Olive Garden Restaurants Find a Path to Success

A Danish philosopher once said “Life Can be Understood by Looking Backward but Must be Lived by Looking Forward”.  Gene Lee Olive Garden’s CEO has reached into his marketing toolkit looked back at what worked and found a formula for success moving forward.  

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ stated; “In Q4 Lee looked back at what drove top line sales and bottom line profits while edifying customer counts and found that Olive Gardens Omni-Channel promotion previously called Today and Tomorrow worked.” 

The now “Buy One Take One” promotion last ran in December helping drive same stores sales. It works like this; Customers can start with unlimited soup or salad & breadsticks, then they can choose from a variety of delicious entrées. Finally, choose a second entrée to take home for tomorrow.

Olive Garden’s industry success is a four step process according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ Steven Johnson.  Those four steps are Build, Measure, Learn, and Repeat. Olive Garden’s team understands the power of the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared grocerant food niche to garner brand loyalty. They have run, refined, and retool this promotion on four different occasions.  Why, because it works!

After implementing the Marketing ROI tools of Build, Measure, Learn and Repeat this iteration of “Buy One Take One” customers can first choose an entrée for dine-in, then select from Cavatappi with Asigo Garlic Alfredo, Penne with Basil Garlic Marinara, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Mezzaluna Ravioli with Marinara, or, upgrade to a premium entrée the ilk of Citrus Chicken Sorrento, Proscuitto Tortellini Alfredo or Baked Parmesan Shrimp (for an additional price). 

Then customers can pick a freshly prepared entrée to take home from this list; Cavatappi with Asigo Garlic Alfredo, Penne with Basil Garlic Marinara, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Mezzaluna Ravioli with Marinara.  At that point Olive Garden freshly prepares their selection, packages it and chills it so it is ready to take home. 

Success does leave clues, and the Readay-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food sector aka the Grocerant Niche is driving top line sales and bottom line profits and a is clue no food retailer should misplace. Could you use Outside Eyes to help drive inside profits? We have been doing this since 1991.

Gene Lee has looked back and is sees on the future of retail foodservice.  That future success is the Grocerant niche filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food that will continue to drive top line sales and bottom line profits.  Olive Garden is edifying customer loyalty while garnering a larger share of stomach, while regaining market share. 

www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a brand leveraging marketing integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche and has been since 1991 Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us