Red Lobster in trouble: 23 more closures
It looks like Red Lobster is in trouble, as the company will close another 23 stores by September, bringing the total number of closures this year to over 120.
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Red Lobster recently announced it will close another 23 restaurants, including one in Ohio, bringing the number of nationwide closures to 129. Is an Ohio social media influencer to blame?
Fox News might see it that way too. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), user Sir Yacht shared a clip from Fox News with the message: “Being blamed on national news for the destruction of Red Lobster was not on my bingo card.”
Influencer from Ohio eats endless shrimp at Red Lobster all day for TikTok video
The Fox News clip uses one of Sir Yacht’s TikTok videos as an example of how Red Lobster’s endless shrimp commercials – one of the reasons cited for the restaurant chain’s bankruptcy – can be abused.
In the May video, Sir Yacht — who is from the Cleveland area — takes advantage of the all-you-can-eat promotion to eat shrimp all day long at Red Lobster in North Olmsted. He says he ate 200 shrimp in 10 hours for a total of $25 before tipping.
However, he says he wasn’t sent there to “finish the job.” He simply enjoys shrimp and wants to continue eating at Red Lobster. He encourages others who enjoy endless shrimp to “eat a normal amount.”
Red Lobster closes another 23 restaurants, including one in Ohio
As part of its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, Orlando, Florida-based Red Lobster announced the closure of an additional 23 restaurants in a court document filed August 22 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida.
This includes the restaurant in Strongsville, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. It is the first Red Lobster in the state to be forced to close due to this bankruptcy.
Why did Red Lobster file for bankruptcy?
Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy on May 19 after closing dozens of locations and announcing plans to “drive operational improvements” by simplifying the business, according to USA TODAY. Court documents show the bankruptcy was primarily due to significant debt, a carousel of CEOs, an all-you-can-eat shrimp fiasco and a 30% drop in guests since 2019.
Red Lobster closures across the country
According to court documents, Red Lobster has a list of 228 rejected leases that would result in further losses if it continued to operate as normal, USA TODAY reports. Some of them have already been closed, meaning the company could lose 129 restaurants.
This total is correct because last week’s court filing already showed that 23 locations had already been closed, after 106 restaurants had already closed their doors over the summer.
