Recipe Restaurant Group opened a new Olive Garden restaurant at Vaughan Mills in Vaughan, north of Toronto, marking the first newly developed Olive Garden in Eastern Canada under its national development agreement with Darden Restaurants. The opening follows Recipe’s acquisition earlier this year of the existing Western Canadian Olive Garden locations and represents a major milestone in the brand’s Canadian expansion strategy. The 8630 square foot full-service restaurant offers Olive Garden’s signature menu, including unlimited breadsticks, homemade soups and salads, and Italian-inspired entrées. The Vaughan Mills location is the first of several planned across Ontario, with new restaurants already in development. A 5546 square foot freestanding unit is scheduled to open at Kirkwood and Carling avenues in Ottawa’s Westboro area and a 6095 square foot end cap location is opening at the RioCan Durham Centre in Ajax. The Italian inspired Olive Garden restaurants are generally in a 5500 to 8500 square foot range. Freestanding locations are preferred though dominant end cap locations are considered. Chris Canuel, Lawrence Hildebrand, Jeffrey Lauzon and Trevor Thomas at various Jones Lang LaSalle Real Estate Services offices are handling the real estate search in Canada for Olive Garden.
Jones Lang LaSalle Real Estate Services – (Chris Canuel – 416/391-6952 chris.canuel@jll.com), (Lawrence Hildebrand – 416/391-6977 lawrence.hildebrand@jll.com), Trevor Thomas – 604/628-4336 trevor.thomas@jll.com) & (Jeffrey Lauzon – 438/837-4006 jeffrey.lauzon@jll.com)
Recipe Unlimited, 199 Four Valley Dr., Vaughan, Ontario L4K 0B8 (905/760-2244 www.recipeunlimited.com & www.olivegarden.ca)