If you visit an Olive Garden this month, you might get a whiff of change. The Italian food chain has begun rolling out its redesigned décor and logo—a two-course rebranding effort to ditch its cheesy reputation for one that’s slightly more sophisticated, albeit still family-friendly.
The overhaul is part of a “brand renaissance” announced last March by Darden Restaurants (DRI), Olive Garden’s parent company, and the effort includes smaller lunch portions, faster dine-in service, and online ordering. A logo update, the first in more than 15 years, and interior remodel are the visual signals of Darden’s strategy to win back customers lost to fast-casual brands like Chipotle (CMG) and Panera Bread (PNRA), which offers freshly prepared food at lower prices.
If you look closely, you might think that the new Olive Garden bears a striking resemblance to Panera Bread. Olive Garden has ditched its drab interior and faux Old World vibe for a more modern, open feel by removing some walls and decorating the remaining ones with brighter hues and modern art. Look familiar?
To be fair, a few changes reinforce Olive Garden’s restaurant status. The plateware is now all-white to enhance presentation, and a lobby, and the bar area allows diners to booze up before gorging on unlimited breadsticks.
The décor is unoffensive and charmless, much like the new logo. The revised mark— “based on work assisted by Lippincott, a nationally-recognized design firm,” according to Olive Garden—is a simplified take on the horrible yet endearing old symbol, which featured a loose cursive font and a cluster of grapes against a stucco-like background. The new logo plays it safe with a more restrained script, an ash-gray backdrop, and olive branches where the grapes once were. It also replaces the tagline “Italian Restaurant” with “Italian Kitchen,” connoting fast and high-quality fare.
The logo received its fair share of criticism when it was unveiled earlier this year. Writing for Fast Company’s Co.Design website, John Brownlee praised the honesty of old design:
“At least you knew what it meant: bad food served in a depressing mass-produced setting.”
A more generous appraisal might see the new Olive Garden design as less bad than the old. But that might not be enough to get customers in the door.
By rebranding, Darden hopes it can prop up its sagging star, which accounts for 40% of the parent’s revenue but suffered a 3.4 percent drop in same-store sales for the 12 months that ended on May 25. That same month, Darden sold its underperforming Red Lobster division for $2.1 billion, after the seafood chain was hit hard by a surge in shrimp prices. Darden knows its chain is lagging behind its competitors, but the rebranding suggests that instead of trying to sprint ahead, the company’s done just enough to try to catch up.
