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By Emma Marsden
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A customer's visit to Olive Garden took an unexpected turn after they discovered letters printed on one of the restaurant's famous breadsticks.
The incident, which quickly went viral on social media, has prompted a response from the Italian American chain.
According to the customer, who shared their experience on TikTok via a photo of the half-eaten item, the letters O and K and the number 6 appeared printed on the golden crust of their breadstick.
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"Guys why is there letters on my olive garden breadstick?" the customer wrote in the November 16 post, which has since garnered more than 4 million views.
Social media users flooded the post with comments, which included humorous conspiracy theories and more reasonable explanations. One commenter suggested that writing on the bag the breadsticks came in transferred onto the item.
"I also used to bake the breadsticks. LOOKS LIKE THE CODING ON THE PLASTIC BAGS THEY COME IN with their package date," wrote the user who said they were a former employee of the company.
Olive Garden wrote in the post's comments section: "We are concerned about this. Can you please send an email to social@olivegarden.com with your full name, and the location you went to?"
Newsweek contacted Olive Garden and the customer for comment via email and TikTok, respectively, outside normal business hours.
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On November 20, the customer shared a follow-up post, notifying their followers that the company had given them a complimentary $100 Olive Garden gift certificate.
"Thank You olive gardens," the user wrote on the 10-second post, which was accompanied by the sound effect of a sinister laugh.
After the user posted about the gift card, other TikTok users made similar tongue-in-cheek claims about finding letters on their Olive Garden breadsticks.
"There was letters on my breadsticks when I went tomorrow," one user wrote, while another added, "Note to self, always check my olive garden breadsticks for numbers."
In 2013, a Reddit user reported a similar incident, sharing a photo of what they said was an Olive Garden breadstick, which also appeared to be stamped with digits.
In the post's comments section, a user who said they were an Olive Garden employee wrote: "I've worked at the OG for a while and I've seen this happen twice. Both times it was a result of the bread sticks being taken out of the bags they arrive in and set on top of the bag while they wait in line to be buttered up and thrown in the oven.
"The location of the oven where the bread sticks wait is located directly next to our big a** soup making pot thing... lots of steam, so I would guess that is the cause of the ink transfer. "
Olive Garden breadsticks are a staple side dish to many of the restaurant's meals. However, after this recent incident, which has become a widely searched topic, it appears the breadsticks are now more than a side—they're a conversation starter.
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