closed. Parking spots were lined and numbered, signage was installed, apps were utilized and no-contact food distribution was put into place.
Darden Restaurants President and CEO Gene Lee reported that adjustments tripled To Go sales since dining rooms were closed on March 20th.
Specifically, Olive Garden’ off-premise sales nearly tripled over two
weeks, while LongHorn Steakhouse quadrupled its To Go sales.
But according to an April 7 Business Insider, “Olive Garden’s
same-store sales were down 71-percent the week ending March 22,
65-percent the week ending March 29, and 60-percent the week ending April 5. The casual dining chain has been building its to-go sales, going from an average of $20,549 in to-go sales per restaurant the week of March 22 to an average of $39,133 in the most recent week.”
The same report stated the LongHorn Steakhouse’s sales were down by 69-percent or more every week in the final part of March while Darden’s other brands saw same-store sales drop an average of more than 80-percent every week during the same time period.
While the food delivery system may be different, Hodges said that he
and his staff have the same vision in mind.
“At Olive Garden, we believe in treating all of our guests like
family, especially during times like the present,” he said. “We aim to
provide each guest a comfortable Italian dining experience that can be shared with their family and friends, whether that’s in-restaurant, or through To Go or delivery.”
Hodges believes in treating Olive Garden employees like family, too.
Although the national chain, composed 866 restaurants in North
America, has thousands of employees under its umbrella, locally,
Hodges’ team has 120 local team members when the restaurant is
operating under normal circumstances.
Like other organizations, Olive Garden had to furlough many hourly
employees and some at the Restaurant Support Center.
During this time, Gene Lee, has worked without pay, and will continue to do so until the organization is on the other side of these adjustments. The rest of the employees at the Restaurant Support Center and senior operations leaders took a 50-percent salary reduction.
Despite the organization’s losses, Hodges said he is proud to continue to be part of an organization that puts community first.
“We support local school fundraisers, help feed local high school
teams, and contribute to sponsorships, to name a few,” he said.
“I think the most important outreach we do as a restaurant company is to help provide hunger relief in the local communities we serve.
“Every day, Olive Garden donates wholesome, surplus food to local food banks and other nonprofits through our Harvest program. Items such as soups, sauces, lasagna, meat and vegetables are donated. These are not leftovers; it’s unused, fresh food.
“Here in Champaign we donate our food to Eastern Illinois Food Bank.”
Additionally, in early April, the Darden Foundation made a $2 million donation to support Feeding America and its member food banks across all 50 states. For every dollar donated, Feeding America can supply 10 meals to people in need.
“It’s an immediate way to help and it helps us be a stronger community partner because, even though it’s a national program, it’s very local,” Hodges said. “It’s also one of the many ways that we work to make a difference in our communities, which helps build a strong sense of employee pride.”
Locally, Olive Garden has been involved with Teacher Appreciation
Week. But nationally, it has also been the “unofficial sponsor of
the pre-prom dinner.” As teens missed out on one highlight of their
high school careers, the Italian-American chain encouraged students to dress up in their formalwear and tweet pictures to Olive Garden using the hashtag #OliveGardenProm or direct message the brand on Instagram.
Olive Garden then took the photos to create a one-of-a-kind experience with breadsticks and crowns.
“We wanted to help students commemorate their 2020 prom season by creating custom prom photos of them with their dates and their
friends; that way they can still have memories with Olive Garden
around prom,” a Darden representative said.
Recently, Olive Garden reopened more than 625 restaurants across 15 states as states outside of Illinois began to reopen their economies. Restaurants in Florida, where Darden is based, could reopen at 25-percent indoor capacity and 6 feet of social distancing in outdoor seating.
In other states like Tennessee, restaurants can open at 50-percent
capacity and in Georigia, with limits of no more than 10 guests per 500 square feet are allowed.
Other measures such as temperature checks, face coverings and enhanced cleaning procedures are also being reported.
“This is an important first step as it gives us the opportunity to
bring some furloughed team members back to work, while giving our
guests the option to dine with us,” Lee wrote.
For the time being, the Champaign Olive Garden will continue to
operate under Illinois’ stay-at-home guidelines, providing delivery
and curbside pickup.
Hodges said, though, that Champaign’s local restaurant will continue
to adapt and be responsive to customer’s needs.
“Restaurants are an indispensable part of people’s lives,” he said.
“Millions of people every day choose to dine out and it’s always
humbling when they choose to visit with us. For our guests, they make a decision on where to spend their hard-earned money and it’s up to us to make sure they feel like that was the right decision.”
