A deep dive into the dying of Red Lobster

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/02/a-deep-dive-into-the-dying-of-red-lobster.html

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I wonder how long before they start closing up shop? I think I have a gift card or two for there (random x-mas gifts kind of thing).

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Private equity is a scourge upon the Earth.

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Yes, private equity is a scourge. Can I have yours?

But more seriously, I hate what they did to Toys R Us and Bed Bath & Beyond. It really is ruinous. I don’t think I ever visited a Red Lobster, but I know people that loved it and I know there will be jobs lost for no good reason. It stinks. They’ll probably sit empty for years, too.

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K-mart and Sears, too. Same. Exact. Trick. Sell the real estate to a holding company (ideally owned or controlled by the CEO doing the asset stripping), lease the properties back and use that as an excuse to add a mountain of debt on the company when it can barely manage as it is.

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And nursing homes. That land on the edge of town they bought 50 years ago is worth a mint.

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I’m not too fussed about the collapse of any particular minimum wage paying mass production food output facility. Don’t think I’ve been to a Red Lobster since the 1980s.

I personally don’t see Red Lobster as some crucial cultural touchstone, any more than all the other corporate chains. I do however see the rapacious impact of private equity on other actual important things (like senior homes and hospitals) and think that something must be done.

No, I don’t know enough to know what particular thing wouldn’t lead to even worse consequences, but clearly the rampaging of private equity though society is a problem.

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There is not now nor has there ever been and excuse for cheese sauce.

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Seems in the best interest of the new owner of all those properties to have lowered the rent. Now they have a huge number of unleased properties.

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Hopefully there’s still a Red Lobster in heaven, and Joe Flaherty’s enjoying himself.

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Broccoli. I rest my case.

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Enjoy your dry-ass mac and cheese.

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Maybe Red Lobster can save itself by posting really crap AI stuff oh wait

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I was just about to bring this up. It’s bad enough to strip all the value from a restaurant chain or retail establishment. When it comes to care for the injured, sick or elderly, that’s a horse of a different color.

Strip mine the value from a restaurant chain and people lose their jobs, or a place to eat. Do the same with a nursing home and people are going to die unnecessarily, not to mention the moral injury to those who are still employed there as the ship goes down.

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I was just thinking K-Mart and Sears when reading that.

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I actually like Red Lobster. It has a basic inexpensive steak and greens combo that never fails. Hiding behind that mountain of cheddar buscuits is the perfect “full eat-out meal with nearly no carbs”

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Yeah, for a chain place it’s not bad, they have some good stuff… It just isn’t in our regular dinner out rotation normally.

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I make it with cheese chunks and white sauce, it is miles better that way.

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Broccoli is fine, why fuck it up.

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