Seafood-restaurant chain Pink Lobster is seeking to make a comeback from chapter with a brand new menu, a brand new 35-year-old CEO, and a brand new manner ahead.
The brand new Pink Lobster menu contains 9 new gadgets, together with lobster bisque, bacon-wrapped sea scallops, lobster pappardelle pasta, grilled mahi, Parmesan-crusted rooster, and a few new pasta dishes—and a return of everybody’s favourite merchandise: hush puppies.
The brand new menu comes because the chain’s CEO Damola Adamolekun is rolling out a comeback plan that additionally features a revamped look and an promoting marketing campaign aimed toward bringing in youthful prospects.
“We wish to make the eating places extra enjoyable,” Adamolekun told NBC Information. “We wish to make this extra energetic.”
Pink Lobster not too long ago emerged from bankruptcy with a $60 million restructuring deal backed by Fortress Funding Group, which concerned closing about 100 of its 640 eating places, leaving 544 Pink Lobsters remaining within the U.S. and Canada.
It’s been a troublesome yr for fast-casual and family-style chains. Pink Lobster, whose visits decreased nearly 45% year-over-year, joins a rising listing of chains which have filed for bankruptcy because of weakening gross sales as a consequence of larger costs, inflation, high-interest charges, and the necessity for strategic realignment to fulfill shifting client habits. That listing contains TGI Fridays, Tijuana Flats, Buca di Beppo, and BurgerFi.
Pink Lobster’s revamped menu will probably be 20% smaller and received’t embody the favored $19.99 all-you-can-eat Final Limitless Shrimp promotion as a result of, as Adamolekun put it, “I know how to do math” (implying the promotion was pricey and didn’t add to the corporate’s backside line).
Nonetheless, there may be excellent news for disillusioned shrimp lovers. The brand new CEO did hear prospects complaining concerning the tartar sauce recipe and promised a brand new, “higher” one is coming quickly.
One factor that received’t be altering is the annual Lobsterfest, which options lobster dishes not accessible year-round. The corporate says the occasion will probably be even larger this yr, making it the GOAT, or “GLOAT: biggest lobster fest of all time.”
On Monday, the chain is providing veterans, active-duty army, and reservists a free shrimp meal in honor of Veterans Day.