Dive Brief:
- Red Lobster added seven menu items to its 545 restaurants nationwide and revived a number of old favorites, the company said Tuesday in a press release.
- The revamped menu includes classics such as popcorn shrimp and hush puppies, as well as a Create your Own Ultimate Feast, which allows guests to mix and match two premium items and two classic items. New dishes include Lobster Pappardelle Pasta, Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops, Lobster Bisque, Lemon Basil Mahi, Simply Prepared Mahi, Parmesan-Crusted Chicken and Roasted Asparagus.
- The new menu comes more than a month after the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Part of the chain’s restructuring plan included simplifying its core menu, exercising restraint with promotions and having fewer LTOs.
Dive Insight:
Red Lobster learned the hard way why menu development is important after its Ultimate Endless Shrimp promotion in the summer of 2023 led to millions of dollars in losses, complicating the chain’s already precarious finances. It hadn’t meaningfully updated its core menu in years, outside of LTOs, so these new dishes could be a welcome addition for lapsed customers.
Red Lobster CEO Damola Adamolekun told Today that the company received negative social media feedback when it took hush puppies off the menu some years ago, which led the chain to bring them back. Despite the new items, the menu is actually 20% smaller than before and doesn’t include Ultimate Endless Shrimp, according to Today. The chain also reworked its tartar sauce based on social media feedback and plans to continue its annual Lobsterfest.
To advertise its new menu, Red Lobster worked with gospel singer Pastor Shirely Caesar, whose voice was used in a new TV spot. It previously worked with musician Flavor Flav to advertise its Crabfest and created a menu collaboration with him during the summer.
In addition to remaking its menu, the chain has been bringing fresh talent to its C-suite. Following Adamokleun’s appointment in late summer, the chain has hired a new CFO, CMO and COO, all of whom have several decades of restaurant experience combined.
