It took less than a minute for pasta lovers to purchase all 24,000 of Olive Garden's "Pasta Pass" on Thursday. The Pasta Pass entitles customers to nine weeks of unlimited pasta, soup, salad and breadsticks.
For the lucky few who snagged a Pasta Pass, on Aug. 16, the first 50 Never Ending Pasta Passholders who opted in to the Lifetime Pasta Pass can upgrade to the lifetime pass for an additional $400.
“Olive Garden has always been known for Italian Generosity and making everyone feel like family, which is why we introduced our Pasta Pass five years ago,” said Jennifer Arguello, executive vice president of marketing for Olive Garden, in a news release. “With the introduction of our new Lifetime Pasta Pass, we’re excited to be a part of our biggest fans’ memories around the table for years to come."
While 24,000 customers were no doubt happy to score the passes, some didn't find the process fair.
Unless you had a home or business based fast connection to the internet, you weren't getting a pass... They sold out in .1 second not 1 minute... Looks like I'll never go to Olive garden again. You lost a good customer over this farce of a promotion.
— Nick Costanzo (@DeltaNick) August 15, 2019
Greatest publicity stunt ever. Only one problem-you lost a dedicated family of five as customers. All I can say is fool me once....
— Bob Driggers (@bobdriggers) August 15, 2019
It was impossible to even get one.
— Andrew Bernal (@AndrewBernal87) August 15, 2019
