They already got sold off by Darden when it once been their crown jewel dating back to the days when they were part of General Mills.jamcool wrote: ↑November 7th, 2022, 5:54 amYou know Red Lobster was having problems when they switched to Pepsi.pseudo3d wrote: ↑November 6th, 2022, 9:37 pmShrinking portions and menus aren't going to win customers. It's the same thing as the dreaded "under new management", especially when food quality, cleanliness, and other things get cut to save costs, but ultimately the restaurant goes under. Funny you should bring up chains, the restaurants in my area that died due to COVID were mostly chains--Fuddruckers, Applebee's, and Red Lobster came up as the big losers in 2020, though I'm pretty sure they were all doing marginal business.storewanderer wrote: ↑November 6th, 2022, 8:36 pm
The restaurant space is perpetually oversaturated. I don't know the statistics but a very large percentage of restaurants fail within their first year. This has always been a really tough business to break into but there is no shortage of people who take a crack at it and try it. And in a surprising number of cases many people who fail once, try again (after they go work as an employee somewhere for a few years to get back on their feet), and see if they can make it work a second time (or third time, or fourth time...).
There are going to need to be some changes to these restaurants. Many of them have simply gotten too expensive. Menus need to shrink. Portions need to shrink. Hours probably need to be dialed back some (perhaps to go only during certain hours). Some chains have been on the decline for years but for some reason with restaurants it is a very slow decline for chains.
I like to think independent restaurants will make it and chains like Applebees and IHOP will fade off, but that probably isn't what is going to happen.
I never went to the local Applebee's and rarely Red Lobster but I did notice how quiet Fuddruckers was most nights. Sunday lunch crowds were the only time where they were really busy, and that was the first go with COVID.