Where is Red Lobster closing?

(NEXSTAR) — Crimson Lobster is reportedly shuttering at the least 48 of its places, and a restaurant provide liquidator is auctioning off kitchen gear from the impacted eateries this week.

TAGeX Manufacturers introduced on Monday that it’s conducting the net public sale by way of Thursday, Could 16, for choose Crimson Lobster eating places closing in a number of states. Most notably, California and Florida are dropping 5 places every, whereas Maryland and Colorado are dropping 4.

Nexstar’s KETK additionally reported that three Crimson Lobster eating places in Texas abruptly shut down this week, itemizing their hours as “closed.” None of these places could possibly be reached by way of cellphone.

In Illinois, the mayor of Danville posted a message on Fb in regards to the sudden closure of the town’s solely Crimson Lobster and prolonged his prayers to the affected staff.

“I used to be simply notified by one among our native Crimson Lobster managers that after 31 years of serving our group, with out discover, their guardian firm laid off the complete crew and closed the restaurant efficient instantly,” wrote Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr.

“That is even if they had been rated quantity 15 out of over 600 shops for customer support & satisfaction final 12 months,” he added.

As for the public sale, a number of gadgets are up for grabs – from high-performance ovens to upright fridges and eating room furnishings. TAGeX Manufacturers known as it “the most important restaurant gear public sale ever” on its web site. It’s necessary to notice that the gadgets aren’t being offered individually. Every location may have one successful bidder who will take all contents from the restaurant.

“These auctions are WINNER TAKES ALL – that means, every winner will obtain the ENTIRE contents of the Crimson Lobster location they bid on,” TAGeX Manufacturers famous.

Again in April, Bloomberg and CNBC reported that the seafood chain, which has been a staple of the American restaurant scene for many years, thought-about submitting for chapter. Although, Crimson Lobster has not publicly confirmed this. The report famous that individuals who had been acquainted with the matter mentioned Crimson Lobster was on the lookout for restructuring recommendation to deal with leases and labor prices.

The corporate has confronted some monetary and inner challenges inside the previous few years. Between 2021 and 2022, the corporate welcomed a contemporary lineup of executives, together with a brand new CEO, chief advertising and marketing officer, chief monetary officer, and chief data officer, in response to CNN. All of them reportedly left inside two years.

Then, there was the limitless shrimp fiasco. In June 2023, the corporate supplied its “Final Infinite Shrimp” — sometimes a restricted provide — on their common menu for $20. The try and get extra folks into the shop labored, however it got here at a price.

Crimson Lobster posted an working lack of greater than $11 million in Q3 of that 12 months, in response to Restaurant Enterprise. It’s a loss that guardian firm Thai Union Group mentioned the limitless shrimp deal was a “key issue” in creating.

Thai Union Group introduced earlier this 12 months that it was seeking to promote its stake within the model, citing the impression of a “mixture of [the] Covid-19 pandemic, sustained business headwinds, increased rates of interest and rising materials and labor prices” on income.

Created by Invoice Darden, the primary Crimson Lobster opened in 1968 in Lakeland, Florida, marketed as contemporary seafood for folks of all walks of life. As of Monday, the web site claims that there are over 700 Crimson Lobster places around the globe.

Nexstar’s Invoice Shannon and Brian Farrell contributed to this story.