WASHINGTON — Olive Garden representatives are pleased with the success of the restaurant’s newest promotion offering seven weeks of pasta for $100, but now the Italian chain is dealing with one repercussion of the high demand: many people are selling the promotion pass on eBay.
More than 50 of the available 1,000 Never Ending Pasta Passes are drawing bids on eBay. The passes, which sold for $100, are listed for far more online with one seller offering the pass for $399.
The restaurant stipulates that the Never Ending Pasta Pass is “non- transferable and not for resale.” Now the company is working to stand its ground while still accommodating to customers.
“The Never Ending Pasta Passes state that they’re non-transferable and not for resale, and we’re working with eBay to make sure buyers and sellers are aware of this,” Tara Gray, an Olive Garden spokeswoman, said to WTOP in an email. “While that’s the case, we will ensure that anyone who purchased a Pasta Pass, even on eBay, can enjoy Never Ending Pasta Bowl.”
It was with great success Monday that Olive Garden sold the passes, which give its holders the chance to wolf down all the pasta, salad, bread and Coca- Cola-brand soft drinks he can in a seven-week period. The promotion drew a half a million visitors within the first half hour, causing the website to experience glitches, according to CNBC.
The special runs in tandem with the already-established “Never Ending Pasta Bowl” promotion — from Sept. 22 through Nov. 9.
If you weren’t able to snag a Never Ending Pasta Pass, you may still be able to get one, Gray says.
“We also will be giving away a select number of passes via our social media channels, so there’s still a chance to score a pasta pass,” Gray said in an email.
People can keep an eye out for giveaways using #PastaPass.
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