Olive Garden it will open its new restaurant in Uniontown today.
Howard Gardner will be the manager and the eatery will employ 170 people at the start.
At a cost of about $4 million, the Olive Garden in Uniontown is the newest Olive Garden in the family of more than 800 local restaurants committed to providing every guest with a genuine Italian dining experience, a company spokesman said.
The restaurant, located at 517 W. Main St., will open at 11 a.m. today.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to lead the Uniontown restaurant and a great team at Olive Garden,” Gardner said.
Gardner brings extensive restaurant industry experience to his new position. He has been with Olive Garden for 19 years, most recently as general manager of the Olive Garden in Bethel Park.
Gardner is one of more than 1,400 managers who have visited Olive Garden’s Culinary Institute of Tuscany in the Tuscan village of Riserva di Fizzano, which serves as the source of inspiration for some dishes on Olive Garden’s menu.
He added the menu will feature Italian specialties, in addition to signature items such as homemade soups, garden-fresh salad and warm, garlic bread sticks.
To recognize Gardner’s role as head of the Olive Garden family in Uniontown and to emphasize the importance the company places on its general managers, Olive Garden honored Gardner by setting his name in stone. Travertine marble imported from Tuscany was chiseled with Gardner’s name and placed prominently by the restaurant’s front door.
The 7,441-square-foot restaurant can host up to 246 guests and features a design that is inspired by traditional farmhouses found in Tuscany, Italy. Olive Garden design teams traveled to Italy to work with Italian architects Fabio and Lucia Zingarelli and the result is a restaurant design that recreates the warmth and simple beauty of a Tuscan farmhouse.
The Uniontown Olive Garden has a rustic stone exterior, typical of the buildings in the Italian countryside, and an interior accented by Italian imports. Ceilings supported by exposed wood beams, stone and wood accents throughout, and terra cotta tile highlight the interior.
In addition, the bar top is crafted from lava stone and hand-painted by artisans in Italy with a design created exclusively for Olive Garden. Vibrant imported fabrics decorate windows and dining seats, while hand-painted plates, adorn rustic stone and stucco walls.
The restaurant also will feature numerous sustainable design elements, including recycled building materials, enlarged windows to increase natural light, low-water landscaping and energy-efficient equipment. These enhancements are part of the Sustainable Restaurant Design initiative launched by Darden Restaurants, Olive Garden’s parent company.
Olive Garden is now accepting applications for employment. To be considered for an interview, applications can be made online at www.OliveGarden.com/Careers.
Olive Garden has more than 90,000 employees and more than $3.5 billion in annual sales. Olive Garden is a member of the Darden family of restaurants, the world’s largest full-service restaurant operating company. In 2012, Darden was named to the FORTUNE “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for the second year in a row and is the only full-service restaurant company to ever appear on the list.
The Uniontown Olive Garden also will participate in the Darden Harvest program, which has donated more than 50 million pounds of food to local community food banks across the country.
The Uniontown Olive Garden will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
For more information, visit online at www.olivegarden.com.
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