Olive Garden already offers vegan-friendly breadsticks, minestrone soup, marinara sauce, and six pasta shapes according to its own official menu. The one thing missing from a completely plant-based meal is the meatball. Ask Olive Garden to close that gap by adding plant-based meatballs to its menu today.
Olive Garden's current menu includes no plant-based proteins, leaving vegans and those interested in shifting to compassionate food options without a protein choice. This is a solvable problem, and other chains have already solved it nationwide. Applebee's offers the Impossible Burger, Chipotle has plant-based sofritas, and Chili's has a vegan-friendly black bean burger patty. IKEA's plant-based meatball, made from pea protein, now accounts for a meaningful share of the more than one billion meatballs it sells each year. Multiple foodservice suppliers already sell ready-made plant-based meatballs in bulk to restaurants, so Olive Garden would not need to develop a recipe from scratch.
The demand is real: millions of Americans are vegan, and millions more want to try plant-based options and shift toward more compassionate food choices. With more than 950 U.S. locations, Olive Garden has the scale and the existing vegan menu items to make this an easy addition. If "when you're here, you're family," holds true, then family should mean every guest gets a full seat at the table, plant-based eaters included.
Please ask Rick Cardenas, President and CEO of Darden Foods, to add plant-based meatballs to the menu by signing the letter below.
Call Olive Garden's Guest Relations line at 1-800-331-2729 and press 5 to speak with a live representative. Hours of operation: Monday–Friday from 9am-5pm Eastern Time.
Suggested script: "Hi, my name is [Name], and I'm calling to ask Olive Garden to add a plant-based meatball to the menu. You already offer vegan breadsticks, minestrone soup, marinara, and several pasta shapes. A plant-based meatball would let guests order a completely plant-based meal. Could you please share this feedback with your leadership team? Thank you."
Tag Olive Garden directly so the request shows up where the brand is watching.
Instagram: @olivegarden
Facebook: facebook.com/OliveGarden
Suggested comment: "@olivegarden You already offer vegan-friendly breadsticks, minestrone, marinara, and pasta. Please add a plant-based meatball so we can order a fully plant-based meal! 🌱 #AddThePlantBasedMeatball"
Your menu already lists breadsticks, minestrone soup, marinara sauce, and six pasta shapes: angel hair, spaghetti, bucatini, fettuccine, rigatoni, and small shells, as vegan. The only thing missing for a completely plant-based meal is a meatball.
Many restaurant chains have already added plant-based proteins to their menus nationwide. Applebee's offers the Impossible Burger, Chipotle has plant-based sofritas, and Chili's has a vegan-friendly black bean burger patty. IKEA's plant-based meatball, made from pea protein, now accounts for a meaningful share of the more than one billion meatballs it sells each year. Multiple foodservice suppliers already sell ready-made plant-based meatballs in bulk to restaurants, so Olive Garden would not need to develop a recipe from scratch.
Millions of Americans are vegan, and millions more want to try plant-based options and shift toward more compassionate food choices. With more than 950 U.S. locations, Olive Garden is well positioned to serve them. Please add a plant-based meatball to the menu so every guest, including vegans, can order a completely plant-based meal.
Thank you for your full consideration and positive response.
