In an attempt to bring the masses back to the casual dining Mecca that is Olive Garden, Darden Restaurants execs premiered a new logo Monday that it hopes to be a symbol of its “brand Renaissance” with “flair and sophistication.” But with customer traffic down 13% in December and an expected sales drop of 5.4% for its third quarter, a new logo might not be enough to fix the ailing restaurant;s problems.
Still Darden said out with the old:
And in with the new (that kind of looks like a font that would be found on a fourth grader’s social study report title page):
Design firm Lippincott created the logo after “extensive testing.” Although the Twitterverse had mixed reactions:
Darden’s shares were down 5% the day of the announcement, which also touched on Olive Garden’s new menu and the restaurant chains imminent sale of Red Lobster.