{"id":1114,"date":"2014-03-05T21:40:03","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T21:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2016-11-16T03:24:49","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T03:24:49","slug":"schadenfreude-in-the-olive-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/schadenfreude-in-the-olive-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Schadenfreude in the Olive Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

The internet\u2019s abuzz with witticisms and wry critique of Olive Garden\u2019s recent rebranding efforts, including a logo redesign and menu face-lift. \u00a0We\u2019re here to offer our own two cents, and in the best of spirits, kick the Garden while it\u2019s down.\u00a0 Because it\u2019s just that<\/i>bad.<\/p>\n

OG\u2019s \u201cbrand renaissance\u201d is coming on the heels of a consistent decrease in traffic and sales \u2013 according to Business Insider, traffic plunged 13% alone last December \u2013 and seems like too little, too late for the ailing chain, particularly because the hullabaloo is primarily cosmetic.<\/p>\n

\"honest-olive-garden-logo1\"<\/p>\n

www.g4tv.com<\/p>\n

As some<\/a> have noted, Olive Garden\u2019s outdated previous logo \u2013 launched in 1998 \u2013 served its purpose quite well.\u00a0 When people entered a Garden, they knew what they were going to get \u2013 bad pasta and loads of free bread sticks \u2013 and the chain sat comfortably at the back of everyone\u2019s minds, save for the occasional office party or devotee\u2019s birthday celebration, where it remained relatively free from scrutiny under the stipulation that it never was to take itself seriously.<\/p>\n

While drawing a healthy helping of negative attention, the redesign has attempted to resituate the brand on the market by increasing consumer expectation in multiple capacities.\u00a0 Wrong move, particularly when the chain\u2019s food quality is sure to remain the same.\u00a0 But what is<\/i> changing?<\/p>\n

\"olive-garden-building1\"<\/p>\n

Again, the Garden\u2019s new logo is taking center stage.\u00a0 The ashen redesign is flatter and more contemporary while still attempting the warmth of the original, but as many pundits have noted, it falls flat on its face.\u00a0 No more can really be said, at this point, about what makes it just that<\/i> bad, but we\u2019d like to add we find it strangely reminiscent of the Golden Corral\u2019s logo \u2013 maybe not in the way of typeface or color palette, but in the prominence of its font, with one line slightly indented as if in some last-ditch attempt to offer any visual cache whatsoever.<\/p>\n

\"golden-corral-logo-1024x6451\"<\/p>\n

Other changes on the docket include decrease in both prices and the size of plates, though it remains to be seen whether portion sizes themselves will shrink as well, an industry no-no for any restaurant, but particularly for a \u2018casual,\u2019 family-oriented establishment that churns covers because of its \u2018value.\u2019\u00a0 Each location will also receive a physical make-over, shifting interiors from a homey, family-style mood to one slightly more nouveau italiano.<\/p>\n

While the OG will be adding some new dishes \u2013 and, counter-intuitively, excising several menu favorites \u2013 it\u2019s odd they aren\u2019t attempting high-profile cross-branding as a quick fix to boost themselves out of a rut.\u00a0 That is, taking in a celebrity chef could have been a good move because, after all, what\u2019s a \u201cbrand renaissance\u201d without remaking the brand cornerstone \u2013 dish quality?\u00a0 But they didn\u2019t play that card, and it\u2019s too late to now regardless.<\/p>\n

Ok, we feel kind of bad now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The internet\u2019s abuzz with witticisms and wry critique of Olive Garden\u2019s recent rebranding efforts, including a logo redesign and menu face-lift. \u00a0We\u2019re here to offer our own two cents, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-branding","category-marketing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Olive-Garden-logo-201411.png",395,292,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Olive-Garden-logo-201411-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Olive-Garden-logo-201411-300x222.png",300,222,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Olive-Garden-logo-201411.png",395,292,false],"large":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Olive-Garden-logo-201411.png",395,292,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Olive-Garden-logo-201411.png",395,292,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Olive-Garden-logo-201411.png",395,292,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":4,"uagb_excerpt":"The internet\u2019s abuzz with witticisms and wry critique of Olive Garden\u2019s recent rebranding efforts, including a logo redesign and menu face-lift. \u00a0We\u2019re here to offer our own two cents, and...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1114"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1121,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114\/revisions\/1121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imagemme.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}