Marketing

Fazoli’s tries a ‘never-ending’ pasta deal

The quick-service chain steals an Olive Garden stunt and offers up eight weeks of unlimited pasta, with an off-premise twist.
Photograph: Shutterstock

The Never Ending Pasta Pass, a marketing stunt that’s been a runaway hit for Olive Garden for the last several years, is being borrowed by another chain—with a couple of twists.

When 215-unit quick-service chain Fazoli’s launches its Infinite Pasta Pass next month, it will allow passholders to use the all-you-can-eat offer for carryout and drive-thru orders, as well as dine-in. Olive Garden’s offering is only available for dine-in.

At $50, Fazoli’s eight-week, all-you-can-eat pasta pass is half the price of Olive Garden’s.

Fazoli’s will offer 500 passes for sale from Dec. 3-9 via a dedicated webpage, to be used from Dec. 31 through Feb. 24. The pass will be redeemed though the Fazoli’s Rewards App. Passholders can order an unlimited amount of pasta, sauce, toppings and breadsticks during that period.

Olive Garden’s pasta promo typically sells out within seconds or less. This year, the Darden-owned chain offered two tiers of unlimited offerings: a yearlong pass for $300 and an eight-week pass for $100. In 2017, the deal netted the company $2.2 million in less than a second.

 

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