Olive Garden controversies

Animal-welfare groups criticize sourcing progress

Open Wing Alliance and other advocacy groups criticized Darden and Olive Garden over progress toward cage-free egg commitments and the sourcing of animal products from intensive production systems. Darden subsequently expanded its cage-free commitment to international operations with a 2027 target.

Patron sues Olive Garden over injuries during shooting escape

Lawsuit filed

A lawsuit was filed against Olive Garden after a girl was injured while attempting to leave a Louisville location of the restaurant. According to the filing, the girl was eating at the Olive Garden when a man was shot to death there the previous year, and her mother alleged that her daughter suffered damages as she tried to exit the restaurant during the incident. The suit was brought by the girl's mother against the restaurant.

The mother of a girl who was eating at a Louisville Olive Garden when a man was shot to death the previous year sued the restaurant, alleging damages to her daughter while she tried to leave.

Starboard Value's operational critique

Starboard Value publicly criticized Olive Garden's menu complexity, breadstick waste, pasta preparation, packaging, and perceived gap between advertised and served food. The allegations were made as part of an activist campaign against Darden's management rather than as a government finding of wrongdoing.

Questions over the Tuscan culinary institute representation

News reporting cited in the reference material questioned whether Olive Garden's advertised Tuscan cooking institute operated as a formal school. The reporting described employee visits to Tuscany involving hotel accommodation and limited restaurant sessions rather than a conventional institute.