Posted on 04/18/2024 4:45:20 AM PDT by V_TWIN
ORLANDO, Fla. (WKRC) — Seafood chain Red Lobster is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy.
According to Restaurant Business Online, citing a report from Bloomberg, the company is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure its debt.
The outlet attributed those losses to less Americans choosing to eat out at restaurants and an increase in food and labor costs. Red Lobster closed 16 locations, per the outlet.
Last summer, Red Lobster launched a $20 all-you-can-eat shrimp deal which, although popular with customers, ended up costing the company over $11 million in one quarter.
Per the outlet, citing the Bloomberg report, the restructuring talks are ongoing. No official decision has been made.
(Excerpt) Read more at local12.com ...
They changed up their menu and eliminated my favorite choice on my favorite dinner.
They changed the stuffed mushrooms.
Used to go there quite often, but not recently.
They also used to be PACKED! “Not anymore” as Inspector Clouseau would say.
“Here on the Gulf Coast, we have so many truly fine seafood restaurants Red Lobster just can’t compete. Why eat a pre-made frozen entrée they plop into the oven for 15 minutes or more when you can have actual real fresh seafood prepared by a real chef for maybe even less?”
Yep. I’ve never understood people around here (Mobile) going to Red Lobster. I guess if you truly want lobster, but shrimp? Let’s see; frozen for the last two years or caught yesterday out of the Gulf? Hard decision. I was a “real chef”. Spent my high school years frying shrimp, oysters, and flounder every weekend, all weekend, at the restaurant my dad managed.
Red Lobster is the Sonic of seafood chains.
Ever notice there’s always an Olive Garden (the Sonic of Italian chains) within spitting distance of a Red Lobster?
RL, like most restaurants with a busy bar, makes 85-90% of it income from the liquor. The food is incidental. The RL crowd must not be big drinkers...
Yeah, no kidding. The lunch special we used to get at Lazy Dog has gone from $7.95 to over $17.00.
Eating out has become a very rare phenom for our family.
All you can eat shrimp sounds like a shortcut to bankruptcy for most any place that would feature this. Most people apparently are crazy about eating shrimp, but many of the necessary price increases at any restaurant(or other businesses) are caused by this lack of government to control it’s spending & inflation. That’s wherein lies the real problem in my estimation & it started a long time ago. Prices were going up slowly in many cases & some businesses just didn’t like giving raises. In some cases they may not have been able to because of what they had to contribute to the government.
“there’s always an Olive Garden (the Sonic of Italian chains) within spitting distance of a Red Lobster?”
Not where I am, but I agree about olive garden.......for our money if we go to a chain Italian restaurant it’s Carraba’s Italian grill......always has a great level of food and service quality and the kitchen is out front so if you want you can watch your food being prepared.
But there are so many local seafood and Italian restaurants where I am we rarely go to a chain.
We still get salmon fillets a couple times per month but I prefer cod.
All of a sudden it’s not just old folks hitting the early bird specials.
Yep. Used to be going out to breakfast or lunch a couple of times a week was an enjoyable part of life, and picking up the tab for a friend was a shared pleasure. A luxury, but not off the charts. Now, a standard breakfast with coffee and tip runs $25. Or more. Not so fun anymore.
Never frozen? Better get it flown in then, unless the farm is nearby. I guess these days that’s easily accomplished, though. Thanks for the tip. I’ll have to check out the Aldi’s that I hear is the nicer of the two nearest me, though both are a trek.
Divers call them bugs.
Agree. We go to Carraba’s a few times a year, but mostly local joints otherwise.
Red Lobster and Olive Garden used to be much better it seems.
My wife and I recently went to the local Red Lobster for lunch where Fish and Chips was priced at $18.99! I ordered something else and we vowed to never go back, so I’m not surprised.
“Divers call them bugs”
As I understand it the lobster is a distant relative of the cockroach.
The RL ads seem to be aimed at a certain “clientele”. No wonder they lost money on all you can eat shrimp.
Whenever my wife and I are near the ocean on vacation we always try and find a couple of locals and ask them where to go for good seafood and have always had good luck. The seafood is fresh, prices are reasonable and service is good.
I can count on one hand the number of times I have eaten at Reb Lobster in my life.
Another business laid low by Covid - delivering as promised.
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