DDozens of Red Lobster locations are closing their doors amid financial struggles for the restaurant chain, including several in New York and New Jersey, according to a restaurant manager.
At least 48 locations in 21 states will close and TAGeX Brands will hold an online auction to sell inventory from the closures, including kitchen equipment and furniture. The auction, which began on Monday, is scheduled to continue until Thursday, May 16, published the founder of TAGeX Brands on LinkedIn. “Furniture, fixtures and equipment from select Red Lobster locations MUST GO AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!”, Neal Sherman wrote.
The company, which currently has approximately 650 locations, has closed locations in Buffalo, New York, Bridgewater, New Jersey and Orlando Florida, among many others. The restaurant chain is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it tries to restructure debt, Bloomberg reported.
In March, the restaurant chain, open since 1968, appointed Jonathan Tibus, who has been through restructuring, as its new CEO. It is unclear whether the closed stores will reopen. Red Lobster did not respond to TIME’s request for comment.
Red Lobster reported an $11 million loss in the third quarter of 2023, largely due to an “Ultimate Endless Shrimp” promotion it offered last summer in which customers would pay $20 for endless shrimp. The menu item was previously a limited-time offer, but Red Lobster decided to make it permanent. O restaurant then tried to increase the promotional price to US$25but that reportedly didn’t help with the losses.
Ludovic Regis Henri Garnier, CFO of Thai Union Group, owner of Red Lobster, said last fall that the promotion was intended to help attract customers to the restaurant. “So we wanted to increase our traffic and it didn’t work,” he said, according to Restaurant Business magazine.
Social media users quickly began posting online about the closures. The news even started to become a trend on X.
“It’s sad to see The Red Lobster go. They always had the best seafood.” one user wrote. Other he wrote“Americans ate Red Lobster out of business.”
And some reminisced about what Red Lobster has meant to them over the years.
“I just found out that the Red Lobster location where I worked for many years closed. If it weren’t for this job, I would never have met my husband and had the wonderful family I have now. I feel so sad to have closed another chapter of my life,” another user X wrote.
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