Olive Garden Promises Smaller, Cheaper Plates

Fret not, Olive Garden lovers: The "endless" breadsticks aren't going away.

An Olive Garden in Hialeah, Fla. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)But new management has big changes in store for the casual dining chain, which touts family-style Italian food and has struggled with declining sales.

The chain's president, Dave George, told investors on Tuesday the changes include creating a new logo and toning down its the "Old World Style," the Tuscan-style stonework and wooden archways that have been a signature part of Olive Garden restaurants since 2000.

"You're not going to see stainless steel showing up tomorrow in a Tuscan Farmhouse," George said, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

George, who became Olive Garden's president in January, said the look would be "more relevant." Olive Garden is part of the Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants (DRI) chain that includes Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse.

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The chain also plans to make its menus more varied and affordable. Darden Restaurants CEO Clarence Otis said that the changes are being made to be "more responsive to the financial realities of our guests," according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Among Olive Garden's changes: smaller plates, cheaper items, and lower-calorie meals. New offerings, placed on the menu in October, include a 420-calorie lasagna primavera with chicken, and a lunch calzone and sandwich combo that costs $6.95. Two weeks ago, all new uniforms were issued - a more contemporary black button-down shirt and black slacks, a shift from the wide ties and white shirts.

The overhaul comes after same-restaurant sales fell 1.2 percent in the 2012 fiscal year that ended in May. For Darden, same-restaurant sales are a year-over-year comparison of sale volumes for restaurants open the last 16 months.

"We became overly confident," read a line in George's presentation. "Our historical competitive advantage has narrowed."

"We were slow to react to changing guest needs," another slide said. "The experience takes too long."

RJ Hottovy, a senior restaurant analyst at Morningstar, said Olive Garden isn't alone. The casual dining market has become tougher in recent years, he said.

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"The core casual dining patron finds itself in a much more difficult position than a decade ago -- that's put pressure on traffic trends," Hottovy said.

He said the rise of fast casual restaurants like Chipotle (CMG) and Panera (PNRA) has also encroached on Olive Garden's market.

Dining experience aside, Darden Restaurants said it also was hurt by reports in November that the company planned to cut employee hours to avoid paying for health insurance as mandated for large companies by the Affordable Care Act. The company has since said it would not reduce the hours of full-time workers.

"That's a theme we're seeing across the restaurant industry, not Olive Garden specifically," Hottovy said. "I think that may have been a little bit overblown ... but I think it will be something that ends up pressuring margins for a lot of restaurants next year."

(Read More: Darden Sees Lower Traffic as Consumers Pinched by Economy)

Olive Garden menus are largely the same at its 818 restaurants, although prices vary. At a restaurant outside of Seattle, a grilled chicken Caesar salad costs $11.95. At the same restaurant, a bowl of minestrone soup costs $5.95, and a plate of spaghetti with meat sauce costs $12.95. (Those previously mentioned doughy breadsticks come with every entre and are so popular that they have a Facebook page with 1.5 million "likes.")

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'Endless' Love? Smaller, Cheaper Plates at Olive Garden

Fret not, Olive Garden lovers: The "endless" breadsticks aren't going away.

But new management has big changes in store for the casual dining chain, which touts family-style Italian food and has struggled with declining sales.

The chain's president, Dave George, told investors on Tuesday the changes include creating a new logo and toning down its the "Old World Style," the Tuscan-style stonework and wooden archways that have been a signature part of Olive Garden restaurants since 2000.

"You're not going to see stainless steel showing up tomorrow in a Tuscan Farmhouse," George said, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

George, who became Olive Garden's president in January, said the look would be "more relevant." Olive Garden is part of the Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurantschain that includes Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse.

(Read More: Darden Sees Lower Traffic as Consumers Pinched by Economy)

The chain also plans to make its menus more varied and affordable. Darden Restaurants CEO Clarence Otis said that the changes are being made to be "more responsive to the financial realities of our guests," according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Among Olive Garden's changes: smaller plates, cheaper items, and lower-calorie meals. New offerings, placed on the menu in October, include a 420-calorie lasagna primavera with chicken, and a lunch calzone and sandwich combo that costs $6.95. Two weeks ago, all new uniforms were issued — a more contemporary black button-down shirt and black slacks, a shift from the wide ties and white shirts.

The overhaul comes after same-restaurant sales fell 1.2 percent in the 2012 fiscal year that ended in May. For Darden, same-restaurant sales are a year-over-year comparison of sale volumes for restaurants open the last 16 months.

"We became overly confident," read a line in George's presentation. "Our historical competitive advantage has narrowed."

"We were slow to react to changing guest needs," another slide said. "The experience takes too long."

RJ Hottovy, a senior restaurant analyst at Morningstar, said Olive Garden isn't alone. The casual dining market has become tougher in recent years, he said.

