Yes, Mutant Red Lobster/Olive Garden Hybrids Exist

Red Garden? Olive Lobster? Red Olive Lobster Garden? Whatever you want to call it, there are three Red Lobster/Olive Garden hybrid restaurants that exist in the world, the newest of which just opened in Brunswick, Georgia. According to Businessweek, the combo restaurants are an effort by Darden restaurant group to boost revenue at both restaurants, which have suffered in the economic downturn.

Thanks to Darden's "small-town strategy," the other two combination restaurants are located in Flagler County, Florida and Beaufort, South Carolina. Olive Garden president John Caron says the restaurants have maxed out their presence in larger cities: there aren't "a lot of sites in major metropolitan and suburban areas that we're not in already."

But how does it work exactly? The restaurant is about the size of a normal Olive Garden but is split in half, with "a separate entrance and dining room for each brand." They have to share the bar, bathrooms and kitchen, though. Next thing you know someone will be ordering a Lobsterita to go with their endless breadsticks and it'll be anarchy.

· Darden Sees Olive-Garden-Red Lobster Making New Revenue [Businessweek via Consumerist]
· All Red Lobster Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Olive Garden Coverage on Eater [-E-]