If You Love Pasta, Olive Garden Has a Deal for You

By Hayley Peterson

Olive Garden is trying a new tactic for drawing in customers.

The struggling Italian chain is offering a "Never Ending Pasta Pass" for $100 that buys seven weeks of unlimited pasta, breadsticks, salad and Coca-Cola (KO) beverages, USA Today reports.

There are only 1,000 passes and they will be sold on the company's website beginning at 3 p.m. If a customer uses the pass once every day for the 49-day period, they would effectively be paying about $2 per meal.

The chain's pasta dishes average around 1,000 calories for a single serving.

"What we're trying to do is get some attention," Jay Spenchian, Olive Garden's executive vice president of marketing, told USA Today. "It's sure to provoke a reaction."

Olive Garden's same-store sales dropped 1.3 percent in the most recent quarter.

The new promotion is running at the same time as its "Never Ending Pasta Bowl" offer, which lets customers eat unlimited pasta for $9.99.

This is the latest in a string of promotions offering unlimited food by struggling casual dining restaurants.

TGI Fridays launched a $10 "Endless Appetizers" deal in July and Red Lobster is currently offering "Endless Shrimp" for $15.99.