Posted on 12/06/2023 6:33:19 PM PST by nickcarraway
Not every deal is a good deal.
Yes, you can, in fact, have too much of a good thing. And it appears Red Lobster is learning that the hard way.
In an earnings report call in early November, Ludovic Regis Henri Garnier, the CFO of Thai Union Group, which owns Red Lobster, announced that its Ultimate Endless Shrimp deal, which is normally a limited-time offer but was added to the daily menu in June, was exceedingly popular — so popular that it caused the restaurant chain to post an operating loss of more than $11 million in the third quarter of 2023.
"We knew the price was cheap, but the idea was to bring more traffic in the restaurants," Garnier told investors, according to Restaurant Business. "So we wanted to boost our traffic, and it didn't work."
Red Lobster Is Launching a Line of Frozen Seafood Products, and Yes, It Includes the Biscuits To be fair, according to the earnings call, the chain of 670 restaurants did experience a 4% year-over-year growth in its number of customers thanks to the deal, but the deal's $20 price tag for patrons to get two different types of shrimp was just too little to make up the difference. So now, it's upped the price to $25.
"We want to keep it on the menu," Garnier added. "And of course we need to be much more careful regarding what are the entry points and what is the price point we are offering for this promotion."
Now, for $25, guests can choose two shrimp-centric options, and, as Red Lobster noted in a June press release, "When they are ready for more, they can order additional shrimp selections until their cravings are fully satisfied." The meal choices include Garlic Shrimp Scampi, Coconut Shrimp, Shrimp Linguini Alfredo, Walt's Favorite Shrimp, and Garlic Grilled Shrimp Skewer. And every meal comes with a choice of side, along with the restaurant's famed Cheddar Bay Biscuits.
Sadly, this shrimp debacle could be putting Red Lobster in real trouble. According to Restaurant Business, the restaurant's parent company had expected its losses to hover around $17 million earlier this year, but a better-than-expected second quarter boosted that number to just $14 million. Now, however, those losses are expected to total around $20 million. In early 2023, Thai Union had threatened to abandon Red Lobster altogether over its losses, which at the time had only hit $9.8 million.
As Thai Union's chief executive officer Thiraphong Chansiri, said in an interview in March, "Thai Union has never prolonged any bad businesses," adding that it had shut down other unprofitable factories before.
And.....from China! What could possibly go wrong????????
Well, again, if its not working as planned, do something different.
Anyone see the two-headed shrimp?
I suggest getting seafood supplies from Endless Fishing Co.
We lose a little bit on every sale but make it up in volume,
I’ve eaten at Red Lobster twice, once in Kansas City in about 1974 and was shocked that it wasn’t real seafood, and somewhere else in about 2018 because I was forced to.
Neither time did it taste like seafood, the shrimp were like frozen breaded shrimp from Walmart.
Is it really that bad?
Just make them leave the fat person carts outside.
I went in and ate over 100 shrimp scampi on one of these endless shrimp deals.
wouldn’t touch the biscuits or any sides, because I wanted to fill up on the good stuff :)
“I’m guessing it’s cheap third world shrimp.”
Yeah, it’s definitely not Gulf of Mexico shrimp, that’s for sure!
Regardless, if they even began losing money on it, they’d up the price till they didn’t immediately. Simple business.
I went in and ate over 100 shrimp scampi on one of these endless shrimp deals.
wouldn’t touch the biscuits or any sides, because I wanted to fill up on the good stuff :)
China shrimp....mmmm.....mmmmm....good stuff.
🙃
As of late 2021, the last time Red Lobster’s “Seafood With Standards” page was updated, the answer seems to be a bit clearer. The restaurant’s seafood is indeed gathered from “all over the world.” For example, its shrimp come from areas in South America and Asia including waters off Ecuador, India, and China.
Read More: https://www.mashed.com/1274283/where-red-lobster-source-seafood/
I’ve noticed the TV ads for Red Lobster seem to go after a certain clientele. No wonder they are losing money on “all you can eat shrimp”!
And no one even cares what the shrimp think. This is hard on them, too, you know.
[[Endless Shrimp Is Financially Ruining Red Lobster]]
Why? Did Chris Christie discover red lobster recently?
11 million for the quarter for a big chain ... doubt it was all caused by the endless shrimp ... appears to be other problems there.
Please keep those donations coming in, Folks. Let’s get this FReepathon rockin’! [Thread LXVII] Chris Robinson
I think this fakery worked. Now I want to go get endless shrimp before they end it.
Famous last words...
“With all this revenue, there ought to be some profit around here somewhere!”
It's a shell game.
Aah, the steaks, the shrimp, and the sangria... all for a very reasonable price in the late 70’s. My family used to go there every few weeks. By 1980 or 1981 they were gone. So yeah, I think the free shrimp did them in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.