Olive Garden starts work on kitchen extension after plans approved

An Italian restaurant has started work on its kitchen extension after planning was approved for the project.

Olive Garden in Standish submitted plans to demolish an existing extension and storage rooms to create a bigger kitchen, which will include a pizza oven.

The Preston Road eatery has now hailed the approval of those proposals as a “major milestone”.

And although the restaurant has remained closed during lockdown, it said it will continue to offer a takeaway service while the extension is built.

In a post on Facebook, it said: “ Our planning application has finally been approved.

“A major milestone for the restaurant, work will now begin for our brand new state of the art kitchen extension which will allow us to launch both our takeaway and restaurant service.”

The restaurant said it will update customers throughout the coming weeks on its progress and a projected opening date.

In the meantime, it said its takeaway service OG2Go will continue to run Wednesday to Sunday 4-9pm available to order via JustEat.

The restaurant said: “All we can say is big things are happening for Olive Garden.

“We can’t thank you all enough for the continued support and love we have received throughout the years and a big thank you to all who have been ordering takeaways the last few months helping us to keep going.

“We are going to do you all proud with what we are about to deliver.”

It added: “A massive thank you goes out to Couns Ray Whittingham and Adam Marsh for helping us push this through along with Paul Ogden and Standish Voice who have gone above and beyond to support and advise us to get things done.”

Owner Michael Madani said the current kitchen was “tired and stuck for

space.”

He said previously: “We have also outgrown our equipment as our business has become more and more popular over the years.

“We are looking to invest into new equipment and we need this kitchen to be able to give us the space and foundation to be able to showcase our talents and passion for Italian food.

“Our new pizza oven is currently being built in Lazio, Italy, and will be with us in the next month.”

He added: “We are going to become the most self-sufficient restaurant with a host of new ovens that will enable our team to create things that were not imaginable previously.”