(Read More: Subway 'Wouldn't Exist' If Started Today Due to Regulations — Founder Deluca)

"The core casual dining patron finds itself in a much more difficult position than a decade ago -- that's put pressure on traffic trends," Hottovy said.

He said the rise of fast casual restaurants like Chipotle and Panera has also encroached on Olive Garden's market.

Dining experience aside, Darden Restaurants said it also was hurt by reports in November that the company planned to cut employee hours to avoid paying for health insurance as mandated for large companies by the Affordable Care Act. The company has since said it would not reduce the hours of full-time workers.

"That's a theme we're seeing across the restaurant industry, not Olive Garden specifically," Hottovy said. "I think that may have been a little bit overblown ... but I think it will be something that ends up pressuring margins for a lot of restaurants next year."

Olive Garden menus are largely the same at its 818 restaurants, although prices vary. At a restaurant outside of Seattle, a grilled chicken Caesar salad costs $11.95. At the same restaurant, a bowl of minestrone soup costs $5.95, and a plate of spaghetti with meat sauce costs $12.95. (Those previously mentioned doughy breadsticks come with every entre and are so popular that they have a Facebook page with 1.5 million "likes.")

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Major makeover for Olive Garden

Remember when you were "family" as soon as you walked into an Olive Garden? Remember when the restaurants' exterior and interior were laden with every bit of faux-Italian kitsch under the Tuscan sun? Yeah, that's over.

Welcome to The O.G. In an attempt to turn around the flagging performance of its Olive Garden chain, parent company Darden International (DRI) is tearing down the stone-and-wood archways that have been in place since 2000 and sprucing up the logo.

After installing new Olive Garden President Dave George in January, cutting quarterly expectations for both its Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains and suggesting to The Associated Press that fewer Olive Gardens will open in the next year, a struggling Darden is getting ready to gut its Italian dining cornerstone down to the bottlomless breadsticks. The chain is promising to vary its menu, lower its prices and make it healthier and more "relevant." Unfortunately, it has done all this before with limited effects.

Back in October, Olive Garden introduced 600-calorie menu items and swapped its "When You're Here, Your Family Slogan" for the peppier "Go Olive Garden." The result? Olive Garden sales fell 1.2% for all of 2012. Now the chain is swapping the staff's white shirts and wide ties for the same black button-down shirt and black slacks customers see at just about every other casual-dining chain.

Extracting what remains of Olive Garden's personality may not solve the chain's personality crisis. Since Olive Garden's heyday in the early 2000s, fast-casual chains like Chipotle (CMG) and Panera (PNRA) have been chipping away at its customer base. NPD Group says casual-dining sales in general have been dropping steadily since early 2010 as diners 18 to 47 years old flee in droves. Unsustainable price specials like 2-for-$20 meal deals have eroded casual-dining's value.

While diners are spending 5.5% more at casual-dining chains that offer healthier options, they're spending a lot less at places like Olive Garden overall. Darden has repeatedly placed the blame for woes at Olive Garden and its other chains on Obamacare, payroll taxes and just about everything besides its food and prices. It's just dressing its old problems in some new clothing.

So, farewell fake Tuscan farmhouse and funny waiter ties. The American dining public that's slowly ditching Olive Garden for fast-casual and specialty chains like Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) eagerly awaits the staid, stainless steel specials factory that's coming next.

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Epcot set to bloom for Flower & Garden Festival

2012 Epcot Flower Fest
One of the fan-favorite topiaries, on display for the 2012 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, Friday, March 3, 2012, at the park at Walt Disney World. (JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival returns for its 20th run on Wednesday. Some elements, including several topiaries and the floating gardens, already are in place at the theme park. There are new twists this year, including 12 marketplaces serving distinctive food and drink plus, for the first time, most of the gardens will be illuminated for night viewing.

We'll have loads of details in next Friday's Calendar section, but in the meantime here are a few of the Flower & Garden attractions in place and a heads-up on future sights.

•When you see the Captain Hook topiary in the United Kingdom pavilion, look up for a new perspective on Peter Pan.

•A garden tied to Disney film "Oz the Great and Powerful," opening March 8, includes a few carnival games, pansies (and colored turf) that form the yellow-brick road, a slew of playground equipment and a shade-providing tent made from a downed hot-air balloon. Nearby: glass poppies.

•It's easy to spot topiaries of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in Germany, dancing princesses near France, a troll in Norway, and Lady and the Tramp in Italy. Coming soon: a Sully (touting "Monsters University" movie, which premieres June 21) that's more than 11 feet tall and weighs about 2 tons.

•The front flower bed is installed in the wee hours before the festival begins. Expect a backyard-cookout theme with Mickey Mouse grilling up hot dogs, Donald and Daisy in a badminton match and Goofy perilously balancing a giant cake marking the fest's 20th year.

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