It’s always tragic when something’s best quality is ironically its achilles heel.
In case you missed it, everyone’s favorite, middle-of-the-mall (mediocre) seafood restaurant Reb Lobster is in hot water (lobster pun intended). The food chain, arguably most famous for their scrumptious cheddar biscuits, looks to have no other choice but to attempt to spread out their debt, which means they’re exploring Chapter 11 bankruptcy (meaning they’d be allowed to continue to operate).
Red Lobster is first trying to find a buyer so they can avoid the bankruptcy filing, but that may be easier said than done. Especially because the reason Red Lobster built up debt and went “into the red” was because of a rash and poorly considered chain-wide promotion.
To make a long story short, a big reason why the casual seafood dining restaurant may declare bankruptcy is because they lost upwards of $11 million on their “Ultimate Endless Shrimp” promotion. Red Lobster diners quite literally ate so much shrimp that it crippled the establishment’s financial structure.
Tragic, yet somehow poetic.
As the above post by ABC reported, Red Lobster got over $10 million into the lobster tank (hole) in operating losses after “its flubbed ‘Ultimate Endless Shrimp’ deal, which backfired when it reeled in too many customers after the limited-time promo became a permanent menu fixture last June.”
How sad would it be if the “Ultimate Endless Shrimp” deal only ended because the restaurant went out of business altogether? And also, I don’t understand how it became a permanent fixture on the menu if the franchise knew good and well they were losing money on it?
Some got weird satisfaction from the potentially ironic ending to the Red Lobster franchise, while others are hoping that the seafood restaurant can pull through… or they can at least experience “Endless Shrimp” one last time:
