Friday, June 24, 2011

Does Olive Garden really send all their chefs to Italy for training


Does Olive Garden really send all their chefs to Italy for training?
In their commercials Olive Garden says that all their chefs are sent to their school in Tuscany, Italy. I can't imagine they would lie so blatantly but I find this very difficult to believe. What's the deal?
Other - Dining Out - 4 Answers
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1 :
HAHA no some of the chefs are named jose and juan!
2 :
I seriously doubt it.
3 :
There is in fact a cooking school here in Italy in Toscana with an associated restaurant called the Riserva di Fizzano http://www.riservadifizzano.com/ that is associated with Olive Garden. I doubt that all the cooks get to visit, but this may be a matter of who they call a chef. Note that indeed the chefs come to the restaurant and the culinary institute and take courses in the winter: http://www.riservadifizzano.com/en/the-restaurant-agriturism-tipical-tuscan-cuisine/culinary-institute-of-tuscany-relais-agriturismo.html The restaurant is very good and as you can see, the menu is not what you get at Olive Garden: http://www.riservadifizzano.com/en/the-restaurant-agriturism-tipical-tuscan-cuisine/our-menu.html which is "Tuscan inspired" (but Americanized)
4 :
If they do and I would imagine it is against the law to deceive people it would be there corporate chefs and training chefs, so they can be sent out and show the techniques to various outlet, even for Olive Garden a division of General Mills, it would very expensive to send every cook in the chain. I was a chef for many years in a Canadian hotel chain, worked in Canada, Asia and the Caribbean, I to was sent to operation for prestigious catering events, I worked 2 functions for the Royal family in my tenure
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