Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that “Red Lobster’s Endless Shrimp Is Back—With a Few Strings Attached.” To borrow a phrase from Shakespeare, thereby hangs a tale (or a tail, as the case may be).
The Journal story is part history:
Red Lobster has thrown its periodic Endless Shrimp party since the early 2000s. The chain ran it roughly annually and restricted the types of shrimp that customers could get.
“Every year, our guests count the days in anticipation of Endless Shrimp,” Red Lobster said while promoting the deal in 2019, when it sold for $15.99.
Seafood supplier Thai Union, Red Lobster’s previous majority owner, started to supercharge the deal in 2021 with “Ultimate Endless Shrimp.” It ran the promotion more often and included more expensive varieties, like hand-breaded shrimp tossed in coconut.
Thai Union launched the $20 all-you-can-eat shrimp deal as a permanent menu item in 2023 to try to stimulate sales growth after a long slump. Some customers started showing up with takeout containers to fill for home, and the promotion stressed out restaurant staff.
“Guests can choose three delicious shrimp preparations to start and order more when they’re ready,” Red Lobster said at the time.
The deal generated heavy sales for Thai Union, but it wrecked Red Lobster’s profit, contributing to an $11 million quarterly loss for the chain. Thai Union divested its holding in Red Lobster in early 2024.
Red Lobster ended Endless Shrimp in early 2024 and declared bankruptcy that May, citing significant losses from the Endless Shrimp promotion, among other things. They had to end Endless Shrimp. Some people ruined it for everyone, I guess.
Red Lobster has new owners and a new CEO — Damola Adamolekun. Adamolekun is reforming Endless Shrimp and bringing it back:
Unlike the promotion’s previous iteration, this time Red Lobster plans to offer Endless Shrimp on a limited-time basis at participating locations. The chain won’t serve it to-go, for delivery, or on holidays. The deal starts at $24.99 in some areas, a bit more than the previous version, according to advertisements for the deal in some markets.
At this time, it’s a sad tale with a happy ending. To borrow from Polonius’s explication in Hamlet, we may want to squeeze it into the “tragical-comical-historical-pastoral” genre.
