Orlando woman to get pasta for life

Anne Henry said there were times after dropping out of college at 20 where she couldn’t afford groceries.

Now, the 30-year-old Orlando resident is one of 50 lucky people that included two others in Central Florida to purchase one of Olive Garden’s lifetime pasta passes. The $500 deal sold out in an instant last week and gets the pass holders unlimited pasta along with soup or salad and breadsticks.

“It’s kind of cool to think about if I’m ever in that situation again, Olive Garden’s got my back,” Henry said.

Angelo Minerva, a 25-year-old Kissimmee resident, also received the lifelong deal. A third person in Rockledge got a pass, too, but has not been identified.

The Never Ending Pasta Pass promotion, introduced five years ago, offered 24,000 customers unlimited servings of pastas, sauces and toppings Sept. 23 through Nov. 24 for $100, plus tax.

This year, the first 50 customers who completed their pasta pass transaction had the chance to upgrade for an additional $400 to get the deal for life. The odds were long at 480-1 for any of the 24,000 customers to get the lifetime deal.

The lifetime pass would on average be paid off by the 45th bowl of pasta and can be used any day except when Olive Garden restaurants are closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Orlando-based company said.

Henry’s husband, 29-year-old Austin Cowne, got a nine-week Never Ending Pasta Pass. Henry said the couple moved to Orlando in January from the Washington, D.C., area. The couple plans to visit Olive Garden a lot during the nine weeks her husband also has the pass. After that, she expects they’ll probably go once every other month.

“I don’t anticipate us going every night for the rest of our lives,” she said. “We love Olive Garden, but I don’t anticipate us going any more often than we normally would.”