Red Lobster Swore Off Endless Shrimp. Then Brought It Back

Red Lobster sold all the shrimp you could eat for $20 in 2023, lost about $11 million in one quarter, and filed for bankruptcy 11 months later. But the shrimp wasn't the whole story. In this episode: Bill Darden's first Red Lobster in Lakeland, Florida (1968), General Mills, Cheddar Bay Biscuits, the 2003 endless crab legs, Darden's $2.1 billion sale to Golden Gate Capital, the $1.5 billion sale-leaseback and its 25-year leases, Beyoncé's "Formation", Thai Union's $575 million stake, Kelli Valade, Paul Kenny, the "quality review" that cut two shrimp suppliers, Ultimate Endless Shrimp, the 2024 Chapter 11, Flavor Flav, Fortress, CEO Damola Adamolekun, the 2026 return of Endless Shrimp, and the creditors' lawsuit against Thai Union. Chapters: 0:00 Did $20 of shrimp sink Red Lobster? 0:42 Part 1 · Would seafood sell inland? 2:06 Part 2 · Who owned the buildings? 3:19 Part 3 · Who was the shrimp for? 4:58 Part 4 · Why make it permanent? 6:37 Part 5 · How did it go bankrupt? 7:53 Part 6 · Can Red Lobster come back? 9:12 Who really wanted the deal? 9:52 What's the lesson? Sources (10): https://abc17news.com/money/cnn-busin... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://abc17news.com/money/cnn-busin... https://fortune.com/2024/05/21/shrimp... https://fortune.com/2026/02/10/red-lo... https://abc13.com/post/red-lobster-en... https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/red... https://www.fsrmagazine.com/growth/fi... https://www.nrn.com/marketing-brandin... https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/red... Photo and video credits (Wikimedia Commons, used under their licenses; cropped or shown with a camera move only where the license allows; share-alike files are shown whole and unmodified): Red Lobster, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Red Lobster, Baton Rouge: Sf46, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Lakeland, Florida (today): Contrib123456, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... The lobster tank, Red Lobster Knoxville: Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Darden Restaurants headquarters, Orlando: Dclemens1971, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Red Lobster, Chattanooga, Tennessee: Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Beyoncé (2023): Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Kelli Valade: BlackBoxUser, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Red Lobster dining room, Knoxville: Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Flavor Flav: Darian Cabot, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Stock footage: 41 clips from Pixabay (Pixabay Content License), by XiaosKitchen, JayShawflybydrones, tiburi, Sapphoto, Coverr-Free-Footage, Engin_Akyurt, Life-Of-Vids, billdeweese, Yan002505, DaniloAcosta, Jahhoo, DistillVideos, BreakDownPictures, Silaeff, gofurxp, Roque_dg, Hassas_Arts, isuruzampa, Nadebrag, FlorenceCdeM, HieuNghiaMini, Eaktas06, me_maqsood, albsworks Narration: AI voice. Animation and research: made for this channel. Company names and logos are used for identification and commentary; no affiliation. New business story every week: subscribe so you don't miss the next one. #RedLobster #EndlessShrimp #BusinessStory