The Wholesome Thing Olive Garden Does With Leftover Food

Olive Garden is, by design, associated with abbondanza –- the Italian word for abundance. Not only was the Italian word incorporated in a mid-1990s advertising campaign, it also helps describe the company's seemingly "more is better" approach to food. Between the large portion sizes and "never-ending" menu items like soup, salad, breadsticks, and pasta bowls, it's nearly impossible to leave the restaurant without plenty of Olive Garden leftovers – especially breadsticks. But Olive Garden wants to make sure that as little food as possible goes to waste, which is why every one of its restaurants participates in Feeding America's mobile food pantry program and donates surplus food to food banks across the country.

Olive Garden has been participating in Feeding America's Harvest program for more than 20 years. According to Olive Garden General Manager Will Cerrud (via YouTube), the program started after local restaurant managers started donating surplus food to local charities; "We thought it would be something great to do and make it a program where all the restaurants would be included." At the end of each night, any leftover food that has been prepared but not been served to guests is picked up by local food programs. "It's something that our team members and managers can take pride in, knowing that we're helping out our communities. We're not just grabbing food and throwing it away," Cerrud said. "It shows our spirit of Italian generosity as well."

The initiative adds up. Between 2003 and 2019, the restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine donated 40 million pounds of food to hunger relief programs across the United States — enough food to create 400 meals per day.

Feeding America largely receives food donations from supermarket chains and food companies. Still there are other restaurants and quick service organizations that partner with the organization. These include Dunkin, Cheesecake Factory, and El Pollo Loco. In addition to providing food access and conducting food rescue, the organization also helps provide food during disaster relief efforts and conducts research to better understand where food insecurity hits hardest throughout the U.S.

Olive Garden's efforts help feed the 47 million people –- including one in five children –- across the United States whom Feeding America says deal with food insecurity.  But a lot more help is needed. Which is likely why the philanthropic arm of the restaurant chain's parent company, Darden Restaurants, has been donating money and, with its partner Penske Truck Leasing, refrigerated trucks for use as mobile food pantries. To date, Darden and Penske have donated trucks to more than 50 Feeding America food banks. 

In addition to Olive Garden, Darden also owns Longhorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Chuy's, the Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V's, and Bahama Breeze, and used to own Red Lobster. The company has donated more than $20 million to Feeding America since 2010 and more than 146 million pounds of food through the Darden Companies Foundation. Clearly, Olive Garden and its parent company live by the pasta-loving chain's slogan: "We're all family here."