![]() “Ultimate Endless Shrimp” has been around for more than 18 years. The seafood supplier, whose brands include Chicken of the Sea, became a Red Lobster stakeholder in 2016 before teaming up with a group of investors in 2020 to acquire the rest of the company from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Capital.īut there have been some public signs of instability at Red Lobster, with CEO Kelli Valade resigning after just eight months on the job in 2022. Thai Union said in its earnings presentation it had no plans to sell Red Lobster in the short term. The positive, Gordon said, is adding the promotion to the menu will attract a certain kind of customer and bring in sales.īut “after a while, the impact of that will wear off,” Gordon said. While Gordon noted seafood supplier Thai Union’s expertise in sourcing products, he said another risk is Red Lobster could be put in a difficult position with the promotion’s price if there is a spike in shrimp costs. “What is paramount in the restaurant business is to provide new product, (and) new news.” “It is new news for a while, but after a while, it’s no longer new news,” Gordon said. San Diego-based restaurant analyst John Gordon said there are risks with moving the promotion to the everyday menu, including that Red Lobster loses the deal as a marketing opportunity. “… The team right now is working on how to propose (a) new menu, new meal, very attractive from a value proposition.”Įating out cost 8.3% more in May than it did a year earlier, with full-service meals up 6.8%, according to measures by the federal government. We need to be a bit more creative,” Garnier said. Red Lobster shareholder Thai Union reported in May it had a “share of profit from operations” for Red Lobster in the first quarter of this year, a turnaround from a loss in the same period last year.īut Thai Union group CFO Ludovic Garnier said on an earnings call there was still a lot of work to be done and Red Lobster needed to make sure it offered good value between big promotions like Ultimate Endless Shrimp because consumers in the United States are sensitive to price. Orlando-based Red Lobster recently offered the deal in September, when restaurants were in one of the slowest parts of the year in the weeks after Labor Day, but now the promotion is “available all day, every day,” a news release said. The meal comes with the customer’s choice of a side as well as Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Options include coconut shrimp, garlic grilled shrimp skewers, garlic shrimp scampi, and other. Red Lobster revealed Monday its “ Ultimate Endless Shrimp” promotion is now “here to stay,” following earlier comments from a major shareholder that the seafood chain needed to create a new menu with more value for customers.įor $20, customers can start with two shrimp dishes and then order more.
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