Working in the restaurant business is no joke — ask anyone who has worked in the restaurant business! If you've never had the pleasure of waiting on hungry people, let me keep it short and sweet: it sucks. Sure, there can be fun moments and you tend to make a lot of friends purely out of trauma, but it's really hard work!
Olive Garden Employees Get Real About What It's Like To Work At The Popular Chain
When it comes to the worst type of restaurants to work at, I think many people can agree it's a chain restaurant.
Unsplash | Ivan Stern
Customers can get very picky about a certain dish they had at the same restaurant three states away. Being a part of a chain means people have certain expectations going into their dining experience and are less open-minded about changes to the process or menu.
Now, we're giving you the hottest scoop from Olive Garden employees who are sharing all the details about working at the beloved food chain.
As you'd expect, Olive Garden employees get a nice discount at their own restaurant but did you know they also get a discount at LongHorn Steakhouse and Yard House since they share the same parent company?
Now that'sa nice!
While we all know the unlimited appetizers are nice for us, it turns out they're a total nightmare for the wait staff.
In 2015, an Olive Garden server told Cosmopolitan that the hardest part of the job "is serving our unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks."
Be patient with your waiter if your breadsticks refill takes a few minutes — there's a lot going on behind the scenes!
If you love eating at Olive Garden, it's probably a good idea to *not* work there.
In a viral TikTok video one veteran employee urged people to not eat there.
In the video, she states: "I worked there for 10 years. There's a reason why you feel like [explective] after you eat there. Just trust me, don't eat there."
Yikes!
The "culinary institute" Olive Garden boasts about their chefs attending isn't exactly what you'd imagine...
Unsplash | Michael Browning
For years now, there's been talk about the handful of chefs who get to attend the elusive training institute in Italy. According to one Reddit user who claims to have gone on the trip, it isn't the Le Cordon Bleu experience you may have imagined.
The user described the experience in a thread specifically about the chain restaurant's ties to an Italian culinary institute, explaining, "It was more like a hotel, during the off-season, with restaurant on-site."
"They would use the restaurant (closed to the public ... off-season) as a classroom for maybe an hour here or there and talk about spices or fresh produce for a minute before going sightseeing all day."
The person went on to say that it was more like a PR stunt than a proper culinary training course, saying, "They paid for everything from meals, sightseeing, flight, everything except souvenirs. But in return, they sent pre-written articles to ... local newspaper[s] with fake quotes from me and a group photo."
Interesting!
Last but not least, many employees say it's hard to rid yourself of the smell of the Olive Garden.
A Reddit user who claimed to be both a bartender and server at Olive Garden admitted that "You smell like garlic, onions, and Italian salad dressing. I never smelled appetizing to myself and I would shower as soon as possible after my shifts ..."
Yum!
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