Darden Restaurants, Inc.’s DRI Italian unit, Olive Garden, has started offering Italian Meatball and Chicken Parmigiana Sandwich. As part of the menu innovation, the company’s popular breadsticks have been combined with sandwich buns and offered as part of the lunch menu.
The meatball sandwich is available for $6.99, while the chicken parmigiana is priced $7.99. Like all the other dishes, unlimited breadsticks are also available with the sandwiches. Further, the meal includes homemade soup or Famous House Salad.
Olive Garden is offering free samples of the Signature Breadstick Bun Sandwiches throughout this summer with Breadstick Nation – a seven-week nationwide tour of four Olive Garden food trucks. The tour has already begun in New York City with other trucks joining later which will cover 20 cities in the U.S.
In addition, the restaurant chain has introduced other items like Shrimp Fresco Appetizer, shrimp served chilled with a fresco sauce dip. Further, the company is serving Sausage Stuffed Giant Rigatoni – pasta filled with flavored Italian sausage and topped with meat sauce and melted mozzarella – as a permanent menu item.
The company is allowing diners to add grilled chicken marinated with Italian spices to the salads of their choice. The company has also introduced a Vanilla Panna Cotta with fresh blueberries.
Olive Garden is offering other customizations like, Tuscan Duo Create Your Own Lunch Combination, featuring unlimited soup or salad and a variety of lunch options, including Signature Breadstick Bun Sandwiches, Italian Mac & Cheese Mini Pasta Bowl and flatbreads. Further, another combo meal includes 2 for $25 Tuscan Dinner. It features a three-course meal for two, with unlimited homemade soup or salad, a choice of two Tuscany-inspired entrees from a select menu and dessert, all starting at $25.
These menu innovations are the latest effort made by the company to revamp Olive Garden's menu and marketing. Despite posting positive comps for the second consecutive quarter, Olive Garden has been underperforming for a long time.
In fact, to boost the performance of its flagship brand, the company is implementing a set of initiatives under the Brand Renaissance Plan. These include simplifying kitchen systems, improving sales planning and scheduling, developing core menu items and making smarter promotional investments.
Also, the brand is focusing on remodeling. The revamped restaurants are already generating high same-restaurant sales and returns. The company is also focusing on technology-driven initiatives like implementation of tablets across its system to capitalize on the digital wave that has hit the U.S. fast casual restaurant sector.
Sales have picked up since the company introduced mobile ordering in Nov 2014. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company expects the Brand Renaissance Plan to gain further momentum, going ahead.
Other Stocks to Consider
Other stocks in the restaurant industry that can be considered include BJ's Restaurants, Inc. BJRI, Ruby Tuesday, Inc. RT and Zoe's Kitchen, Inc. ZOES. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1.
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