Red Lobster closed dozens of locations nationwide in May 2024 before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now, the 37-year-old chief executive officer says he’s planning “the greatest comeback in the history of the restaurant industry.”
Damola Adamolekun, former CEO of P.F. Chang’s, became Red Lobster’s new CEO in September 2024. Before that, he worked with Fortress Investment Group as it prepared to acquire the Florida-based restaurant chain.
Prior to filing for bankruptcy, Red Lobster reportedly went through five CEOs in five years.Â
While at Fortress, Adamolekun visited a variety of Red Lobster restaurants in secret to assess them.
“It’s very easy for staff to disengage and check out,” he told Vanity Fair in an interview this month. “But they hadn’t. I saw people that’d been there 10, 20, 30, 40 years. There was a lot of love for the brand. What they needed was a north star.”
He reportedly told 30,000 employees at a town hall 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 reports have cited the company’s decision to make its endless shrimp promotion a permanent offering as one factor behind its financial troubles. Endless shrimp did return to select Red Lobster locations earlier this year, but Adamolekun made it clear in a statement to Fox 13 in Florida that it would be for a limited time only.
In May, a Red Lobster restaurant touted as the chain’s 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 told Fox News Digital at the time.
In addition to streamlining operations and closing underperforming restaurants, Adamolekun and Red Lobster are engaging with customers and . As a high-profile figure, the CEO also often appears on podcasts, in magazines, on television and social media.
Under Adamolekun’s leadership, P.F. Chang’s began generating revenues of approximately $1 billion a year, according to Goldman Sachs.
“The biggest lesson I learned was the importance of adaptability,” he told the investment firm.
Consumers’ emotional connection to the brand has become a central part of Red Lobster’s turnaround strategy, Adamolekun said.
“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 deals and $20 lobster rolls, as Fox News Digital previously reported.
The young CEO has also promoted happy hour and appetizer deals. “One thing that won’t be changing,” he said in an advertisement, “these Cheddar Bay biscuits. We got that right the first time. Welcome back.”
On the “Black Money Tree” podcast, Adamolekun said he wants Red Lobster to become “the most AI-forward that exists.”
He added, “One of the advantages of being young is that I understand the technology pretty well,” noting that he uses AI regularly in his own work.
Red Lobster has long been popular among Black consumers. By 2015, about one in six diners were Black, a higher share than any other major casual chain, according to Vanity Fair. Th
