It's a nice gesture meant to welcome you into the restaurant, while the following baskets are more of a professional courtesy. From a business standpoint, this makes sense. After all, Olive Garden can't exactly be giving out overflowing baskets full of breadsticks away for free.

In 1982, Olive Garden opened its first restaurant in Orlando, Florida, as a part of the General Mills empire, and since day one, the chain has been serving unlimited breadsticks.

Some patrons take particular delight in the fact that the chain restaurant offers a bottomless supply of breadsticks as a prelude to your meal. You can have as many breadsticks as you like; they're endless, per a policy that the chain has once argued is a gesture of "Italian generosity."

It's no longer a secret that Olive Garden's breadsticks aren't made in-house, but where the restaurant actually gets them from isn't common knowledge. According to Darden Restaurants - the company that owns Olive Garden and a number of other chains - Turano Baking Company is the longtime supplier of its breadsticks.

It's believed that it originated in 1643, when a Florentine abbot described a long-shaped and "bone-thin" bread being made in a town outside of Turin. Tradition states, however, that it originated in the region of Piedmont in the 17th century, invented by a baker called Antonio Brunero, from Turin.

But what happens after baking that makes these breadsticks so damn good? Butter and garlic salt - seriously. Immediately after baking, the breadsticks are lightly brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with garlic salt.

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.

Servers are trained to only bring two breadsticks per person per table, plus one extra, when you're greeted. After that, you have to ask for more, and even then they'll only bring you one more per person for each request, which is a company policy designed to cut down on waste.

Fresh, Never Frozen Olive Garden has an industrial-sized bread maker that cooks the dough flawlessly and keeps those golden brown beauties warm until they are served. A fresh batch of breadsticks is cooked every 15 minutes, so you're always guaranteed a hot one.

Breadsticks, also known as grissini, grissino or dipping sticks, (ghërsin in Piedmontese: [gəɾˈsiŋ]) are generally pencil-sized sticks of crisp, dry baked bread that originated in Piedmont, a region of Italy. There is also a soft-baked breadstick version popular in North America.

Breadstick is one type of yeast-leavened dry bread characterized by a crispy and crunchy texture resembling that of pretzels, crisp flatbreads and crackers.

Pre-made, dried breadsticks can be found being sold in markets as a quick snack or a pre-meal appetizer for home use, somewhat similar to a cracker. Usually served with a dip of some sort, such as cheese.

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.

14 surprising things you didn't know 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.

That's not to say you can't enjoy bread - just keep count of those breadsticks. At 140 calories a pop they can add up quick (and that's not even including any dipping sauce). When dining at Olive Garden, soup or salad and a shrimp entree are going to be your best bets.

portions of dough and roll each one into sticks that are about 7 inches long.