The Olive garden "employees'' will be Home For The Holidays

Every year, right around the time the leaves start turning, the same question pops up in group chats across America: who's open on Thanksgiving?

This year, one of the biggest names in casual dining already has its answer. Olive Garden is shutting down all of its more than 950 locations — not once, but twice — before the year is out.

On Thursday, November 26, and again on Friday, December 25, the doors stay locked. No endless breadsticks. No unlimited soup and salad. For 24 hours on each holiday, the ovens go cold and the dining rooms go dark.

And the reason has nothing to do with business going bad. It's the exact opposite of bad news.

Olive Garden closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas every year, on purpose, "to allow our team members to spend time with their family and friends," according to the company's own FAQ page. The chain would rather give up two of the busiest eating days on the calendar than ask its people to choose between a paycheck and a holiday table.

Think about what that means for a second. The day before Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve are some of the wildest shifts in the restaurant business. One longtime Olive Garden manager put it plainly online: Christmas Eve is notoriously one of the busiest shifts of the entire year. The company knows exactly how much money walks through those doors in late November and December. It just decided some things matter more.

The closures hit every location nationwide. If the restaurant near you feels a little quieter than usual on the day before the holiday, there's a reason for that too — local managers can shut down early on Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas Eve depending on how busy things get. The company leaves that call to them, and suggests calling your local spot ahead of time if you're planning a visit.

There are a few exceptions worth knowing. Holiday hours can look different in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and at international locations, so travelers should check before they go. But everywhere else, the message is the same: see you the day after.

Olive Garden isn't standing alone on this. A growing list of big names has decided the holidays belong to the people who work them. Texas Roadhouse, Chick-fil-A, LongHorn Steakhouse, most Cheesecake Factory locations, and Chipotle all shut down nationwide on both holidays. Outback Steakhouse, Red Robin, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, and Carrabba's Italian Grill do the same. Even the retail giants got the memo — Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Costco, and Trader Joe's now close their doors on Thanksgiving too.

Of course, not everybody is closing. If you're traveling or your plans fall through, Waffle House, Denny's, IHOP, McDonald's, and Starbucks typically stay open with reduced hours. Craving Italian on Thanksgiving? Bravo Italian Kitchen, Brio Italian Grill, and Buca di Beppo usually keep the lights on. On Christmas Day, Romano's Macaroni Grill and Brio are among the Italian options still serving.

But here's what makes the Olive Garden story stick. In an economy where every company is squeezing for one more dollar, a chain with 950 restaurants looked at two of the most profitable days of the year and said no. Not because it had to. Because it wanted its people home.

Plenty of workers will spend this Thanksgiving and Christmas on the clock — nurses, firefighters, truck drivers, the folks keeping the lights on. They don't get a choice. That's exactly why it matters when a company that could stay open chooses not to.

So if November 26 rolls around and you're craving breadsticks, you'll have to wait a day. Somewhere across the country, thousands of servers, cooks, and hosts will be doing something better than refilling salad bowls.

They'll be home.