Olive Garden Adds Spaghetti Pie to Its Repertoire

Plus more changes, including eggplant parmesan breadstick sandwiches

Forget endless pasta bowls. Olive Garden's latest push for culinary innovation has arrived in the form of deep-dish spaghetti pies, according to BuzzFeed. In an effort to bring in "new twists on an Italian classic," Olive Garden says plans to roll out these pies alongside two additional breadstick sandwiches.

Last summer, Olive Garden debuted breadstick sandwiches as a main menu item, showcasing everyone's favorite part of a meal at the restaurant. The chain's famous breadsticks became the focal point of new chicken parmigiana and meatball sandwiches as the company worked to rebound from falling sales.

Now, Olive Garden is adding a spicy Calabrian chicken breadstick sandwich and an eggplant parmigiana option, along with the spaghetti pies, which come topped with either meatballs and meat sauce or grilled chicken and Alfredo sauce. The spaghetti is packed into a crust with seven cheeses and Italian bacon, then baked.

The changes Olive Garden has introduced in the last year have apparently had the desired effect: In April, the chain's parent company announced a 6.8 percent same-restaurant-sales increase for the first quarter of 2016.

from Eater - All http://ift.tt/1TDodp0
via IFTTT