Red Lobster has spruced up its menu, adding two entrees, lobster-topped side dishes and higher-end wines.
The seafood chain, operated by Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, also added its first dessert items in seven years. The menu changes come as Red Lobster works to revamp its image by emphasizing chef-crafted dishes and fresh fish.
Red Lobster typically changes its menu twice a year, according to Darden spokeswoman Wendy Spirduso. Its two new entrees -- a lobster and shrimp pasta dish and a steak topped with lobster and shrimp -- were created by the chain's in-house chefs Michael LaDuke and Darryl Mickler, Spirduso said.
Meanwhile, the seafood chain began its annual "Big Seafood Festival" promotion, featuring a shrimp entree priced at $21.50, a scallops and jumbo shrimp combination dish for $20 and a seafood platter that includes a rock lobster tail, king crab legs and shrimp scampi for $29.
Advertising spots for the limited-time offerings -- the promotion runs through Jan. 7 -- started running Monday on television, Spirduso said.
Darden is in the process of retooling its nearly 40-year-old seafood chain, which once boasted 729 locations in the U.S. and Canada. The chain now has 680 restaurants.
Last year, the company introduced a daily fresh fish menu including "chef-inspired" creations such as a basil-rubbed grouper topped with langostino lobster in an Alfredo sauce. In addition, the seafood chain has introduced a more contemporary restaurant design with muted lighting and dark wood paneling. Restaurants with the revamped design have opened this year in Sherman, Texas, and Aurora, Colo.
Earlier this year, Red Lobster started an ad campaign with the tag line "Come See What's Fresh Today." Company executives thought that lapsed Red Lobster customers thought of the chain as serving frozen seafood, and the new advertising and menu changes are designed to rid diners of that impression.
Company executives credit the changes for drawing in more customers and boosting revenue. The chain posted sales of $669.5 million for Darden's first quarter ended Aug. 26, up 6.3 percent over the same period a year ago. Same-restaurant sales, or sales at restaurants open at least 16 months, increased 7 percent for the quarter compared to a year ago.
"We're confident that Red Lobster is on the right course in refreshing its brand," Darden President Drew Madsen told investors in a September earnings call. Madsen, however, said the seafood chain won't be ready to add a lot of new locations until late 2008 or early 2009.
From the Orlando Sentinel
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