Olive Garden to open Monday

CHIEFTAIN PHOTOS/JOHN JAQUES
Laura Howell is general manager of the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant at 3240 N. Elizabeth St.

By KAREN VIGILTHE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Darden Restaurants Inc. will mark the first opening of its Tuscan-farmhouse design Olive Garden Italian Restaurant in Southern Colorado on Monday.
The restaurant, 3240 N. Elizabeth St., is scheduled to open at 4 p.m. Monday, serving only dinner for the first week. The restaurant's closing hours are at 10 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays, and at 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Beginning Feb. 12, regular hours will begin with lunch served at 11 a.m. daily.
The restaurant is patterned after Olive Garden's Riserva di Fizzano restaurant in Tuscany, Italy. It has a rustic stone exterior, typical of the buildings in the Italian countryside, and an interior accented by Italian imports.
Soaring vaulted ceilings, supported by exposed wood beams, stone and wood accents, and terra cotta highlight the interior. The bar top is crafted from lava stone, then hand-painted by Italian artisans with an Olive Garden exclusive design.
An estimated 150 jobs will be created with the opening of the 247-seat, 7,480- square-foot Pueblo restaurant, according to Laura Howell, the restaurant's general manager.

Larry Ayres (left), a certified trainer for Olive Garden, conducts a training class for Pueblo's new restaurant opening Monday.
Construction began in September.
According to the National Restaurant Association's 2007 industry forecast, Colorado restaurant sales are expected to grow 6.4 percent this year, one of the highest percentages nationwide.
Olive Garden, a division of Darden Restaurants, is based in Orlando, Fla., and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, DRI.
Darden Restaurants says that Olive Garden is the leading restaurant in the Italian dining segment with 595 restaurants, more than 70,000 employees and $2.6 billion in annual sales. Darden Restaurants also claims the status of being the world's largest casual-dining company in sales and market share.
Pueblo's Olive Garden sits adjacent to another of the company's chain restaurants, Red Lobster. The company also runs Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill restaurants, and Bahama Breeze restaurants nationally. http://www.chieftain.com/business/1170526129/1