Pink Lobster’s new CEO mentioned the seafood chain’s limitless shrimp providing brought about an all-you-can-eat chaos

Pink Lobster has had a fishy few months. In Could, the seafood chain filed for bankruptcy after greater than 50 places closed amid large losses from its mayhem-making Infinite Shrimp promotion.

However in August, Pink Lobster reeled in a brand new CEO: Damola Adamolekun, the 35-year-old former P.F. Chang’s chief government. Adamolekun is on a mission to revive the embroiled 56-year-old restaurant chain after it was rocked by crustacean chaos up to now couple of years.

“That is, with out exaggeration, one of the vital essential firms in American historical past,” Adamolekun told CNN. “There have been actually large errors revamped the previous couple of years.”

One of many main missteps Adamolekun was referring to: Pink Lobster’s endless shrimp promotion. It was wildly in style with friends, nevertheless it was completely too pricey for the restaurant chain—which suffered tens of millions in working losses—and put undue stress on servers and kitchen employees, Adamolekun mentioned.

Shrimp is a “very costly product to present away endlessly,” he mentioned within the CNN interview. “When you have got limitless shrimp, and individuals are coming in and sitting down on the desk and consuming for hours as a lot shrimp as they probably can, you stress out the kitchen. You stress out the servers. You stress out the host. Individuals can’t get a desk. It creates a whole lot of chaos.”

The Ultimate Endless Shrimp deal launched in June 2023, and diners may select from two sorts of limitless shrimp dishes for $20. The deal, which halted in late 2023, additionally included the chain’s well-known Cheddar Bay Biscuits. It had beforehand been a limited-time deal, however the restaurant’s try and make it a standing menu possibility in the end factored into the corporate’s downfall. It resulted in an $11 million loss, and the restructuring staff blamed it as a direct contributor to its Could chapter submitting.

“We wished to spice up our visitors, and it did not work,” Thai Union Group chief monetary officer Ludovic Regis Henri Garnier told investors. “We have to be far more cautious concerning what are the entry factors and what’s the value level we’re providing for this promotion.” Thai Union Group is Pink Lobster’s Thailand-based investor; it expects to totally divest by the tip of the yr.

Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union Group’s CEO, nevertheless, pointed to different components beleaguering the seafood chain.

“The mix of COVID-19 pandemic, sustained business headwinds, larger rates of interest, and rising materials and labor prices have impacted Pink Lobster, leading to extended unfavourable monetary contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders,” Chansiri mentioned in an announcement in January.

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The CEO’s imaginative and prescient for Pink Lobster

Whereas dozens of Pink Lobster places closed in 2023, Adamolekun informed CNN his plan is to develop the corporate—however not essentially by opening or reopening places.

“We intend to be performed closing eating places,” he informed CNN. “We intend to develop from right here by way of the enterprise. There’s going to be investments within the product that may take time. Infrastructure funding takes time. Know-how funding takes time.”

There are at present 545 Pink Lobster places, and Adamolekun mentioned the corporate intends to enhance every of them by fixing damaged HVAC methods, torn carpets, and chairs.

“It should take time, however the impression needs to be felt straight away,” he mentioned. Adamolekun additionally mentioned the corporate plans to slim down its menu in a “very clever approach” as a result of the choices have been too plentiful.

Adamolekun bought a head begin on his imaginative and prescient for the restaurant by secretly visiting restaurants across the nation earlier than taking the corporate’s prime job and snacking on crab legs and lobster tail. He did this as a way to attach with and perceive the model—and its prospects.

Clients “simply need high quality meals in a cushty setting and to attach with the historical past of the model,” he informed WSJ. “That’s step one.”

This story was initially featured on Fortune.com