Red Lobster’s new CEO plans to revamp the seafood restaurant brand
- Red Lobster emerged from bankruptcy in September with new ownership and a new CEO focused on revitalizing the brand.
- Damola Adamolekun, the former CEO of P.F. Chang's, aims to improve food quality and highlight value while maintaining affordable prices.
- The chain will receive significant new funding to support its revitalization plan and enhance the customer experience.
The Red Lobster restaurant chain exited bankruptcy last September, and its new leader is looking to the brand’s future — with some inspiration from his childhood in Illinois.
Red Lobster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last May due to massive debt, dozens of location closures, and an overall decline in guests. The chain closed more than 90 locations, including stores in Illinois.
Fortress Investment Group LLC acquired Red Lobster as it exited bankruptcy, and appointed Damola Adamolekun chief executive officer. The new CEO recently shared his lifetime affinity for the seafood restaurant from a childhood connection to central Illinois.
“I've been a Red Lobster fan since my first dining experience as a 9-year-old at our Springfield, Illinois, restaurant,” Adamolekun said on The Breakfast Club, the long-running radio show out of New York.
“And as I've prepared to step into the role of CEO," he said, "I've met hundreds of diners across the country who, just like me, are as passionate about Red Lobster now as they were on their first visit."
Who is the new Red Lobster CEO?
In 2020, the Nigerian-born Adamolekun became the first Black CEO of the Asian restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s, staying in that role until December 2023. He is credited with navigating the chain through COVID-19 lockdowns and returning it to growth through a brand refresh and the opening of new restaurants. During his tenure, the chain launched P.F. Chang’s To Go locations.
Before becoming P.F. Chang’s CEO, he was its chief strategy officer and a partner at the chain’s principal owner, New York-based investment firm Paulsen & Co. He previously worked for the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs and as a private equity associate at TPG Capital. He also has served on the board of P.F. Chang’s, Inday, the National Restaurant Association, and International Tower Hill Mines.
How the new CEO plans to save Red Lobster
On The Breakfast Club, Adamolekun laid out a simple strategy for revitalizing the company: improve the quality of Red Lobster’s product while continuing to offer affordable prices.
“If you want lobster and you want it for $20, we’ve got the lobster roll for that price in certain markets,” he said. “At the same time, value is what you get for the price. If the hospitality is way better, the food is more interesting, the drinks are fun, and you pay the same price for all of that; people are going to perceive it as value.”
More than $60 million in new financial backing has allowed the company to develop a long-term plan, said Adamolekun. He hopes it will reinvigorate Red Lobster while keeping its foothold as a nostalgic go-to celebratory spot for many.
"Red Lobster has a tremendous future," he said, "and I cannot wait to get started on our plan with the company's more than 30,000 team members across the USA and Canada."
Adamolekun, 36, also wants to increase public awareness of Red Lobster’s quality. He estimated Red Lobster buys a quarter of all lobsters caught on boats, and a quarter of the crab caught in North America. All the chain’s lobster and crabs are wild-caught, he said, because they cannot be farm-raised.
“The lobster you get at Red Lobster is as good as lobster you’ll get anywhere, but people don’t know that,” he said. “There’s a communications aspect. We need to let people know this is the best product you can get.”
Adamolekun also said Red Lobster locations could benefit from upgrades to the interior, and the company is working on a plan for that.
History of Red Lobster
Entrepreneur Bill Darden opened the first Red Lobster franchise in Lakeland, Florida in 1968. The company estimated that it operates more than 500 restaurants in the United States and Canada and is the world’s largest seafood-buying company.
Former Red Lobster chief executive officer Jonathan Tibus said the chain’s "Ultimate Endless Shrimp" promotion resulted in an $11 million loss for the company. The COVID-19 pandemic also played a key role in the chain’s financial downfall. Since 2019, guest count declined by 30% and recovered “only marginally” as the pandemic subsided.