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Darden Restaurants will begin delivering Olive Garden food via Uber later this year.
The parent company behind the Italian chain and other restaurant brands said Thursday it would do so as part of an ongoing “exclusive, multi-year” delivery partnership with Uber.
“Through this agreement, restaurant diners will be able to order on-demand delivery through Darden's restaurant channel, with delivery being handled by Uber Direct through Uber's nationwide delivery network,” Darden said in a press release.
A customer enters an Olive Garden restaurant on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, in Pittsburgh, California. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Darden said Uber will begin delivering Olive Garden food to customers' doorsteps from a “limited number” of locations later this year.
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Darden said the company aims to expand Uber Direct first-party delivery from its pilot phase to be available across all Olive Gardens by May of next year.
Olive Garden has hundreds of restaurants across the country.
| Ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| dry | Darden Restaurants, Inc. | 172.27 | +13.13 |
+8.25% |
| Uber | Uber Technologies Inc. | 75.28 | +1.78 |
+2.42% |
“Customers are turning to us for delivery options and continue to demonstrate their willingness to pay for that convenience,” Darden CEO Rick Cardenas said in a statement Thursday. “As we continue to evaluate delivery, it was important to us to find a way to meet this customer need without disrupting the experience of our team members or customers or compromising our competitive advantage and simple operating model.”
Darden will charge Olive Garden customers the same price whether they choose to dine in, take out or have their order delivered, Cardenas told investors on the company's earnings conference call. He suggested the food served will be similar to what the chain currently sells for takeout orders.
The headquarters of car-sharing technology company Uber in the South of Market (SoMa) district of San Francisco, California. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“Any additional delivery costs will be transparent to guests, and Uber's technology platform allows guests to track their order from start to finish,” he added.
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“On-demand delivery has increasingly become a core consumer expectation,” Sarfaraz Mareedia, head of the Americas and vice president of delivery for Uber Eats, said in a statement. “People also expect a great experience, whether it's in the restaurant or at home, especially when it's from a brand they love like Olive Garden. We're confident that together our teams can deliver on that promise and continue to grow first-party delivery as a channel.”
Before striking the deal with Uber, Cardenas said Darden had begun “more serious discussions” with the ride-sharing company about Uber Direct in the spring.
April 15, 2012: The exterior of the Olive Garden restaurant. (iStock/iStock)
Uber first launched Uber Direct in 2020.
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Cardenas said Darden sees its Uber Direct delivery partnership as a long-term revenue growth driver.
In the first quarter, Olive Garden brought in a total of $1.2 billion in sales and $249 million in profits for Darden, representing declines of 1.5% and 5%, respectively, from a year ago. Overall, Darden achieved sales of $2.76 billion and net income of $207.6 million across its various restaurant brands.
Olive Garden has been in business since the 1980s.
