People tend to add suffixes like “-fest,” “-athon,” or “-palooza” to just about any event these days, but some of these promotional names are well established and protected by registered trademarks. Which is why a beloved Wisconsin music festival is taking seafood chain Red Lobster to court over its use of “Summerfest.” [More]
red lobster
Loosen Your Belt, It’s Time For The 9 Most Calorie-Filled Restaurant Meals Of 2015!
By 6.3.15
While fast food gets a lot of negative attention for serving up less-than-healthy burgers, fries, chicken, and McRib meat, Whoppers and Big Macs have nothing on many of the meals you’ll get at a typical chain restaurant. Just about every item on the latest list of casual dining calorie bombs would be enough for a full day on its own. [More]
Red Lobster Changing Menu To Remind Everyone It’s Still A Seafood Restaurant
By 11.3.14
Although it’s always fun to play the field, it seems that flirting with other kinds of cuisine isn’t working out so well for Red Lobster anymore. That’s why the restaurant chain with seafood in its name is returning to its roots with a newly revamped menu, ditching things like tortilla soup and pork chops in favor of more lobster. [More]
Shareholder Says Darden Restaurants Sold Red Lobster Too Soon & For Too Little
By 9.22.14
You may remember that earlier this summer Darden Restaurants sold off its not-so-profitable Red Lobster chain for $2.1 billion citing slow business. Well, things might not have been so dire for the seafood chain, a new lawsuit pitting a Darden’s shareholder against the board shows. [More]
Red Lobster Ditching Low-Priced Specials, Introducing Fancier Plating Because It Wants To Be Classy
By 7.28.14
Love a good deal on 30 shrimp for $11.99, or lobster dishes on the cheap? You won’t be able to get those kinds of steep discount dishes at Red Lobster anymore, now that the former Darden restaurant is with a new company and trying to class its act up. Instead, you’ll get fish plated in a fancier way than before and some higher priced offerings. [More]
While Other Restaurant Chains Cut Down On Sodium, KFC Meals Have Been Getting Saltier
By 7.2.14
With an increased concern about the role high sodium levels play in high blood pressure, kidney disease and other health issues, a number of restaurant chains have been attempting to cut back on the salt in recent years. A new review of meals from 17 of the nation’s most popular fast food and family eateries shows that most chains are slowly reducing the amounts of sodium in their food (though it’s still very high), while a small number of others have actually gone the other direction. [More]
Darden Restaurants Selling Off Red Lobster Chain For $2.1 Billion
By 5.16.14
As was foretold back in December, Darden Restaurants is chucking its catch back into the sea, and getting a nice chunk of change for it: The company announced that it’s selling seafood chain Red Lobster off to investment firm Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion in cash. [More]
Darden Is Preparing To Dump Red Lobster & Stop Trying To Expand Olive Garden
By 12.19.13
Before any Red Lobster fans go into some kind of crustacean-related panic, the chain isn’t going away forever. But that being said, it sounds like its parent company Darden Restaurants is trying awfully hard to distance itself from the seafood chain. [More]
Red Lobster Server Briefly Suspended After Posting Photo Of Receipt With Racial Slur
By 9.13.13
Upon hearing the news that Red Lobster suspended the server who posted a photo of a receipt with a racial slur written on it, your first reaction might be “Whoa, hold up — that is supremely unfair and I am very angry and shaking my fist at Red Lobster!” But while it’s true that she was temporarily suspended, she’s now back at work with Red Lobster’s blessing. [More]
Red Lobster “Extremely Disturbed” By Reports Of Racist Comment On Server’s Receipt
By 9.9.13
Another day, another receipt controversy pushing buttons all over the place. After a Red Lobster waitress posted a photo of a customer’s receipt where instead of a tip was a racial slur, the restaurant says it’s “extremely disturbed” by the situation. Meanwhile the server is facing critics who claim she added the comment herself after getting stiffed on the tip. [More]
Are These The Final Days Of Automatic 18% Tips At Restaurants?
By 9.5.13
Many restaurants have a policy of automatically adding a 15-20% tip for large groups of diners, but that practice may be going the way of the dinosaur as a new revision to IRS income tax rules will make such auto-gratuities less attractive to servers and management. [More]
Salads Sold At Red Lobster & Olive Garden Linked To Cyclospora Outbreaks In Two States
By 8.5.13
Taking some of the guess-work out of figuring out why your stomach may currently be turned inside out, the Food and Drug Administration has confirmed that salads linked to a cyclospora outbreak that’s sickened at least 400 people have been tied to four restaurants in Iowa and Nebraska, including Olive Garden and Red Lobster. [More]
Customer Sues Red Lobster, Claiming It Sold Him A Beer Tainted With A Corrosive Cleaning Agent
By 5.15.13
While there are those out there who have accused Budweiser of being watered down, one Red Lobster customer in Dallas would likely take a beer diluted with simple, non-poisonous water over the caustic concoction he claims he was served recently. In town from Panama City on a business trip, he and a pal were out to dinner when the alleged tainted beer made its way to his mouth. [More]
Red Lobster Server Scrawls Offensive, Baffling Note On Takeout Container
By 1.21.13
Who is the Rooster? That’s the mystery after an upstate New York couple brought home some leftovers from Red Lobster, and found their takeout container labeled “Rooster + Bitch Box.” [More]
Darden Experiments With Cutting Worker Hours To Avoid Paying Health Insurance
By 10.10.12
As more pieces of the Affordable Care Act federal health care law come into effect, employers are evidently beginning to brainstorm ideas to save money and avoid having to provide health care for their employees. Darden Restaurants, owner of chains such as Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and LongHorn Steakhouses is trying out a venerable tactic from the retail industry: keeping employee hours just a hair under “full-time” so they don’t have to provide benefits. [More]
Red Lobster: For The Seafood-Hating Cheapskate In Your Group
By 10.3.12
Every family and group of friends has that one person who whines about whatever restaurant everyone else agrees on. Red Lobster, the restaurant that brought a vaguely Maine-like experience to the nation, is often a subject of such disputes. That’s why the company has been testing more lower-priced and fish-free entrees meant to appeal to people who don’t actually want to eat at Red Lobster. The new menu launches nationwide on October 15. [More]
Sears & Olive Garden To Give Workers Money To Go Choose Their Own Health Insurance
By 10.1.12
The powers that be at two large U.S. companies — Sears and Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, and others) — are looking to transition away from their traditional employer-sponsored health insurance and toward a model that gives employees a fixed amount of money with which to buy coverage. [More]
Do Not Throw Unwanted Water Refills On Your Red Lobster Waitress
By 8.21.12
There are many ways to tell the restaurant employee who is currently serving your table that you are satisfied with your present quantity of ice water and would not care for a refill. “I don’t need any water, thanks,” you could say when they approach with pitcher in hand. You could shake your head “no” at them if your mouth is crammed full of breaded shrimp. In an informal establishment, you could put a paper napkin on top of your glass. We do not recommend that you follow the lead of three Illinois women, who were charged with attacking their Red Lobster waitress. A witness told the media that the trio expressed their displeasure at too-frequent refills by tossing their ice water on their waitress, then striking her with their hands. And their menus. [More]
