Gourmet Investments Hospitality Group, the company behind PizzaExpress and Chili’s in India, is set to launch the Olive Garden brand in the country on Monday, with ambitious plans to nearly double its total restaurant footprint over the next three years.
CEO Rohan Pewekar told Reuters that the group envisions scaling to close to 100 to 125 stores across formats and categories over the next three years, up from its current count of around 55 outlets. Olive Garden alone is expected to cross 10 locations in India within that timeframe, with faster expansion planned thereafter, focusing primarily on large cities.
Founded in 1982 and globally recognised for its unlimited breadsticks and salad, Olive Garden is an Italian-American casual dining chain with nearly 1,000 restaurants across 12 countries. The brand is part of US-based Darden Restaurants, which operates a portfolio of over 2,100 restaurants spanning labels including LongHorn Steakhouse and Chuy’s.
Gourmet Investments has not disclosed financial details related to the launch. However, the company said it plans to retain Olive Garden’s global menu while incorporating more vegetarian options — a standard adaptation Western restaurant chains make for the Indian market, which has a sizeable vegetarian consumer base.
Pewekar described Olive Garden’s positioning in India as “premium casual dining,” though further pricing details were not shared. The entry comes at a time when global brands across sectors — from Estee Lauder to Hyatt Hotels — are betting on India’s growing base of affluent consumers, even as rising inflation continues to weigh on broader consumer spending worldwide.
