When you’re here, you’re family?
The Olive Garden was recently outed in the press when an anonymous manager posted a statement revealing that their “Culinary Institute of Tuscany” is not a private chef school, but rather a hotel that the company rents in the off-season from November-March. WHAT!!!! Are you telling me that the Stuffed Chicken Marsala con bottomless breadsticks is not the product of a thriving super-secret culinary academy trained in Florentine gastronomy?
While I don’t think the average consumer was shocked by the findings, it does seem like they missed a golden opportunity to build some positive buzz. In fact, I believe that most customers would appreciate that the Darden group actually does rent out the 11th Century villa in Tuscany each year so that their general managers can experience authentic cuisine, and therefore pass along that culture and knowledge to their loyal patrons. While they are not necessarily “cooking,” they are becoming more informed in their trade, which will ultimately benefit their patrons.
But that positive PR campaign is lost, and replaced with the belief that while the corporate fat cats vacation in the rolling hills of Italy attempting to drink their weight in Sangiovese, the neighborhood kid is putting your $15 pasta dinner on high for 10 minutes while serving your 2 year old a sippy cup of (possibly adult) fruit punch.
Tagged with culinary, olive garden, public relations