Rumor Has It…
March 12, 2025
In the past couple of weeks, a rumor about Olive Garden coming to Greenville, supposedly by Jersey Mike’s and Texas Roadhouse, has been tossed around. Alternatively, the same rumor has been tossed around but at I-30 and FM1565 in unincorporated Caddo Mills. We reached out to Darden Corporate Media Relations and asked about their plans for an Olive Garden in Greenville Texas. This is the response we received.
“Thanks for reaching out. As Olive Garden continues to grow, our real estate teams are constantly looking for sites across the country. However, we do not comment on any specific plans until a project has received the necessary approvals.BRITTANY BARONManager, Communications”
What does that mean for the Greenville rumor? Darden Corporation, like many large-scale retail businesses, is heavily involved in real estate, and prefers to own the property their restaurants are built on. The restaurant leases the property from Darden Corporate in what’s called a triple net lease. No property related to Darden Corporate shows up on the Hunt County tax records. This might mean it’s still a rumor, or that while there are discussions of Olive Garden coming to Greenville, no deals have been finalized, and no permits approved. Darden Corporation does offer franchise opportunities for its restaurants, where the franchisees can lease a site for a Darden restaurant, so a franchise deal could be working its way through the various powers that be.
Darden restaurants include Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, The Capital Grille, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Yard House, and Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen.
The better question is would we want an Olive Garden in Greenville when there are already three great locally owned Italian restaurants, Fatto A Mano, Billito’s, and Tony’s Italian Kitchen.