Olive Garden Interested in New Site Near Glen Kernan Park

Olive Garden , a chain Italian restaurant from Darden Restaurants Inc., appears interested in a new location at northwest Butler and Hodges boulevards in South Jacksonville .

City utility JEA is reviewing a service availability determination request filed on July 10 by civil engineer Prosser Inc. , according to the Jacksonville Daily Record . While there is no guarantee that the company will be approved for this new location, it proves Darden Restaurants is again interested in expanding the brand into Jacksonville. In fact, this is the first time the chain has proposed a new location since at least 2009. Olive Garden currently has four other locations throughout Jacksonville.

Olive Garden not only provides customers with delicious, homecooked Italian meals, matched with the best service, but it is also a long-standing partner of Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization. As part of our support, the company is working to enhance mobile food pantry programs in communities where food insecurity rates are disproportionately high. Over the course of three years, Olive Garden has helped add 35 trucks across 35 food banks in 18 states. These trucks are critical to increasing access to nutritious food for those who need it most.

“In addition to our work with Feeding America… Every Olive Garden restaurant participates in the Harvest program, which has been in place for 20 years,” according to the company’s website. “Each day, restaurants collect high-quality surplus food that was not served to guests and donate it on a weekly basis to local nonprofit partners. Since 2003, more than 49 million pounds of food have been donated, amounting to more than 41 million meals.”

Keep up with What Now Jacksonville’s restaurant, retail, and real estate scoop by subscribing to our newsletter , liking us on Facebook , and following us on Twitter . Opening a restaurant? Browse our Preferred Partners .