Bradleigh-Ann Walker
Senior Content Editor
@urbanbeautyxo
Red Lobster is now under new ownership.
Darden Restaurants has sold its chain of seafood restaurants–706 locations in total across North America–to Golden Gate Capital, a private equity firm that already owns a few chains in the States.
The restaurants sold for a whopping $2.1 billion.
The recession has negatively affected the U.S. locations’ spending, and it has endured rising competition with Panera Bread and Chipotle, both of which are much cheaper because they don’t offer table service like Red Lobster does. With these odds stacked against them, attracting customers to the seafood restaurants hasn’t been easy.
Southeast Asian stocks have dropped because of an incurable bacterial infection discovered in shrimp there, resulting in higher shrimp prices–not good news for Red Lobster there, either.
Some investors aren’t happy with the Red Lobster sale, and shares in the restaurants fell after the deal was made.
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