Back in the early to mid 1990s Olive Garden was a fast-growing restaurant concept. It was priced at the low end of casual dining concepts perhaps above the bar and grille sub-segment which is the traditional leader of the low end of casual dining. Looking at the Italian chains back then there was a pretty well-developed I felt pecking order: Macaroni Grill was a step up in terms of food and check and the then newer Carrabba’s chain was another step up to the top of the segment.  Along the way Macaroni Grill had some business missteps that let ...