The Wholesome Thing Olive Garden Does With Leftover Food

Olive Garden is, by design, associated with abbondanza –- the Italian word for abundance. Not only was the Italian word incorporated in a mid-1990s advertising campaign, it also helps describe the company's seemingly "more is better" approach to food. Between the large portion sizes and "never-ending" menu items like soup, salad, breadsticks, and pasta bowls, it's nearly impossible to leave the restaurant without plenty of Olive Garden leftovers – especially breadsticks. But Olive Garden wants to make sure that as little food as possible goes to waste, which is why every one of its restaurants participates in Feeding America's mobile food pantry program and donates surplus food to food banks across the country. 

One of the several ways that Darden, Olive Garden's parent company, gives back to its community is via its Harvest program, which is entirely driven by its team members in its restaurants. Since 2010, the Darden Harvest program has donated more than 146 million pounds of food — with six million pounds from 2025 alone. 

Breaking down the numbers, the Harvest program feeds roughly 440 million people a year from the surplus food not used at Darden's restaurants. Team members ensure that whatever extra is left come closing time is safely packaged for donation to Food Donation Connection, a non-profit that works to connect Darden restaurants with shelters, food pantries, and soup kitchens. Not only does this feed those who are hungry, but it keeps unnecessary waste out of landfills.

Olive Garden has been participating in Feeding America's Harvest program for more than 20 years. The initiative adds up. Between 2003 and 2019, the restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine donated 40 million pounds of food to hunger relief programs across the United States — enough food to create 400 meals per day.

Olive Garden's efforts help feed the 47 million people –- including one in five children –- across the United States who Feeding America says deal with food insecurity.  But a lot more help is needed. Which is likely why the philanthropic arm of the restaurant chain's parent company, Darden Restaurants, has been donating money and, with its partner Penske Truck Leasing, 50 refrigerated trucks for use as mobile food pantries, to priority communities — those suffering acutely from food inequities and insecurity — to increase the amount of fresh food brought in and donated.

In addition to Olive Garden, Darden also owns Longhorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Chuy's, the Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V's, and Bahama Breeze, and used to own Red Lobster. The company has donated more than $20 million to Feeding America since 2010. Clearly, Olive Garden and its parent company live by the pasta-loving chain's slogan: "We're all family here."