Olive Garden Has Been Committing A Food Crime With Its Pasta
By Chase Shustack
Although Olive Garden borrows heavily from Italian cuisine, one traditional culinary method that the restaurant chain doesn't do is add salt to its pasta water.
Olive Garden executives have explained that using copious amounts of salt would void the warranty on their pots, so it's cheaper to avoid any unnecessary damage to their cookware.
Some say that avoiding such a simple rule is incredibly trivial and that Olive Garden should focus on giving guests the best and most authentic experience possible.
In 2014, Starboard Value, a stockholder in Olive Garden's parent company, presented how Olive Garden could improve profit margins, including by salting the pasta water.