First Olive Garden Restaurant opens its doors in Aruba

MetaCorp is excited to announce the opening of the first Olive Garden Restaurant in Aruba on the 21st of June.

OIive Garden is famous for its generous Italian portions including its “garden-fresh salad”, home style soup and fresh garlic bread made baked on location. Olive Garden is the biggest chain of Italian restaurants in the U.S. operating more than 880 restaurants and employing over 96.000 employees.

MetaCorp has made a substantial investment in the first Olive Garden Restaurant in Aruba located inside the Gloria – Movies, Dining, Entertainment and Play complex. The restaurant will open to the public on Tuesday, June 21st. The first Olive Garden spans 380 m2 with 15 tables on its terrace and employs 80 employees to carry out its operations.
“We are happy to form an alliance with MetaCorp and expand Olive Garden throughout the Caribbean by opening the first Olive Garden on Aruba. We are aware of the ample experience MetaCorp has in the food and entertainment industry and they will help us successfully serve the Aruban customers,” according to Bradley Smith, Senior Vice President of Franchising of the Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden.
The extensive menu of Olive Garden offers the classic Chicken Alfredo, Lasagna and Chicken Parmigiana, all freshly prepared with high quality ingredients. Olive Garden is famous for its Italian-American selection of salads, soup, and world-famous bread sticks. Additionally, the family style restaurant makes it ideal for families, groups of friends or colleagues to enjoy delicious food in a pleasant environment. 

“As we mentioned last year, we intend on continuing our investments into our economy. Over the past 100 years of existence, MetaCorp has always invested where our economy needed it most. Because our vision is, if we as Arubans do not believe in ourselves, who will believe in our country. And as usual, we always choose what is best for Aruba and Olive Garden will without a doubt complement the mix of famous and high quality restaurants on our island,” according to Eddie de Veer, CEO of MetaCorp. 

About Olive Garden

At Olive Garden, we know that life is better together and people are happier when they are with family. As a leader in Italian restaurants, Olive Garden has over 880 restaurants and employs over 96.000 associates. Olive Garden is a division of the Darden Restaurants where our employees are our success. We are proud to employ over 175.000 associates in over 1800 restaurants. 

About MetaCorp

MetaCorp has existed since the 1920s with a movie-theatre style business. With the arrival of the Lago, E. De Veer Transport was started with is known today as ATCO which expanded to ATCO Concrete Products and Ecotech. After the second World War, the Coca Cola plant was bought and Tropical Bottling was created which later expanded to include Brouwerij Nacional Balashi.
MetaCorp is the oldest commercial business in Aruba and has surpassed 100 years of existence. With a solid foundation and a culture based on the principles of sustainable investing and belief in employees, MetaCorp today is ready for the next 100 years of progress with talents such as Eddie de Veer and Guus Slabbekoorn at the head of the company.