The Staggering Number Of Breadsticks Olive Garden Keeps On Hand, According To Reddit

Beyond the Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara, the best Tuscan soup in the biz, and those highly suss three-prong forks, Olive Garden is a stone-cold, casual-dining icon for its never-ending breadsticks. But how many breadsticks does it take to be truly limitless? As a former Olive Garden host — back when the uniform involved tying a tie, and distributing Andes Mints like a department store perfume sample associate — I wouldn't be shocked if this number were in the neighborhood of 700 billion. In reality, according to Reddit, the amount of breadsticks kept on hand at any one store is still staggering: 6,000 breadsticks or more, give or take a basket.

The breadstick calculations for weekly store orders are even more eye-poppingly margarine-smothered and garlic-salty. One manager on an r/olivegarden sub claimed his store ordered nearly 25,000 breadsticks per week, with others confirming 12,000 to 20,000 breadstick shipments on regular rotation. A former employee may have been scarred for life by the backroom breadstick-pocalypse, posting to Reddit, "A tower of breadstick boxes collapsed on me once. Our store typically had at least four roller things of like 16 boxes stacked up eight boxes high."

Maybe it's no surprise that "fresh" OG breaddies aren't baked from scratch, in-store. But even if they do come parbaked from a variety of regional suppliers, with Americans eating anywhere from 500 to 600 million Olive Garden breadsticks every year, it looks like we can't get enough of that bottomless bread.

You've probably never heard someone whisper, "I'd like to order the small 'piccolo' portion, please," when it comes to Olive Garden breadsticks. But how does the restaurant determine how many breadsticks count as "never-ending" for each guest? Let us look, once again, to r/olivegarden: divvying-out-the-breadsticks edition.

While you may have gotten the hookup in the past, Olive Garden employees on Reddit report that standard rations are: "First basket 'number of guests plus one' ... Any refill 'one per guest.'" (You can always request more.) But the number of Olive Garden breadsticks one person can actually eat remains a quest for the heroes of social media. One YouTuber downed 31 breadsticks in one sitting; a Yale men's soccer player knocked back 17; a Facebook user swore on 27; and one employee claimed a customer housed 50. Probably the most official unofficial tally is "I lost count." The in-restaurant stance is "no cut-offs," but if you're secretly stuffing sticks in your purse to go, you'll be asked to stop.

Still, the reality is that we may not live in a bottomless breadstick utopia forever. Back in 2014, there was a real push (See: a 300-slide presentation by Olive Garden's parent company — ugh, mom!) to L-I-M-I-T unlimited breadsticks. Longtime fans know the slideshow did nothing to turn off the carby spigot, but no good thing lasts forever. Next time you're there, and you're family, sink your teeth into as many warm, buttery Olive Garden breadsticks as you can. There's always a chance that there will someday be an end to never-ending.