Raise Wages at Olive Garden and Other Darden Restaurants

Across the country, single mothers, college students struggling to pay rent, and other hard-working people are trying hard to make ends meet as servers at Olive Garden and other Darden Restaurants — and it isn't easy.

Kelly Ditson, who has worked as an Olive Garden server, put it this way:

"As a mother to two young sons, I am barely scraping by. There have been plenty of nights where after a long day of serving unlimited breadsticks and Italian dishes to a stream of customers, I struggled to put food on my own table."

By law, restaurants are required to make sure that servers and other tipped employees earn at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour between tips and direct wages from their employers. Yet there is no state in America where a family can survive on minimum wage.

In theory, servers can make above minimum wage with generous tips, but... 

• Research shows that no matter how great the service, tips are only affected slightly. In fact, good service only accounts for a one to five percent difference in tips; and
• Even with tipping, the average server still earns just under $22,000 a year. Half make less than $19,000 a year.

Hard-working waiters and waitresses deserve a stable, livable wage. Tell Darden Restaurants to raise wages for employees at Olive Garden and other restaurants owned by Darden!