Red Lobster CEO, 37, planning ‘biggest comeback’ – Business News
Red Lobster closed dozens of places nationwide in May 2024 earlier than submitting for Chapter 11 chapter.
Now, the seafood chain’s 37-year-old chief govt officer says he’s planning “the greatest comeback in the history of the restaurant industry.”
Damola Adamolekun, former CEO of P.F. Chang’s, turned Red Lobster’s new CEO in September 2024.
Before that, he labored with Fortress Investment Group because it ready to amass the Florida-based restaurant chain.
Prior to submitting for chapter, Red Lobster reportedly went by 5 CEOs in 5 years.
While at Fortress, Adamolekun visited a selection of Red Lobster eating places in secret to evaluate them.
“It’s very easy for staff to disengage and check out,” he instructed Vanity Fair in an interview this month.
“But they hadn’t. I saw people that’d been there ten, 20, 30, 40 years. There was a lot of love for the brand. What they needed was a north star.”
He reportedly instructed 30,000 workers at a city corridor that the company was “going to execute the greatest comeback in the history of the restaurant industry,” setting the tone for an aggressive turnaround effort.
Many analysts and media stories have cited the company’s resolution to make its countless shrimp promotion a everlasting offering as one issue behind its financial troubles.
Red Lobster’s CEO Damola Adamolekun mentioned the company is planning “the greatest comeback in the history of the restaurant industry.” ABC through Getty Images
Prior to submitting for chapter, Red Lobster reportedly went by 5 CEOs in 5 years. jetcityimage – stock.adobe.com
Endless shrimp did return to pick Red Lobster places earlier this yr, however Adamolekun made it clear in a assertion to Fox 13 in Florida that it might be for a restricted time solely.
Prior to its chapter submitting, Red Lobster was additionally coping with “the fallout from a 2014 move that sold off ownership of the chain’s real estate and saddled the company with lease payments,” FOX Business reported.
In May, a Red Lobster restaurant touted because the chain’s oldest constantly working location shut down in Florida after 56 years.
“As part of the normal course of business, Red Lobster continuously evaluates restaurant performance and lease terms and may, from time to time, choose to close or relocate select restaurants,” Red Lobster instructed Fox News Digital on the time.
In addition to streamlining operations and shutting underperforming eating places, Adamolekun and Red Lobster are participating with prospects and indulging their nostalgia.
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As a high-profile determine, the CEO additionally usually seems on podcasts, in magazines, on tv and social media.
Under Adamolekun’s management, P.F. Chang’s started producing revenues of roughly $1 billion a yr, in keeping with Goldman Sachs.
“The biggest lesson I learned was the importance of adaptability,” he instructed the investment firm.
Consumers’ emotional connection to the model has turn into a central half of Red Lobster’s turnaround strategy, Adamolekun mentioned.
(Left) Ice Cube and Damola Adamolekun attend as Red Lobster and BIG3 have a good time the top of the basketball league’s eighth season with a dinner at Red Lobster on August 23, 2025, in Orlando, Florida. Getty Images for Red Lobster x BIG3
“I underestimated the impact of these emotional connections, which became a guiding principle in our decision-making, from menu changes to ambiance redesigns.”
Red Lobster has reintroduced popcorn shrimp and hush puppies, seafood boils, $19.99 shrimp offers and $20 lobster rolls, as Fox News Digital beforehand reported.
The younger CEO has additionally promoted completely happy hour and appetizer offers. “One thing that won’t be changing,” he mentioned in an commercial, “these Cheddar Bay biscuits. We got that right the first time. Welcome back.”
On the “Black Money Tree” podcast, Adamolekun mentioned he desires Red Lobster to turn into “the most AI-forward restaurant company that exists.”
He added, “One of the advantages of being young is that I understand the technology pretty well,” noting that he makes use of AI often in his own work.
Red Lobster has long been fashionable amongst Black shoppers. By 2015, about one in six diners had been Black, a greater share than some other main informal chain, in keeping with Vanity Fair.
Red Lobster has reintroduced popcorn shrimp and hush puppies, seafood boils, $19.99 shrimp offers and $20 lobster rolls. Bloomberg through Getty Images
The chain additionally turned a springboard for Black managers and culinary expertise, many coming by traditionally Black faculties and universities.
Red Lobster is projecting optimistic internet income by the top of the fiscal yr beneath Adamolekun’s management, in keeping with the Vanity Fair profile.
“We’re growing mid-single digits to low-double digits on certain weeks, which is good,” he instructed the publication.
“More people are ordering delivery than they [did] in the past. We’re growing, [but] we still have work to do to reclaim where we were.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Red Lobster for remark; it declined to offer any further insights at this time.
