United States|The chain focused on lobsters and shrimps made the offer permanent and suffered a loss of more than 500 million euros.
Eat the all-you-can-eat shrimp adventures were a successful product of the American Red Lobster restaurant chain for twenty years.
Last summer, Red Lobster made its $20 bid permanent when its new owner, Thai canned seafood maker Thai Union, wanted a market for its shrimp.
The change cost Red Lobster millions and drove the company into corporate restructuring. However, the company plans to keep the restaurants operating.
The cable television company reported on it CNN and The Washington Post.
When the first Red Lobster restaurant opened in 1968 in Lakeland, Florida, so-called casual dining was still in its infancy in America.
Red Lobster’s idea was to offer seafood at a lower price than in fine dining restaurants. The chain welcomed families with highchairs and a children’s plate for 59 cents.
Chain expanded rapidly. In 1985, it already had 372 restaurants and sales of $834 million. There are now 551 restaurants.
In the end, different ownership arrangements and the group’s several brands sidelined Red Lobster. The chain was no longer invested in or marketed.
Red Lobster failed to attract new, young customers. In the end, its restaurants had to sell their properties and enter into prohibitively expensive leases.
At the same time, competition intensified and pick-up services became more common.
In the year 2020 Thai Union became Red Lobster’s largest owner. After that, the door slammed shut: Within two years, the company got a new CEO, Marketing Director, CFO and IT Director.
The latest setback was the Eat As Much Shrimp As You Can Eat disaster.
Still in November, CEO of Thai Union Thiraphong Chansiri said that the campaign exceeded expectations: The number of customers had increased by up to 40 percent.
Two months later, Thai Union announced that it was divesting Red Lobster and taking a $530 million loss on its investment. It stated the pandemic and increased costs as the reason.
“I’m going to stop eating lobster,” announced Chansiri.
Correction 5/21/2024 at 5:12 p.m.: Contrary to what was said earlier in the story, Red Lobster has not gone into bankruptcy but into corporate restructuring.