The signs are up. The parking lot is ready. The door has open hours. Olive Garden is scheduled to open on Memorial Day, May 26, according to the company website.. The newest Cartersville restaurant at 420 E. Church St. is actively seeking employees and has a Google listing.
While all public sources and the corporate Olive Garden site state the opening date is May 26, some online differ and are causing confusing with a May 29th date. There isn’t a sign or note at the location indicating an opening date but May 26 is listed on Yahoo and the corporate page. The communications director at the corporate Olive Garden office in Orlando, Fla., didn’t respond to phone calls.
However, there were contracting work trucks parked in the parking lot on Monday.
It took years to get an Olive Garden in Cartersville and the success was brought about a few loyal Olive Garden fans who petitioned for it. They posted and put out petitions as early as 2012 to get the restaurant chain to notice Cartersville.
It remains to be seen if the timing is right for a new restaurant. Restaurants suffered during COVID-19 and are still trying to rebuild a customer base. Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden and with three other restaurant chains, recently made news by shutting roughly 30 percent of its restaurants.
Closures happened with one of Darden’s other chain, Bahama Breeze. Fifteen locations across eight states closed after Bahama Breese saw a 7.7 percent sales decline in 2024. Olive Garden and the two other chains under Darden, Longhorn Steakhouse and Red Lobster, remain unaffected by the cutbacks.
Despite rumors, Olive Garden has posted job positions for servers at its Carterville location on its corporate website. It also has signs in front of the restaurant telling people those interested in working for Olive Garden to text OGJobs to 6100.
Its corporate site shows the company is being aggressive in promoting the Italian restaurant chain. Six Olive Gardens recently opening with three in Texas, one in Colorado, one in Indiana, and one in Austell, Ga. Four more, including the Cartersville location, are scheduled to open by June 9.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Germany. She is the former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF news.