Nearly 100 Red Lobsters marked ‘closed’ on restaurant site, including 1 in TN: See the full list

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(NEXSTAR) – Red Lobster locations across the country started closing abruptly Monday, surprising residents and, at least in one case, a city official.

As of Tuesday, 90 locations in 27 states were listed as “closed” on the restaurant’s website.

Residents in Florida , New York , Iowa and Illinois , among others, found the stores suddenly shuttered.

“I was just notified by one of our local Red Lobster managers that after 31 years of serving our community, without notice, their parent company laid off the entire crew and closed the restaurant effective immediately,” Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. of Danville, Illinois, wrote in a Facebook post . “This is despite the fact that they were rated number 15 out of over 600 stores for customer service & satisfaction last year.”

The beleaguered seafood chain will be auctioning off the contents of 48 locations , according to a TAGeX brands, a restaurant supply liquidator. It’s not clear if there are any plans to reopen the restaurants not listed.

News 2’s parent company, Nexstar, reached out to Red Lobster for more information about the closures but didn’t receive a response as of publishing time.

Red Lobster owner Thai Union Group announced in January 2024 that it was looking to sell its stake in the brand, citing the impact of a “combination of [the] COVID-19 pandemic, sustained industry headwinds, higher interest rates and rising material and labor costs” on profits.

Back in April, Bloomberg and CNBC reported that the seafood chain, which has been a staple of the American restaurant scene for decades, considered filing for bankruptcy. Though, Red Lobster has not publicly confirmed this. The report noted that people who were familiar with the matter said Red Lobster was looking for restructuring advice to address leases and labor costs.

The company has faced some financial and internal challenges within the past few years. Between 2021 and 2022, the company welcomed a fresh lineup of executives, including a new CEO, chief marketing officer, chief financial officer, and chief information officer, according to CNN . All of them reportedly left within two years.

Then, there was the endless shrimp fiasco. In June 2023, the company offered its “Ultimate Endless Shrimp” — typically a limited offer — on their regular menu for $20. The attempt to get more people into the store worked, but it came at a cost.

Red Lobster posted an operating loss of more than $11 million in Q3 of that year, according to Restaurant Business . It’s a loss that parent company Thai Union Group said the endless shrimp deal was a “key factor” in creating.

These are the locations that appear closed, according to the Red Lobster website:

Alabama

Auburn

Decatur

Huntsville

Arizona

Oro Valley

California

Redding

Fremont

Montclair

Rohnert Park

Sacramento

San Diego

Torrance

Colorado

Denver

Lakewood

Lone Tree

Wheat Ridge

Florida

Altamonte Springs

Daytona Beach Shores

Gainseville

Hialeah

Jacksonville (Commerce Center Drive)

Jacksonville (Baymeadows Road)

Jacksonville (City Station Drive)

Kissimmee

Largo

Leesburg

Orlando (E. Colonial Dr.)

Orlando (W. Colonial Dr.)

Orlando (Golden Sky Lane)

Sanford

Tampa (East Busch Blvd.)

Tampa (Palm Pointe Dr.)

Georgia

Athens

Roswell

Dublin

Idaho

Lewiston

Illinois

Bloomingdale

Danville

Indiana

Indianapolis

Elkhart

Iowa

Council Bluffs

Waterloo

Kansas

Kansas City

Olathe

Louisiana

Bossier City

Maryland

Gaithersburg

Columbia

Silver Spring

Laurel

Michigan

Fort Gratiot

Mississippi

D’lberville

New Jersey

Ledgewood

Bridgewater

East Brunswick

Lawrenceville

New York

Amherst

Buffalo

Lakewood

Nanuet

Poughkeepsie

Scarsdale

Stony Brook

Williamsville

Kingston

Rochester

North Carolina

Burlington

Cary

Durham

Rocky Mount

North Dakota

Grand Forks

Oklahoma

Lawton

Oklahoma City

Stillwater

Pennsylvania

Erie

South Carolina

Myrtle Beach

Tennessee

Memphis

Texas

Dallas (E. Technology Blvd.)

Dallas (Vantage Point Dr.)

Houston

Lufkin

Pasadena

Tyler

Lake Jackson

Longview

San Antonio

Virginia

Colonial Heights

Williamsburg

Newport News

Washington

Silverdale

Wisconsin

Wawatosa

La Crosse

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Created by Bill Darden, the first Red Lobster opened in 1968 in Lakeland, Florida, advertised as fresh seafood for people of all walks of life. As of Monday, the website claims that there are over 700 Red Lobster locations around the world.

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

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