Posted on 05/17/2014 4:37:41 PM PDT by rickmichaels
America's changing eating habits are killing Red Lobster.
The chain's parent company, Darden Restaurants, announced on Friday it was selling Red Lobster to a private-equity firm for $2.1 billion after years of sagging sales. While it may sound strange to call a chain with such a high price tag "dying," much of that $2.1 billion covers Red Lobster's real estate. What's left of the brand's value is "fairly minimal," Sterne Agee analyst Lynne Collier wrote in a note.
The cheddar-biscuit purveyor's demise is being hastened by a growing American preference for micro-managing meals that can be scarfed down quickly. The era of families sitting down to a meal conceived by food scientists and prepared in a kitchen they can’t see is fading. That is bad news for a host of other chains, including Olive Garden, which Darden still owns.
"Even as consumer spending has improved, many consumers have still been less willing to spend on sit-down meals," noted a recent report from market research firm IBISWorld. "Instead, consumers have shown a preference for cheaper fast-casual concepts.”
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
In the last few months my family and I have been out to dinner on three separate occasions and hare are my observations. They were a local diner, an Olive Garden and another local family owned.
1) The service has been terrible...the restaurants were quiet even for a friday night. Food arrived cold, or lukewarm.
2) the food quality was poor at best.... OG was standard fare and thrown on the plate, the others were Sysco staples, unimproved.
3) the prices were high for what we got.... In each case we spent $70 + tip for a meal for two adults and two children.
We are done with “out”....the economy is that bad, the workers simply don’t care anymore. The restaurant business is dying a slow death with less than 30 hours per employee. Nobody gives a damned anymore.
I can only speak for myself, but I would not eat in a Red Lobster because I don’t know where the seafood comes from. I am very careful to avoid fish that has been farmed or that has been caught by fishing boats other than American boats.
Horrible restaurant.
In fact, all Darden restaurants are terrible.
Cheddar’s is decent and reasonable. Much better value than Red Lobster. The only reason to go to a RL is the biscuits - they are still the best.
Now that makes a lot more sense. It suddenly seems that there are too many bars in town and they either offer live music free or cheap drinks to keep people coming in. The bars that were just hopping 5 years ago are not now. None are.
Weekly Standard recently had a book review about them.
Not really cost effective.
Last week, we went to the National Train Day celebration. A few photos from the 50 and 60s show vacationers travelling the Silver Star and the Orange Blossom and the males were in suits and ties and the females were in dresses. Nowadays, people dress in shorts and t shirts.
Vlad Putin is going to buy the chain, just needs to change all the signs to Red Mobster.
We usually only eat out at mom&pop ethnic restaurants. Louisville has a lot variety in that regard.
Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern, African (Ethiopian, Nigerian)and yummy Korean. We have a couple of real quality Mexican places. There was a nice little Colombian place, but it folded. One very nice Dim Sum restaurant.
All of which are surprisingly reasonable.
Just got to be a little adventurous. Don’t fall into a routine for the mediocre known.
There are no shrimp on that Barbie!
Darden’s sold off Red Lobster just this week. Can’t remember which investment group made the purchase.
You are right on the money.Most of the people that work at places(not all)like that are libs and voted for the very thing that is hurting the business and their tips. TOO BAD.
Anytime your biscuits are better than your lobster, you have a problem
Jameis Winston thinks the crab legs at Publix are great. Just the other day he bought over $30 worth of them although bought was probably not the correct word.
Let me think.
Might that have anything to do with the campaign starting in 2007 for...?
Naaaah!
Same here. I've never eaten at a Red Lobster. Wanted to try it, but the couple times we went, there were 45 minute waits at the door, so we turned around. The one's near us are constantly busy.
It seems to me that there has been an across-the-board decline in the quality of restaurant service in the past couple of years, and I think it’s because employers are cutting back on staff.
If you want to dress up for dinner, go to Legal Seafoods, Capital Grille, and other upscale dining chains. Or to a 5-star stand-alone restaurant.
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