900 restaurants About Olive Garden Olive Garden is the leading restaurant in the Italian dining segment with nearly 900 restaurants, more than 99,000 employees and more than $4.9 billion in annual sales.

The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is no. Of Olive Garden's 40 current restaurants outside of the U.S., not one is in Italy. In fact, there are no Olive Garden locations in Europe at all. Most are located in the Americas, and there's one in the Caribbean, two in the Philippines, and one in Saudi Arabia.

Olive Garden is one of those chain restaurants that will always have a special place in most people's hearts - in large part, because of the breadsticks. The Italian-American chain is known for their unlimited salads, endless pasta offerings and those famously warm, soft breadsticks that make customer feel like family.

Read on for more surprising facts about Olive Garden.

• They've been ranked the number one Italian chain restaurant.
• They used to share buildings with Red Lobster restaurants.
• The look of the original restaurant models resemble a Tuscan farmhouse.
• It started as a Florida-based restaurant.

Gaeta Olives The Gaeta olive is the black gem of Italian olives. It is the best for cooking purposes and also the most renowned and well-liked among Italians.

Olive Garden is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian–American cuisine. It is a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in Orange County, Florida.

The Italian-American chain is known for their unlimited salads, endless pasta offerings and those famously warm, soft breadsticks that make customer feel like family.

Olive Garden is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian–American cuisine. It is a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in Orange County, Florida.

The dishes we're known for. The fvorites you crave. Our signature garden salad and freshly baked breadsticks with Never Ending servings of your choice of homemade soup. Never Ending refills of Soup, Salad & Breadsticks available dine-in only.

The main Italian olive varieties. Moraiolo and Frantoio, the olives of Tuscan oil. Nocellara del Belice and other olives from Sicily. Olive varieties from Puglia: Coratina, Ogliarola, Leccese, Cellina.

Kalamata. The ultimate Greek olive is Kalamata olive, one of the best-known and one of the most famous olive varieties in the world. They are purply in color, oval in shape, and have a smoky and rich flavor.

With more than 900 restaurants nationwide, we are uniquely positioned to help fight hunger in the communities we serve. In 2003, we created our Harvest program, where all restaurants gather wholesome, surplus food every day and carefully prepare it for weekly donation to a local non-profit organization.