In its latest bankruptcy court filing, Red Lobster said it plans to close 23 more locations, including a Georgia restaurant.
The move comes after the seafood chain announced earlier this year that it was shuttering — at least temporarily — dozens of sites, including three in Georgia at the time.
This month’s announcement, which comes with a requested court hearing on Thursday, involves Red Lobsters in 15 states, including one on Tara Boulevard in Jonesboro, according to court documents.
Red Lobster first opened its doors in 1968 with a restaurant in Lakeland, Florida. By 1970, after being purchased by food processing titan General Mills, the seafood eatery had already proliferated across the country as a nationwide chain.
General Mills later spun out what became known as Darden Restaurants into its own publicly traded company, which included the Red Lobster chain.
Darden sold Red Lobster in 2014 to a private equity firm for $2.1 billion. In 2020, another private equity firm, Thai Union, became the chain’s largest shareholder.
Last week’s court filing indicates the chain now operates more than 530 casual seafood restaurants primarily located across the U.S. and Canada with nearly 36,000 employees.
In January, Thai Union acknowledged the financial turmoil that was brewing.
“The combination of Covid-19 pandemic, sustained industry headwinds, higher interest rates and rising material and labor costs have impacted Red Lobster, resulting in prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders,” Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union Group’s CEO, said in a news release. “After detailed analysis, we have determined that Red Lobster’s ongoing financial requirements no longer align with our capital allocation priorities and therefore are pursuing an exit of our minority investment.”
The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. At that time, the Orlando, Florida-based chain said in court filings that its annual guest counts were down 30% from 2019. The chain lost $76 million in 2023, according to reports.
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