In May 2024, seafood restaurant chain Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy. While there were many factors that contributed to Red Lobster’s Chapter 11, one in particular—its endless shrimp offering—took much of the blame.
But now the company, having emerged from bankruptcy, is leaning into that financially disastrous offering by launching a new promotion that plays on people’s familiarity with its endless shrimp history. Here’s what you need to know about Red Lobster’s new SpendLESS Shrimp campaign.
Endless shrimp helped send Red Lobster into bankruptcy
In May 2024, Red Lobster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Many of the headlines surrounding the company’s bankruptcy concentrated on how its then-endless shrimp offering, where customers could eat as much shrimp as they wanted for a fixed price, led the company to an $11 million loss and, ultimately, insolvency.
However, as Fast Company previously reported, while its endless shrimp losses helped contribute to Red Lobster’s financial woes, they weren’t the only source of Red Lobster’s troubles. Like many restaurant chains, Red Lobster’s bottom line was impacted by declining foot traffic post-pandemic, inflationary pressures, and burdensome rental leases.
But by the fall of 2024, Red Lobster emerged from bankruptcy with new owners, new bosses, and fewer stores—and hopes for a return to profitability. Since then, the company has added new menu items and the return of old events to excite diners and boost sales. And now, the company is embracing its endless shrimp fiasco in hopes of clawing back even more customers.
SpendLESS Shrimp is here
Endless shrimp is probably never coming back, but that won’t stop Red Lobster from trying to capitalize on its disastrous marketing campaign that helped send the company into bankruptcy.
Red Lobster has announced a new campaign called SpendLESS Shrimp, which is clearly a bit of name play on its former endless shrimp promotion. In a press release announcing the campaign, the company didn’t even shy away from the association, stating, “Red Lobster is turning the tide one year after emerging from bankruptcy by introducing a fresh take on a fan-favorite promotion.”
But SpendLESS Shimp, as its name suggests, won’t allow you to access unlimited shrimp. Instead, the new campaign offers customers a new dish called Ultimate SpendLESS Shrimp, which is three different shrimp offerings for a fixed price of $15.99. Included in the Ultimate SpendLESS Shrimp dish is:
- Garlic Shrimp Scampi
- Shrimp Linguini Alfredo
- Popcorn Shrimp
Announcing the promotion, Damola Adamolekun, Red Lobster’s newest CEO, said, “Since stepping into this role, I’ve gotten questions about Endless Shrimp – ‘Is it coming back? ‘What really happened with the promotion?’ ‘How much shrimp is too much shrimp?’ And it’s time we officially turn the tides.”
Adamolekun said the new Ultimate SpendLESS Shrimp dish is part of a new chapter at Red Lobster. “It may not be endless, but you’ll definitely spend less.”
Yet it’s a dish that the company clearly hopes makes customers come in and spend more, so it can avoid a repeat of its recent past in the years ahead.
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