Red Lobster is determined to fish itself out of the financial deep end, and its new CEO is banking on the resurrection of a fan-favorite menu item to help it accomplish that.
The popular restaurant chain is jump-starting its recovery after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May. In the bankruptcy filing, the company cited waning consumer demand, low sales, inflation, debt from leases and mismanagement of its famous Ultimate Endless Shrimp promo as major headwinds that tanked its business.
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Red Lobster officially exited bankruptcy status in September after its turnaround plan received court approval. As part of the plan, Red Lobster was acquired by RL Investor Holdings. The restaurant chain also received a new CEO, 35-year-old Damola Adamolekun, who was the former CEO of P. F. Chang's.
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Since taking over Red Lobster, Adamolekun has been on a mission to guide the struggling restaurant chain to recovery. His latest idea to help him reach that goal includes putting hush puppies back on Red Lobster’s menu.
“There was a social media riot over us taking off the hush puppies a few years ago. So that is coming back,” said Adamolekun in a recent interview with NBC News. “So, I expect the opposite of a riot, I expect a stampede into our restaurants because we’re bringing back the hush puppies.”
Hush puppies were a staple on Red Lobster’s menu since the ‘70s, where it was served alongside seafood, coleslaw and a potato.
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Red Lobster unveils its revamped menu
In addition to placing hush puppies back on the menu, Adamolekun also announced in the interview with NBC that Red Lobster’s new menu will be 20% smaller, but it will have nine new items. These new additions include bacon-wrapped sea scallops, grilled mahi, lobster bisque and several new pasta dishes.
“Relevant, compelling and exciting is what we want Red Lobster to be for the future, and so we’re working on that now,” said Adamolekun.
He also made it very clear in the interview that Red Lobster will be “fixing” its tartar sauce after it faced criticism on social media, especially on TikTok, for changing the recipe.
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“It’s being fixed,” said Adamolekun. “I hear you TikTok, I agree.”
Adamolekun also stated that the restaurant’s generous Endless Shrimp deal, where customers can eat an endless amount of shrimp for $20, will not be coming back anytime soon, but he said that “anything’s possible.”
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It is no surprise that the deal won't make a comeback at Red Lobster locations anytime soon, especially since Adamolekun revealed in an interview with CNN in October that the Endless Shrimp promotion caused “chaos” at the company’s restaurants.
“When you have endless shrimp and people are coming in, and sitting down at the table, and eating for hours as much shrimp as they possibly can, you stress out the kitchen, you stress out the servers, you stress out the hosts,” said Adamolekun. “People can’t get a table. It creates a lot of chaos and you saw a lot of that.”
Since the beginning of this year, Red Lobster has closed over 100 locations across the U.S., it currently has around 500 restaurants left in the region.
Despite recent setbacks, the restaurant chain is hoping that its new turnaround plan will drive in a net income of $2.1 million in fiscal year 2026, compared to the $51.8 million it expects to lose during fiscal year 2025, according to a court filing in July.
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