Head of Red Lobster Replaced After All-You-Can-Eat Failure

Associated Press ^ | 9/24/03 | Richard Gibson

[jimbo123]

DES MOINES, Iowa (Dow Jones/AP) - Darden Restaurants Inc. Wednesday said it had replaced the head of Red Lobster, its biggest chain, after an all-you-can-eat crab promotion went awry.

Darden President and Chief Operating Officer Dick Rivera will succeed Edna Morris as president of Red Lobster.

Morris, who had been in that job just 18 months, left to pursue other interests, the company said.

Darden executives said Red Lobster management had badly miscalculated how many times customers would refill their plates after paying $20 for an "endless" crab entree. Meanwhile, crab prices were going up, sending the profit margin crashing.

"It wasn't the second helping on all-you-can-eat but the third," said company chairman Joe R. Lee on a conference call.

"And maybe the fourth," added Rivera.

[Skip Ripley]

I once got crabs from a waitress that I worked with at Red Lobster.

I think I paid a bit more than $20 for the Quell prescription to kill em

[willieroe]

"Consumers connect over seafood in very profound, unique ways. When you put a plate of shrimp or crab legs in front of a table of people, they connect and share more than the food. They share themselves," Morris said.

Whole lotta sharin' goin' on!!! (apologies to Jerry Lee Lewis).

[tomahawk]

And Americans get ever fatter.

[WackyKat]

How could a restaurant chain not know that "all you can eat" invariably attracts the fattest, most gluttonous customers? Those people are constantly on the lookout for buffet specials.

A TRUE STORY

Several years ago, an "all you can eat" Chinese buffet opened down the street from my office. I and several co-workers went during the Grand Opening week. Although the food was edible, I quickly lost my appetite as I watched, all around me, tables full of grossly obese people shoveling-and I mean shoveling- food into their mouths as fast as they could swallow. And they went back for plate after plate.The sights were so disgusting, I never returned to the restaurant.

Three months later, the local news reported that the place had been closed by order of the Health Department when an inspector found numerous skinned DOG carcasses in the meat freezer.

[blam]

"Dunno. The Chinese buffets seem to make it work. Some have snow crab legs and you can eat as many as you want."

I have a Chinese friend with a Chinese restaurant. He says he loses money every Friday night on 'snow crab claws night.' His main competition here, right on the coast, is seafood restaurants.

[Atlas Sneezed]

The casino buffets make money doing this. Maybe Red Lobster needs slot machines to make ends meet.

I prefer the Rosewood Grill in Vegas. Lobster may be $25 per pound, but there is nothing like a 6 pound lobster for me and Mrs. Beelzebubba to share!

[Trailerpark Badass]

Everything there tastes like shrimp. The bad kind.

[Fester Chugabrew]

You aren't alone. The headline conjured up something strange in my thoughts, too.

[joesnuffy]

"who ya gonna call?".....Buffet Busters....

[ForOurFuture]

Spreads like those are one of the outnumbered benefits of living in Maryland. Ocean City tourism mags usually have 10-15 seafood buffet restaurant advertisements, each one with a picture more mouth-watering than the last.

In my experience, good seafood is hard to find too far inland.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Those aren't snow crab legs.....

[Chancellor Palpatine]

They need to stake their entire marketing department, drag them into the sun and scatter the ashes......

[Queen Jadis]

That's a very good comment. I used to work at California Pizza Kitchen whilst in college, I remember they used to encourage us to upsell by encouraging patrons to order dessert. I never did this bc I wanted to turn my tables over, meaning, I would rather have another waiter have the dessert patrons whilst my station was full of the people ordering the big ticket entrees...thus making better tips for myself scince people tip on the percentage of the check. Therefore the time people spent in my section had a larger tab average.

Pity the author of the red lobster idea didn't figure what you did out. Since those days of ten years ago waiting tables I went on to work in the "real world". It's amazing how little common sense people have out there in cooperations. That's why I quit working for them. Got sick of ninny ideas and the yes men at the meetings that would stay silent for "politics". Eventually jobs were lost as a result of massive idiocy. I mean really when he proposed this idea did not one person have YOUR come back to it? Share the love? Sounds very Democratic...

Now my husband and I have our own business...it's hard work and I don't have the "benefits" but the satisfaction of not becoming a souless automiton is worth it.

[Chemist_Geek]

The sights were so disgusting, I never returned to the restaurant.

Aww, too bad. We'll make sure that only visually-approved people are allowed to be out in public.

Everyone else we'll lock away so as not to offend your delicate sensibilities.

[Hunble]

It was a failure for a rather simple reason:

Crab is too difficult to eat (you have to work for it) and most people are not willing to spend their asking price.

No, this was not an issue of people eating too much for the price. Instead, the customers were simply not willing to pay that amount.

Now offer me an all-you-can-eat broiled lobster tail fest......

[willieroe]

No, this was not an issue of people eating too much for the price.

??? - You might want to read the article again.

[cyborg]

I'm afraid to go into a chinese buffet for fear of being eaten along with the crab legs, pork ribs and whatever else. I don't bother with 'all you can eat' menus because I'm not a greedy pig. They were stupid in the first place to offer 'all you can eat' in the fattest nation on the planet in the first place.

[cyborg]

just damn ping

[tgslTakoma]

Just for you, Buford.

;-)

[Queen Jadis]

I have had a similar reaction to the sights of the "all you can eat" deals at restaurants. It's quite respulsive. I know that some of us are more put of from eating easier than others. I unfortunately am one of them. When you eat outside of your home aesthetics do become part of the experience...Personally I am not put off by others eating per se as much as I am by a non stop visual show of gluttony. Not to mention the waste. Which unfortunately is right in front of you in an all you can eat enviroment. I would rather go to a Micky Dees.