Olive Garden’s never ending flavor story starts with a special tomato

Many phrases are associated with Olive Garden. The iconic Italian dining restaurant brand welcomes guests to the table as family and gives them a never ending bounty of food, just like grandma would. While those moments celebrate the brand’s hospitality and charm, it is the flavors that have a bigger story that deserves to be discovered. It is the journey of a simply, juicy, ripe fruit that is the true never ending Olive Garden flavor story.

When people think of Olive Garden, the basket of breadsticks and salad often come to mind. Add to that moment, a dinner of never ending pastas awaits, and it ends with a mint as you leave. The entire experience is more than just another plate of food. Even with 900 restaurants in the portfolio, the behind-the-scenes care and craft mixed into those favorite recipes is vital to the brand satisfying guests with great food.

Recently, I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes into the Olive Garden world. Instead of stepping into the test kitchen to see how those recipes are created, a different opportunity awaited. The real secret sauce starts on the farm. As any chef appreciates, quality ingredients are where the true flavor lies.

Anyone who has been to California’s central valley appreciates that the farming community is the heart of the region. While other areas tout their wine grapes, these working farms plant acres of pistachios, almonds, and tomatoes. From the fertile soil to the sunny days, this area nurtures nature’s bounty and creates exceptional flavor.

Many food lovers appreciate a great farm to table story. Celebrated chefs put farmers’ names on their menu or even cultivate their own produce. Large-scale restaurant brands, like Olive Garden, do the same, just on a much more expansive scale.

Every year, Olive Garden’s head chef, Terrence Tookes, travels to the same Fresno farm to see the annual harvest. As the OPC Farms team work the fields and Neil Jones Food Company processes the fruit, Chef Tookes knows that his trusted partners have helped to grow the perfect tomato, which makes Olive Garden’s signature marinara sauce.  

While it might seem like a well-crafted, creative narrative, the reality is that Olive Garden does and will continue to focus on its recipes, especially its signature marinara, from the ground up. Starting from the seed, the culinary team understands the flavor profiles that work with the menu. It is more than just grabbing any can off the shelf. Without revealing any trade secrets, the tomatoes’ sugars, textures, and flavors need to balance Olive Garden’s other ingredients. Working together, the team ensures that every time a guest sits at the table, that marinara sauce is just what they remember.

From eating that tomato straight off the vine to seeing it packaged to eating it in Olive Garden’s signature marinara, the fruit’s journey might have been short that day, but the concept is rooted in the brand’s tradition. Cooks appreciate that the freshest, best ingredients make for more flavorful food.

Olive Garden’s process facilitates that concept. A fresh packed, arguably, signature tomato, ensures that the dipping sauce for those breadsticks or the sauce for that pasta is consistent across its 900 restaurants. From today's never ending pasta bowl to tomorrow's sauce for toasted ravioli, guests will get that same deliciousness every time.

No one is naïve enough to think that Olive Garden could locally source tomatoes from artisan farms like a single restaurant can. It would never allow the consistency that a large scale restaurant operation requires. But, Olive Garden can and does find ways to bring thoughtful, flavor forward choices to the table. Using the fresh packed tomatoes is a prime example. Every restaurant brand has a choice in the ingredients it uses. Olive Garden has found that this process is the best choice for them.

Although few people will parse apart the tomatoes in that marinara sauce or contemplate its path from farm to table, the Olive Garden culinary team did and will continue to do so. Why not ask for an extra boat of marinara sauce with those breadsticks and give an extra dip. Those tomatoes are another never ending Olive Garden food story waiting to be enjoyed.