Popular Sea Food Restaurant Announced To Close Its Doors Permanently
Roughly two dozen more Red Lobster locations are scheduled to close within the coming days as part of the seafood restaurant chain’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.
A recent court filing shows that the company is rejecting the leases of an additional 23 locations by Saturday, August 31, joining the more than 100 restaurants that Red Lobster closed earlier this summer. Once complete, the chain will have around 500 outlets left — a sharp decline from the 650 it had just last year.
Red Lobster is in the process of selling itself to Fortress Credit Corp., a lender experienced in restaurant management that also owns Krystal, Logan’s Roadhouse and J. Alexander’s. The firm recently gave the seafood chain a $100 million loan to allow it stay afloat.
On Monday, Fortress announced that it will install the former chief executive of P.F. Chang’s, Damola Adamolekun, as Red Lobster’s new CEO once the chain exits bankruptcy proceedings. Adamolekun left the Chinese food restaurant chain in August 2023 following a four-year stint.
Mismanagement, competition, inflation and other factors brought down Red Lobster, which has been a pioneer in the restaurant industry. Thai Union, a global seafood supplier, became Red Lobster’s leading shareholder in 2020 and filed for bankruptcy four years later in May.
In this photo illustration, a cooked lobster is displayed on a plate at a Red Lobster restaurant on May 20, 2024 in Austin, Texas. Red Lobster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after a failed lease-back agreement and “endless shrimp” promotion backfired against company revenue.
Under Thai Union’s leadership, Red Lobster’s culture turned toxic, former leaders told CNN. Red Lobster cut costs, removed longtime suppliers and implemented strategies that backfired, such as making $20 endless shrimp a permanent menu item. The chain lost $11 million on the endless shrimp deal.
The new list of restaurants leases identified to be closed “are likely to continue to drive losses” and the company does “not anticipate needing in order to operate their business going forward and can be rejected,” the filing said.
Here are the locations Red Lobster plans to close:
Arizona
-1521 S. Yuma Palms Pkwy., Yuma
Arkansas
-8407 W. Markham St., Little Rock
California
-8703 Murray Drive, La Mesa
Colorado
-4925 N. Academy Blvd., Colorado Springs
Florida
-326 Miracle Strip Pkwy., Fort Walton Beach
-5110 N. 9th Ave., Pensacola
-8909 U.S. Highway 19, Port Richey
Georgia
-6550 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro
Illinois
-1604 N. State Road 50, Bourbonnais
-902 Commons Drive, Geneva
-4625 N. Sterling Ave., Peoria
Indiana
-4353 Franklin St., Michigan City
Minnesota
-8900 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley
-12515 Elm Creek Blvd. North, Maple Grove
Missouri
-2381 Maplewood Commons Drive, Maplewood
New York
-925 Hunts Point Ave., Bronx
-750 Upper Glen St., Queensbury
North Carolina
-304 A Western Blvd., Jacksonville
Ohio
-17227 Southpark Center, Strongsville
South Carolina
-1270 Knox Abbott Drive, Cayce
Virginia
-555 S. Van Dorn St., Alexandria
-4415 S. Laburnum Ave., Richmond
-709 Independence Blvd., Virginia Beach
