[jimbo123]

4 plates of Red Lobster crabs? Yuck!

[dennisw]

Darden executives said Red Lobster management had badly miscalculated how many times customers would refill their plates after paying $20 for an "endless" crab entree. Meanwhile, crab prices were going up, sending the profit margin crashing. ....................


Dunno. The Chinese buffets seem to make it work. Some have snow crab legs and you can eat as many as you want.

[Old Professer]

Back in the car-pool days we had two guys who were Canteen officers for the V.A.; they would would regale us with their tales of who had been kicked out of the most "All-you-can-eat" buffet places from coast to coast.

[Bogey78O]

Dude, Freep this poll!

http://freerepublic.com/perl/poll?poll=30

LOL! Had to be silly for a moment.

[Semper911]

The headline of this story really threw me. I thought someone bit the head off of something during an all you can eat special.

You know ...and then it was replaced. Never mind.

[Melas]

Golden Coral tried this a few years back, and it was a short experiment. A buddy of mine and I managed to eat 9 plates a piece one night. I think it was only $14 then. No way did they even come close to making up their cost.

[willieroe]

July 9, 2003 press release from Red Lobster and now former president Edna Morris

'Share The Love'(TM) -- Red Lobster Launches New Branding

ORLANDO, Fla., July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Lobster this week launched a new branding identity for its 673 restaurants across North America that emphasizes the unique position Red Lobster holds of making the flavors and the feelings of the seaside available to everyone....

The new branding comes after an extensive study of consumer trends. That research -- by psychologists and also uncovered through broad-based consumer research -- found new insights into the connection seafood offers to consumers:

- "Breaking through the shell" of seafood is a metaphor for human connection as people seek to break through their tough outer shells.
- Seafood such as lobster, crab and shrimp is hand-held, making it casual and shareable. While eating other foods is a singular activity often involving a knife and fork, seafood is more tactile and easier to share.
- Both these traits make seafood a unique catalyst for connection, allowing people to connect over a plate of shrimp, lobster or crab more than they do over any other food.

"Red Lobster has always been about discovery and inclusion," said Red Lobster President Edna Morris. "For many people, their first introduction to delicacies like Maine lobster and Alaskan king crab legs was at Red Lobster. And in these stressful times, as people come to casual dining restaurants to re-connect, the Share the Love(TM) message is more important than ever."

"Consumers connect over seafood in very profound, unique ways. When you put a plate of shrimp or crab legs in front of a table of people, they connect and share more than the food. They share themselves," Morris said. "We are excited about Share the Love(TM) because it reflects our 35-year history of bringing the flavors and the feelings of the seaside to everyone."

[CindyDawg]

Got to be the low carb eaters skipping those cheese biscuits :')

[Robert A Cook PE]

But technically speaking, the all-you-can-eat promotion was a success.

(For the customers.)

[dagnabbit]

"Tis a monster that eats that much!"

[hemogoblin]

[Mike Darancette]

The problem probably was that it takes a long time to crack and eat multiple plates of crab so tables in the restraunt were not turning over very fast.

[Skip Ripley]

I once got crabs from a waitress that I worked with at Red Lobster.

I think I paid a bit more than $20 for the Quell prescription to kill em

[tomahawk]

And Americans get ever fatter.

[WackyKat]

How could a restaurant chain not know that "all you can eat" invariably attracts the fattest, most gluttonous customers? Those people are constantly on the lookout for buffet specials.

A TRUE STORY

Several years ago, an "all you can eat" Chinese buffet opened down the street from my office. I and several co-workers went during the Grand Opening week. Although the food was edible, I quickly lost my appetite as I watched, all around me, tables full of grossly obese people shoveling-and I mean shoveling- food into their mouths as fast as they could swallow. And they went back for plate after plate.The sights were so disgusting, I never returned to the restaurant.

Three months later, the local news reported that the place had been closed by order of the Health Department when an inspector found numerous skinned DOG carcasses in the meat freezer.

[Atlas Sneezed]

The casino buffets make money doing this. Maybe Red Lobster needs slot machines to make ends meet.

I prefer the Rosewood Grill in Vegas. Lobster may be $25 per pound, but there is nothing like a 6 pound lobster for me and Mrs. Beelzebubba to share!

[Trailerpark Badass]

Everything there tastes like shrimp. The bad kind.

[Hunble]

It was a failure for a rather simple reason:

Crab is too difficult to eat (you have to work for it) and most people are not willing to spend their asking price.

No, this was not an issue of people eating too much for the price. Instead, the customers were simply not willing to pay that amount.

Now offer me an all-you-can-eat broiled lobster tail fest......

[cyborg]

I'm afraid to go into a chinese buffet for fear of being eaten along with the crab legs, pork ribs and whatever else. I don't bother with 'all you can eat' menus because I'm not a greedy pig. They were stupid in the first place to offer 'all you can eat' in the fattest nation on the planet in the first place.

[cyborg]

just damn ping

[tgslTakoma]

Just for you, Buford.

;-)