One employee who works at an Olive Garden location shocked all of TikTok when he uploaded a video revealing a restraint industry insider secret. Although his bosses are not pleased that he spilled the beans regarding this little-known tactic, now that the world knows the truth, it changes everything. The TikTok user, who posts content under his handle “Dibbs,” revealed the restaurant industry secret about how they like to spy on their customers while they are dining inside the establishment.
“Imagine dining at the Olive Garden for four hours,” the young restaurant worker said in the video. Clearly, he knows exactly how long each diner has been in the establishment because the company has software tracking each party’s time at a table. This has shocked thousands of people on TikTok who never knew that restaurants were watching diners’ every move – and timing how long it took them to devour each item on the menu.
Olive Garden and many other restaurants use the software simply, so they know when they have to clean tables for the next guests. These companies are not tracking customer information, so they can exploit customers and get something more out of them. Instead, they want to know how long each party has sat at a table because it helps them manage the seating arrangement – especially during these COVID times – and get people in and out of the establishment faster than without the tracking software.
Nevertheless, people were shocked that Olive Garden watched the way they ate and how long it took them to do so.
“Wait … they time you?” one user wrote.
“They time us? BYE, IM ORDERING OUT INSTEAD,” another added.
“That changes everything,” another wrote.
Many people felt that Olive Garden was exploiting customers by doing this and that it was an “invasion of privacy.”
Another TikTok user, Shelby, was shocked that people did not know restaurants were tracking diners’ every move.
“I thought this was common knowledge,” Shelby said in a response clip that she uploaded. Her response has garnered more than 1.9 million views at this point, and more people keep tuning in to watch her talk about restaurant culture.
Shelby explained that Olive Garden and other restaurants use timers to help better estimate wait times for customers hoping to get a table.
“You can have ten tables that just sat down and have only been sitting there for five minutes — so that would put the wait time to about 45 minutes,” Shelby said. “But you could have ten tables that have been there for 45 minutes, and that could put the wait at, like, 10, 15 minutes.”
Although using a timer is logical, many TikTok users were clueless about this practice. They thought that hosts and hostesses just “guessed” how long it would take for a table to open up. They did not realize that these establishments were using high-powered software to track customers and to see how long it takes them to leave their table.
Did you know that restaurants like Olive Garden were tracking how long you sat at the table?
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