Damola Adamolekun is the new CEO of Red Lobster, the seafood chain stuck in bankruptcy. Those endless shrimp deals? Not coming back, he says.
Last year the seafood chain made all-you-can-eat shrimp a permanent menu item after two decades of offering it for a limited time. The decision, made by former Red Lobster CEO Paul Kenny, cost $11 million and saddled the company "with burdensome supply obligations" subsequent CEO Jonathan Tibus said in a May bankruptcy filing.
While teasing the possibility of the controversial item's return, current CEO Adamolekun decided against it, explaining that it's "because I know how to do math."
Sure, endless shrimp was a dumb money-loser. But the bigger problem was asset-stripping, debt-loading and extractive mismanagement by outside ownership, same as all the others.
Adamolekun made P.F. Chang's pleasant to eat in and then profitable too, so he's not not just an undertaker.
Previously:
• Woman doesn't want to leave Red Lobster
• A deep dive into the dying of Red Lobster
• Crustacean corruption scheme revealed in the wake of Red Lobster bankruptcy
• Dead Lobster: seafood chain sinking into bankruptcy
