A 58-year-old professional server and an 18-year-old high school student were among the hundreds of people who lined the sidewalks at the new Olive Garden restaurant in Bend on Wednesday, each hoping to land one of the more than 160 jobs available.

Emily Burten-Werksman, the professional server, was the first person in line at the restaurant’s entrance when Olive Garden employees began taking applications just before 9 a.m.

Burten-Werksman, who has spent most of her career in restaurants, arrived at 8 p.m. Tuesday and camped out at the national chain’s new addition, located at 63459 N. U.S. Highway 97 in front of The Home Depot and Michaels.

“I was in a mummy cocoon (sleeping bag) thanking God it wasn’t raining,” she said.

Lisa Orozco, the high school student, came more than 12 hours later and found herself hundreds of spots behind Burten-Werksman, at the back of a line that had wrapped around the restaurant.

If she’s hired, this would be Orozco’s first job.

“You have to try and get out there,” she said.

Olive Garden — a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants Inc., which also operates Red Lobster and a few other chains — had planned to begin accepting applications at 9 a.m., but started admitting people early, knowing that the masses were standing outdoors in windy, cold temperatures.

The restaurant put off interviews and hiring until now as a way to handle the expected deluge of applicants.

A little relief for a hard-hit region

And a deluge they got, reflecting the hunger for work in a local economy plagued by 15.4 percent unemployment, which is several percentage points higher than state and national averages.

General Manager Jerry Michaelson said that by the end of interviews Wednesday, the restaurant had received about 700 applications.

Michaelson said he was pleased with the turnout and plans to hire approximately 165 cooks, dishwashers, servers and bartenders by Jan. 1, in time to train new employees for the restaurant’s Jan. 18 opening.

“It’s awesome,” Michaelson said about the turnout as the doors opened. “These are the people who are going to bring Olive Garden to Bend.”

This isn’t the first case of mass applications for work. A new downtown Bend restaurant, 5 Spice Fusion and Sushi, received 500 applications in November for only 25 positions.

The high number of applicants isn’t surprising to Tim Duy, an economist at the University of Oregon who studies Central Oregon’s economy. With layoffs and rampant unemployment, businesses are having no problem attracting potential employees, he said.

“This is sort of a microcosm of all those little trends that we’re starting to see coming out,” Duy said.

He said it’s good that there are jobs coming into the area, but restaurant positions generally don’t pay as much as, say, the construction jobs that were numerous in Bend before the housing bubble burst.

The hard-hit construction industry in Deschutes County lost 4,073 jobs from June 2007 to June 2009, a decline of 51 percent, according to the Oregon Employment Department Web site.

“If you’re replacing those higher-wage jobs with lower-wage jobs, the recovery is somewhat muted,” Duy said.

Olive Garden advertised its available positions as paying $8.40 to $11 per hour, depending on experience.

Food services and drinking establishments have seen job losses in Deschutes County, too. The sector lost 911 jobs between June 2008 and June 2009, according to the Employment Department.

For many among the throng of people outside Olive Garden on Wednesday, any money is good. Some are unemployed and others are looking for a second job, but all of the applicants faced at least a couple of hours of waiting before they talked to an Olive Garden representative.

Drizzle doesn’t dampen spirits

Wesley Boughton and Jonelle Shea sat in lawn chairs a few dozen spots behind the front of the line from 7 a.m. until nearly 9 a.m. Shea was seeking a second job and Boughton was hoping to end his unemployment.

“We weren’t the last in line,” said Boughton, 25. “Maybe not the first, but definitely not the last.”

Crystal Schweizerhof was the last in line — for about a minute at 8:30 a.m., until a few dozen other applicants arrived. A full-time student at Central Oregon Community College, the 26-year-old said she has been seeking work for a few months.

“I’ve never been to anything like this,” Schweizerhof said. “It’s a bummer that I’m going to be outside as long as I’m going to be.”

Despite the nearly freezing temperature and a slight drizzle, most people remained upbeat and focused on acing their interview. The crowd was diverse, varying in race, gender and age.

“I knew it would be crowded. I didn’t think it would be like the opening of ‘Star Wars,’” said Stephen Farrell, 48.

“Or ‘Harry Potter,’” added Norman Emberton, 20.

About a dozen corporate employees and managers from other Olive Garden restaurants came to Bend to assist in the interviewing process.

Olive Garden has seen huge turnout when other new restaurants across the nation accepted applications, said Mark Jaronski, director of public relations for the chain.

After turning in his application and having an initial interview, Shawn Winter was granted a second interview Wednesday. He moved from Texas to Bend about two months ago, and said his experience is primarily in fast-food restaurants.

Winter arrived at 5 a.m., was the third person in the door and never saw the end of the line of applicants. He said he thought the enthusiasm he showed helped him land a second interview.

Misty Miller, who stood shivering a quarter of the way through the line, said she arrived at 7:30 a.m. Miller, 33, said she thinks exuding confidence is the best way to make yourself stand out when going up against so many applicants.

“I’m just looking forward to working for a good place and having a good time,” she said. “And to being warm.”