LNIL (last night I learned) that General Mills started Olive Garden as the Red Lobster of Italian food. GM started the chain from scratch with the goal of getting Italian food to the masses in the same way that RL did for seafood.
OG's first restaurant was in Orlando because it was thought to be the place to get the widest array of pallets and tastes from across the country in a single location because of the tourist attractions (Disney World).