Via iStockphoto / @weluvliliana TikTok
A woman vented her frustration after her Olive Garden server dropped off her bill while she was still eating.
An Olive Garden customer was in the middle of enjoying her chicken gnocchi soup—with plans to take advantage of the chain’s free refills on soup—when her server dropped the check off at her table. She felt like the server was pushing her out the door. Is this really Olive Garden’s new policy, as some commenters suggested?
A short clip shows TikToker Paige (@weluvliliana) sitting inside an Olive Garden, with an annoyed expression on her face. “Server just dropped my bill on the table..girl im not done with my refills,” the on-screen text reads.
She shows viewers her mostly filled bowl of gnocchi soup.
Olive Garden Servers Weigh In
Paige’s clip garnered 424,000 views. Many Olive Garden workers claimed the server was enforcing a new corporate policy, much to their disdain.
“Please complain to Darden corporate.. it’s their new policy. We as employees are also annoyed!-OG employee of 4 years,” one viewer remarked.
“Darden wants employees to have under, i think, 35 minute ticket times for lunch and under 45 minutes for dinner. They are crazy,” another echoed.
“As a server we have to drop the bill off after 2 minutes. i always make sure to say there’s no rush we just have to drop it off,” a third explained.
Another sais, “I just got in trouble for this today. I hate rushing my tables but they have ‘two bite red light’ where after appx two bites of food, we have to show the table the check.”
While Olive Garden’s parent company, Darden, hasn’t publicly acknowledged this policy, Olive Garden servers complained about the same thing in a an r/olivegarden subreddit back in February. At the time, this alleged policy seemed to vary by location.
One worker believed this is intended to have customers leave as fast as possible. “I mean [it’s essentially] half an hour for lunch ticket times and 45mins for dinner. Where is the – just take care of the guest – appetizers, drinks, dessert (esp dessert). Seems like OG corporate just wants people to come in order waters, [entrees] and gtfo,” they wrote.
BroBible reached out to Paige via TikTok comment and direct message. BroBible reached out Olive Garden via email.
Speed Of Service Matters
Time is money in business, especially in fast-paced ones like the restaurant industry. Restaurants often track “table turnovers”—aka how many customers they can seat at a table within a given period, according to Webstaurant Store. For example, Texas Roadhouse servers must follow the “strive for 55” rule. Customers should be sat down and out the door within 55 minutes regardless of party size, per Tasting Table. The higher the table turnover rate, the higher the profit.