The CEO of Red Lobster has successfully corrected course, sailing the company into smoother waters financially after successfully navigating restructuring to exit bankruptcy -- and now, the popular seafood chain has lured diners back to restaurants with fresh menu items, promotions and promises to keep listening while keeping prices down.
"We want to be exciting, relevant and compelling for our guests -- and one of the ways you do that is through menu innovations," Damola Adamolekun told "Good Morning America" in an exclusive interview Thursday. "People are having fun as an experience, which is an important differentiator to get people back into the restaurants."
Crabfest returns to Red Lobster with new seafood boils
The endless shrimp promotion that sank Red Lobster's bottom line in 2021 and forced the restaurant chain into bankruptcy will not be returning.
"We don't have any plans to bring it back," Adamolekun said. "We listen intently to customer comments and try to react really quickly to deliver people what they want."
As the world's largest seafood buyer, Adamolekun addressed possible concerns over President Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs that are scheduled to take effect Aug. 1.
Red Lobster sources nearly 90% of its menu -- lobster and crab -- from North America and Canada, the 36-year-old CEO explained, but added, "We do import products as well -- so on those products we'll pay a tariff like everybody else."
"That impacts our business, and our intention is not to pass that through," Adamolekun said. "We're not intending to do any more price increases for the rest of the year, regardless of what happens with tariffs."
The most recent example of Red Lobster's agile response to customer feedback and menu innovation, which Adamolekun said is a key pillar to earning diner loyalty, are the iterations to the already popular seafood boils that launched last month.
"We read the comments to see what people are saying. We try to react quickly to deliver what they want," he said.
The tableside experience -- where the waiter shakes up seasoning in a bag of steaming crustaceans -- first hit menus in June with three flavor options: Roasted Garlic Butter, Cajun Butter or Old Bay seasoning.
"There was a group of people saying, 'We want more heat, more spice, more flavor options.' And within a week, we turned it around and added a spicy option, an extra spicy option, a new flavor, Old Bay and Parmesan, and Cajun sausage. And we did that within a week," Adamolekun said.
"So we're listening, we're reading the comments," he reiterated. "My CMO says, 'Keep commenting, and we'll keep cracking.'"
