Olive Garden To Sell An Unprecedented 21,000 Never Ending Pasta Passes

More pasta lovers than ever before have the chance to snag a coveted Olive Garden Never Ending Pasta Pass on Sept. 15. To celebrate the 21 st anniversary of its fan-favorite promotionNever Ending Pasta BowlOlive Garden is selling up to 21,000 passes for one hour this year.

Last year, 2,000 Never Ending Pasta Passes were claimed in less than one minute, so Olive Garden is giving more guests the opportunity to get an all-access pass to enjoy seven weeks of Never Ending Pasta Bowl. Beginning Thursday, Sept. 15 at 2 p.m. ET, up to 21,000 passes will be available for one hour exclusively via www.OliveGarden.com/PastaPass for $100 per pass.

"Within seconds of last year's Pasta Pass sale beginning, our most enthusiastic fans clicked 'purchase,' becoming part of an exclusive club and the envy of pasta lovers everywhere," said Jose Duenas, executive vice president of marketing for Olive Garden. "We know there are more fans than there were Pasta Passes so we're expanding the club tenfold to give more guests an all-access pass to our most popular promotion of the year."

For seven weeks, from Oct. 3 through Nov. 20, every Pasta Pass holder dining at Olive Garden will have access to unlimited pasta, homemade sauces, pasta toppings, soup or salad, breadsticks and Coca-Cola soft drinks. This year, the most popular Olive Garden entre, Chicken Alfredo, is being introduced as part of the Never Ending Pasta Bowl lineup. Guests without a Pasta Pass can take part in Never Ending Pasta Bowl and enjoy unlimited pasta starting at $9.99 throughout the seven-week promotion starting Oct. 3.

In partnership with Feeding America, after the online sale is complete, Olive Garden will be auctioning additional Pasta Passes on eBay. Olive Garden will donate 100 percent of all proceeds from the auction to Feeding America, with a minimum guaranteed donation of $21,000, to fight hunger in local communities. Guests can join the conversation with #PastaPass and connect with Olive Garden at Facebook.com/OliveGarden, Twitter.com/OliveGarden and Instagram.com/OliveGarden.

ABOUT OLIVE GARDEN

Olive Garden is the leading restaurant in the Italian dining segment with more than 800 restaurants, more than 96,000 employees and more than$3.8 billionin annual sales.Olive Garden is a division of Darden Restaurants, Inc., (NYSE: DRI), which owns and operates more than 1,500 restaurants that generate over $6.8 billion in annual sales.Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., and employing more than 150,000 people, Darden is recognized for a culture that rewards caring for and responding to people.Olive Garden is committed to making a difference in the lives of others in the local community.As part of this commitment, Olive Garden restaurants have donated more than 35 million pounds of food to local community food banks across the country. For more information, visitwww.olivegarden.com. Connect with us on Facebook.com/OliveGarden, Twitter.com/OliveGarden and Instagram.com/OliveGarden.

SOURCE Olive Garden