Darden Restaurants - Olive Garden

OVERVIEW
Olive Garden is a family of local restaurants focused on delighting every guest with a genuine Italian dining experience. Owned by Darden Restaurants, Inc., Olive Garden’s stated purpose is “Hospitaliano!, our passion for 100% guest delight.”

To achieve its goal, the Olive Garden Principles were created—the philosophical touchstone for all Olive Garden team members. The seven principles included a commitment to open and honest communication, mutual respect and strong teamwork and an expectation of regular, on-going training opportunities to sharpen and advance everyone’s skills.

OBJECTIVES
Patterson/Bach Communications was retained to assist Olive Garden in the development of an internal communications and training program in line with the Olive Garden Principles. The agency was tasked with the development of an easy and efficient way for restaurant management to provide continuous training to staff, as well as an inter-restaurant communications program for management staff.

IMPLEMENTATION
Utilizing the branding “Journey to Extraordinary Service,” Patterson/Bach created a series of communications tools that prompted restaurant management to conduct training, provided them with information to present, and reminded employees of their goals and expectations.

A desk calendar was designed for management with reminders of when and what to train staff, suggestions of ways to recognize them, and traditional restaurant notices, such as when to conduct inventory. A Manager’s Guide was also developed outlining restaurant procedures and communications and training objectives, and durable, waterproof Coaches Cards along with a service workbook were created as quick and easy training tools for shift managers to use during regularly scheduled Service Rallies. To remind staff of the goals set during Service Rallies, a dry-erase Service Rally Board was designed.

To help facilitate communication between restaurant managers, Patterson/Bach branded the “Friend on the Inside” program that encouraged managers to call on their peers and share information about what is working and not working in their restaurants. A “Friend on the Inside” Reference Guide was incorporated into the desk calendar to provide easy access to phone numbers to other mangers, as well as helpful tips compiled with the input from Olive Garden managers.

Manager’s Guide

Friend on the Inside Logo Design

Merchandise Brochure

Service Rally Coaches Cards

 

2003 Extraordinary Service Planning Calendar and Reference Guide

Service Rally Board

Service Workbook