Raise a breadstick in celebration, everyone: Olive Garden is officially returning to the GTA.
Recipe Restaurant Group International announced that the next steps in reintroducing the iconic Italian-inspired chain to Canada will include a restaurant at Vaughan Mills and another location in Ottawa.
Both restaurants — which are in “active development,” according to a news release issued Thursday -— are expected to open in the summer.
“With these upcoming openings, we’re taking an important step in expanding Olive Garden’s footprint into new Canadian markets,” said Frank Hennessey, the chief executive of Vaughan-based Recipe Restaurant Group.
“This expansion reflects our confidence in the brand, the strength of our partnership with Darden (Restaurants, Inc., which owns the Olive Garden brand in the U.S.,) and our ability to execute thoughtfully and strategically across Canada.”
Western Canadian franchises purchased in July
Recipe Restaurants Group — whose portfolio already includes brands like Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s and Montana’s — purchased eight Olive Garden franchises in Western Canada from Darden in July 2025 and the exclusive rights to develop and operate new restaurants in Canada.
At the time, Recipe Restaurants Group said they saw “large growth potential” for the brand, which is famous for its breadsticks, and confirmed as much in Thursday’s release, adding that additional restaurants are in “various stages of planning as Recipe continues to build a long-term, sustainable development pipeline across the country.”
They said more announcements are expected in the “coming months.
“Backed by the expertise of our operational teams, these new restaurants will welcome guests like family, delivering the consistency and value that guests expect from Olive Garden, while establishing a strong foundation for the brand’s continued growth in Canada,” Olive Garden Canada’s chief operating officer Yianni Fountas said.
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Brand retreated from Ontario in 1990s
Darden pushed the Olive Garden brand into Ontario in the 1990s before shuttering its 11 locations by the end of the decade, Ottawa Business Journal reported.
But the vice-president of Toronto real estate firm CBRE believes “pent-up nostalgia and demand for this type of restaurant,” as well as Olive Garden’s emphasis on value, should be a recipe for success in Eastern Canada.
“There’s a huge market to tap into in Eastern Canada, where the population is large and has general familiarity with the Olive Garden brand, if not fond memories of the restaurant itself,” Matthew Jackson said in a September blog post, Ottawa Business Journal reported.