Olive Garden is selling a pass that gives you a year of unlimited pasta for just $300
- Olive Garden's never-ending pasta passes are going on sale on Thursday at 2 p.m. ET.
- For the first time, Olive Garden is selling an annual pasta pass that provides unlimited pasta for an entire year for $300.
- The chain is selling 1,000 annual pasta passes and 23,000 passes that grant the holder eight weeks of never-ending pasta.
Olive Garden's never-ending pasta passes are an unmitigated hit. Last year, the passes - which provide holders with eight weeks of unlimited pasta, soup or salad, and breadsticks - sold out in less than a single second.
This year, Olive Garden is raising the stakes.
On Thursday, August 23, Olive Garden is putting 23,000 pasta passes on sale for $100 each at 2 p.m. ET. It's 1,000 more than the company sold last year.
In addition to the eight-week passes, Olive Garden is selling 1,000 passes that will give holders unlimited pasta for an entire year for $300.
"Our super fans have turned this into a phenomenon," Jennifer Arguello, Olive Garden's executive vice president of marketing, told Business Insider.
"But, every year when pasta pass comes to an end, we hear from them," Arguello continued. " We hear that they're bummed it's over."
Olive Garden's solution is the introduction of the annual pasta pass. While only a thousand lucky people will be able to claim unlimited pasta for a year, Arguello says the pass is truly endless. If holders want to go eat pasta three times a day, they are more than welcome to do so, with Arguello saying she hopes that someone will pass the benchmark of eating 1,000 meals at Olive Garden in a single year.
However, with 22,000 passes selling out in less than a second last year, only the Olive Garden lovers with the fastest fingers will have a chance at a year of unlimited pasta.
Here are Arguello's tips on how to secure a pass:
- Be ready. Passes go on sale at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 23.
- Have multiple devices on hand. Arguello said that having a group man multiple devices - laptops, desktops, and mobile phones - can help optimize chances.
- Know what you want. "You've got to make a choice: 'Am I going for an [eight-week] pasta pass or an annual pass?'" Arguello said.
- Don't refresh. Refreshing can seriously hurt your chances.
- Click fast. According to Arguello, at the end of the day, "the fastest finger wins."