America’s beloved casual Italian restaurant is embracing smaller portions and lower prices as a permanent feature.
Olive Garden revealed during its quarterly earnings call on Thursday that it plans to introduce a ‘Lighter Portions’ menu across all its U.S. locations by January 2026.
This new menu will offer scaled-down versions of seven popular dishes at significantly reduced prices.
The menu revamp includes lighter servings of Chicken Parmigiana, Eggplant Parmigiana, Cheese Ravioli, Fettuccine Alfredo, Five Cheese Ziti al Forno, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Lasagna Classico.
Darden Restaurants, the parent company of Olive Garden, began testing these menu changes in 40% of its outlets starting in September.
CEO Rick Cardenas shared that the initial testing locations reported a notable boost in customer perceptions of affordability, with many diners returning for more of the lighter options.
‘Olive Garden has seen a double-digit increase in affordability perceptions from guests who order from the lighter portions menu and an increase in frequency among these guests, which should help build traffic over time,’ he said in the meeting, per Fox Digital.
The lighter meals cost between $12.99 and $13.99, varying per location. Full-sized portions can run guests up to $25 depending on the market.
Olive Garden will roll out their ‘Lighter Portions’ menu to all locations by the end of January 2026
The new menu selection features cheaper, smaller favorites including fettucine alfredo
CEO Rick Cardenas announced the exciting change at Darden Restaurant’s quarterly earnings call on December 18
Cardenas originally planned to start offering Lighter Portions on a much slower schedule.
Olive Garden’s 900 plus locations were supposed to start their rollout during the next fiscal year and into the following year.
But Cardenas was spurred to get things moving ‘faster than we anticipated on the back of rave reviews from customers.
‘It’s doing so well and delivery is doing so well, we just decided to keep going,’ he said.
With the raging success of the soft launch, Olive Garden has no plans to spearhead a massive campaign for the official rollout in January.
‘Currently, we’re not expecting, or we’re not thinking about marketing it to our guests,’ Cardenas said, per People.
‘Because it’s doing pretty well on the menu the way it is.’
Darden restaurants clarified that lighter portions are ‘not replacing anything.’ Instead it will provide an additional, more affordable entree choice for guests.
Join the debate
Is Olive Garden making dining better by offering lighter portions or just cutting corners on value?
Dishes including the five cheese ziti were already available at 40 percent of Olive Garden locations after testing began in September
Olive Garden’s Eggplant Parmigiana and Chicken Parmigiana are included in the seven smaller dishes
Some of the ‘Lighter Portions’ items were already featured in smaller sizes on the lunch menu, including the lasagna
Olive Garden is known for their annual ‘all you can eat’ pasta menu, which allows guests to keep refilling their plates for a flat price.
But it seems more and more American consumers are actually interested in ordering less food.
A 2024 study by the National Restaurant Association indicated that 75 percent of consumers want smaller portions for lower prices when they go out to eat.
Olive Garden is not a complete stranger to small portion sizes. Many locations across the US already offer lunch portions.
Smaller versions of lasagna, fettucine alfredo, spaghetti and ravioli are available on weekdays from open until 3pm.
But new, Lighter Portions will be available all day everyday come January.
The Daily Mail contacted Olive Garden and Darden restaurants for more information.
