Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Pass sold out in a second on Thursday, and 85% of buyers opted in for the chance to upgrade to the $500 lifetime pass, available this year for the first time.
The Never Ending Pasta Pass, which costs $100 plus tax, offers guests nine weeks of unlimited pastas and sauces from Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl menu. The deal also comes with unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks.
Choices include fettuccine and gluten-free rotini pasta, and creamy roasted garlic sauce and marinara sauce. Toppings like grilled chicken or vegetables will cost extra.
Never Ending Pasta Passes went on sale Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern time, and Olive Garden suggested interested diners enter an online waiting room five minutes earlier to prepare. The passes have sold out in seconds in the past.
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There are 24,000 Never Ending Pasta Passes available. Last year, 23,000 Never Ending Pasta Passes were offered.
For an additional $400 plus tax, the first 50 Pasta Pass holders can upgrade to the lifetime pass. Those 50 diners have 48 hours from the time they receive the email alerting them of their eligibility to snap up the offer. Olive Garden will work its way through the list of early pass buyers until the 50 are taken.
Olive Garden said most buyers wanted the chance to extend the perk for the rest of their lives.
Guests have to be 18 years old to purchase a lifetime pass, and though it never expires, the menu may change occasionally.
The Never Ending Pasta Bowls menu launches on Sept. 23. For Never Ending Pasta Pass holders, the unlimited perk lasts through Nov. 24. Only the person whose name appears on the card can use an Olive Garden pass.
In the past, Olive Garden has offered a full-year pasta pass and a pasta passport that took guests on an eight-day trip to Italy.
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Olive Garden announced the lifetime pass with a series of clues on the restaurant’s Facebook Page. The page’s followers are already talking about the meals they want to have.
“Matt for a mere $2,500 we can all eat OG every night for the rest of our lives,” wrote one commenter. “At a dollar a box of pasta it’s paid for itself in less than 7 years.”
Olive Garden
Olive Garden is part of the Darden Restaurants Inc. DRI, -1.62% portfolio of restaurant chains, which also includes Longhorn Steakhouse and Capital Grille.
Darden stock has gained 17% in 2019, while the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.25% is up 13.3% for the period.
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