<P> In September 2014, Starboard Value, an activist hedge fund that had acquired a significant portion of Darden's stock and was challenging Darden's management, released a 294 - slide presentation assembled by its founder Jeff Smith, that focused on ways the company was wasting money and failing to satisfy customers . Chief among them was the shortcomings of Olive Garden, which earned considerable media attention . Starboard claimed they justified replacing Darden's directors in an upcoming election with a slate sponsored by the hedge fund . </P> <P> It cited details such as the unlimited breadsticks the chain offered diners, of which too many went to waste since they tended to go stale, Smith claimed, and paying extra for custom - length straws . The chain's menu was too complex, with some of its 96 items making no sense, such as vegetable lasagna topped with chicken ("if you wanted meat on your lasagna, you would order the meat lasagna" the slide read). The chain also had stopped the common practice of adding salt to the water in which it cooked its pasta in order to secure longer warranties on the pots, which had Smith incredulous . "Pasta is Olive Garden's core dish and must be cooked properly ." He included photos of poorly executed dishes purchased at Olive Gardens compared with the photos on the chain's website, along with quotes from online reviews posted by disappointed customers . </P> <P> Darden's management responded with a much shorter presentation two days later . Without going into specifics, it conceded most of Starboard's critique was valid and that the company was already responding to those issues . It defended the unlimited breadsticks policy as "convey (ing) Italian hospitality" and rebutted another claim the hedge fund had made: packaging for take - out food which the hedge fund had claimed was dishwasher - safe and thus needlessly expensive was in fact, merely microwave - safe . Nevertheless, a month later shareholders voted to replace the company's entire board of directors with Starboard's slate, an outcome described as an "epic fail" that happened very rarely . </P>

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