Red Lobster, formerly the largest seafood restaurant chain in the world, officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. The chain, formerly owned by restaurant group Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI), began auctioning off kitchen equipment at some locations, but does not plan to fully shut down operations, according to its CEO, Jonathan Tibus.
Here are some of the juiciest details regarding the seafood chain's demise:
The Endless Shrimp Promotion
Red Lobster famously offered its "Endless Shrimp" promotion, where customers could pay around $20 to eat as much shrimp as they wanted. Customers could order various shrimp dishes, including shrimp scampi and popcorn shrimp.
At one point, the promotion was only offered for a limited amount of time, usually around a month. But, to increase traffic, Red Lobster began offering the "Endless Shrimp" promotion all the time, leading to millions of dollars in losses. Author and podcast host Trung Phan said on X that one of Red Lobster's owners (and suppliers) Thai Union, may have been using the endless shrimp promotion to offload its supply of shrimp.
Read Also: Elon Musk Has 'Fond Memories' From Red Lobster, Expresses Sorrow At Seafood Chain's Bankruptcy News
Leadership Changes
It's not uncommon for struggling businesses to cycle through C-suite executives. Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) recently announced a leadership shake-up amid slowing growth. But, Red Lobster seemed to struggle significantly with finding and retaining talent to lead its operations, cycling through five CEOs in five years, in a sign that things were getting a little fishy.
Thai Union's Motives
As previously mentioned, Thai Union, a large producer of seafood products took a 49% stake in Red Lobster a few years ago. After that, Thai Union became Red Lobster's sole provider of shrimp, and some allege that the seafood producer took advantage of its relationship with Red Lobster, overcharging the restaurant chain for its products and skimping (not shrimping) out on quality control.
Photo: Shutterstock
紅龍蝦曾是全球最大的海鮮連鎖餐廳，週一正式申請了第11章的破產保護。據其首席執行官喬納森·蒂布斯稱，這家連鎖店以前歸餐飲集團達登餐廳公司（紐約證券交易所代碼：DRI）所有，已開始在某些地點拍賣廚房設備，但不打算完全關閉運營。
以下是有關這家海鮮連鎖店倒閉的一些最精彩的細節：
無盡的蝦類促銷活動
Red Lobster曾推出 “Endless Shrimp” 促銷活動，顧客可以花大約20美元隨心所欲地吃蝦。顧客可以訂購各種蝦類菜餚，包括蝦蝦和爆米花蝦。
有一次，促銷活動僅在有限的時間內提供，通常在一個月左右。但是，爲了增加流量，Red Lobster開始一直提供 “Endless Shrimp” 促銷活動，導致數百萬美元的損失。作者兼播客主持人Trung Phan在X上表示，紅龍蝦的所有者（和供應商）泰盟可能一直在利用無休止的蝦類促銷來轉移其蝦類供應。
另請閱讀：埃隆·馬斯克對紅龍蝦有 “美好回憶”，對海鮮連鎖店的破產消息表示悲傷
領導層變動
陷入困境的企業輪流找高管的情況並不少見。在增長放緩的情況下，Lululemon Athletica Inc（納斯達克股票代碼：LULU）最近宣佈了領導層改組。但是，Red Lobster似乎在尋找和留住領導其運營的人才方面困難重重，在五年內輪流接替了五位首席執行官，這表明情況變得有點可疑。
泰國聯盟的動機
如前所述，大型海鮮產品生產商泰聯幾年前收購了紅龍蝦49％的股份。此後，泰聯成爲紅龍蝦的唯一蝦類供應商，有人聲稱這家海鮮生產商利用了與紅龍蝦的關係，向連鎖餐廳多收了產品費用，並跳過（不是捕蝦）質量控制。
照片：Shutterstock
