Olive Garden Responds After Woman Finds Mysterious Letters on Breadstick: 'We Are Concerned About This'

Mar. 15, 2025

Olive Garden breadsticks.Photo:Getty

Getty

A woman dining atOlive Gardenencountered an unexpected situation involving the restaurant’s popular breadsticks.

The diner — who shared her experience onTikTokin a Nov. 16 post — revealed that one of her breadsticks appeared to be etched with the letters “O” and “K” along with the number “6” in a neat, dark font.

“Guys why is there letters on my olive garden breadstick,” she wrote over an image of the half-eaten piece of bread, while also tagging the restaurant.

Olive Garden breadsticks.Getty

The TikTok user then shared afollow-up poston Nov. 20, revealing that the company had since sent her a $100 gift certificate. She captioned the post, “Thank you olive garden,” while including a sound effect of sinister laughter.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Another user agreed, likening the phenomenon to temporary tattoos and explaining that moisture likely caused the ink on the bag to transfer to the breadstick before it was baked. “It’s like when you do the tongue tattoos with Fruit Roll-Ups," they wrote.

As for the company’s response, many social media users approved. “Olive garden does NOTT playyy,” one user commented.

“Now that’s good service,” another wrote.

An Olive Garden location in Orlando, Florida.Getty

Some people joked that they might start using this as a tactic to get gift cards of their own.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“There was letters on my breadsticks when I went tomorrow,” one user joked, while another added, “There might have been some numbers on mine too now that I think about it.”

Olive Garden breadsticks are widely considered a brand staple and have become something of a cultural phenomenon in recent years. The company introduced its “bottomless breadsticks” option — as in, endless breadsticks — in 2013 along with their bottomless salad. It has also centered several holiday campaigns around the customer favorite, including a“Valentine’s Day breadstick bouquet”in 2020.

source: people.com