cross cultural business management

The Never Ending Pasta Pass

For more than 20 years, guests have been looking forward to the annual Never Ending Pasta Bowl® promotion, offering unlimited servings of Pasta, Sauce, and Toppings in a single visit.

In 2014, Olive Garden had an idea unlike any other in the restaurant business. What if there was a ‘season pass’ to Never Ending Pasta Bowl? A pass that let Olive Garden’s biggest fans and pasta lovers visit the restaurant as many times as they wished to enjoy unlimited servings of Never Ending Pasta Bowls, for one set cost? The Never Ending Pasta Pass® was born.

The initial response was unprecedented. In that first year, demand for the limited release of 1,000 Passes was so great it threatened to overwhelm the sales website before quickly selling out. Pasta Pass captivated the country then, and continues to do so every year, inspiring conversations across social media, morning news programs, late night talk shows and more.

How is this practice related to diminishing marginal utility? What restrictions must Olive Garden impose on the customer in order to make a profit? Provide some other examples of where the law of “diminishing marginal utility” would apply.