If you’re a fan of allegedly microwaved crustaceans, then you’re probably gutted over the news that Red Lobster is closing down tons of locations among purported bankruptcy claims. The casual seafood chain restaurant announced the closures yesterday—to the surprise of both customers and employees.
And, like anyone who has ever visited a restaurant business auction can tell you: there’s a lot of money to be saved purchasing this equipment used as opposed to new. With a 30% national failure rate in the restaurant industry, tons of businesses close every year. Even well-known and heavily advertised franchises like Red Lobster aren’t safe from being forced to shut their doors.
As a result, the chain has been auctioning off its assets, and from the sounds of it, this might be the most massive liquidation of products that the food service industry has ever seen.
As Fox Business reported, “Restaurant liquidation company TageX Brands announced it would be overseeing the sale of equipment at the various closing locations, calling the situation its ‘largest restaurant equipment auction ever.’ Only 48 locations were specifically listed in its catalog.”
According to TageX, these auctions aren’t piecemeal affairs either. Red Lobster locations will be sold off wholesale under a “winner takes all” auction. This means each auction winner will receive the entirety of the particular location’s products.
TageX’s website has confirmed this auction. “As of today, select Red Lobster locations are CLOSED. On our Restaurant Equipment marketplace, we are auctioning off 50+ locations across the country. These auctions are WINNER TAKES ALL – meaning, each winner will receive the ENTIRE contents of the Red Lobster location they bid on,” the site reads. “Auctions are live and will end periodically on Thursday, May 16, 2024.”
Some of the bids seem very, very low for the entire contents of a massive chain restaurant. For instance, this Red Lobster in Auburn, Alabama, currently sits at a $5,200 bidding price. As the end date and time nears, expect that number to go up. But considering the contents include a char-broiler, a bar refrigerator, bar stools, a cooking prep table, an upright freezer, saute stations, soak tanks, ice bins, counters, work tables, an ice cream freezer, a lobster tank, along with multiple burner ovens and stoves, you could get yourself an entire commercial kitchen for less than the price of a used car.
@abcworldnews At least 87 Red Lobster locations have temporarily closed in 27 states, with many of them not expected to reopen. David Muir reports on how the restaurant chain lost millions partly due to its “endless shrimp” deal. #WorldNewsTonight ♬ original sound – ABC World News Tonight
And while the restaurants’ contents vary from location to location, some mainstays appear to stay consistent throughout the equipment lists. Here’s the entire list of closures according to TageX’s website:
- Alabama: Auburn, Decatur
- California: Redding, Rohnert Park, Sacramento, San Diego, Torrance
- Colorado: Denver, Lakewood, Lone Tree, Wheat Ridge
- Florida: Altamonte Springs, Gainesville, Hialeah, Largo, Orlando
- Georgia: Athens, Roswell, Dublin
- Idaho: Lewiston
- Illinois: Bloomingdale, Danville
- Indiana: Indianapolis, Elkhart
- Iowa: Council Bluffs, Waterloo
- Maryland: Gaithersburg, Columbia, Silver Spring, Laurel
- Michigan: Fort Gratiot
- Mississippi: D’lberville
- New York: Amherst, Kingston, Rochester
- New Jersey: Ledgewood
- North Dakota: Grand Forks
- Oklahoma: Lawton
- South Carolina: Myrtle Beach
- Texas: Lake Jackson, Longview, San Antonio
- Virginia: Colonial Heights, Williamsburg, Newport News
- Washington: Silverdale
- Wisconsin: Wauwatosa, La Crosse
Digital elegies for the mass closure of Red Lobster locations took the form of social media posts. One uploaded by TikTok user Ivan (@tiktokshopdealsivangtv) revealed his disappointment regarding the loss.
“One of the greatest restaurants in America has sadly said that they’re about to file for bankruptcy,” Ivan says. “Red Lobster, the largest seafood restaurant in America is now going to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy next week after earlier this week they announced that they were gonna be closing dozens of restaurants.:
Ivan went on to highlight a report in his TikTok video that claims Red Lobster’s unlimited shrimp deal, something that employees of the chain hopped online to malign themselves, may have precipitated that restaurant’s downfall. “They’re saying that Red Lobster suffered from strategic challenges and all you can eat shrimp deal that executives hoped would turn the chain around contributed to millions of dollars in losses,” he speculates.
The TikToker continued, “Red Lobster’s majority owner, the seafood supplier Thai [Union] Group, said it had lost too much money on the chain earlier this year and wanted to cut bait. So one of the greatest restaurants in all of America is being shut down because too many people took their all-you-can-eat-shrimp too literally. And not to mention the cheddar biscuits from Red Lobster were top notch. Nothing compared to these.”
@tiktokshopdealsivangtv Red lobster is closing all of its locations #redlobster #bankrupt #closing #restaurant #foryou #sad ♬ Tell Me Why I’m Waiting – Timmies/Shiloh
Ivan’s claims are confirmed in a report by the Times Leader. The publication reported that Thai Union Group experienced a $19 million share loss in the first 9 months of 2023.
Numerous TikTok users who responded to Ivan’s post, however, didn’t seem too broken up over the chain’s closures.
One person bluntly wrote, “Red lobster is garbage. Only good thing they had was those biscuits.”
Another argued, “Red lobster is trash. It’s for cheap people who think they’re going out to a fancy restaurant.”
Someone else said that if folks are in the mood for good seafood that there’s no shortage of spots for them to check out: “But there are so many more good local seafood restaurants. Goodbye Red Lobster.”
Other internet users pointed out that the economic struggles faced by large chains are experienced tenfold by small, independent businesses.
One statistic, pointed out by an X user named Leslie (@leslie59904273), speaks to the struggle that extends to local restaurants. “I don’t really care about Red Lobster closing some restaurants and teetering on bankruptcy,” they wrote. “I care that 43% of small businesses can’t pay their rent in full. That’s indicative of a bigger problem. Support the mom and pop restaurants and shops.”
This statistic, denoting small businesses’ ability to pay their rent in the month of April, is from a recent Small Business Report from business networking platform Alignable.
I don’t really care about Red Lobster closing some restaurants and teetering on bankruptcy. I care that 43% of small businesses can’t pay their rent in full. That’s indicative of a bigger problem. Support the mom and pop restaurants and shops ❤️ pic.twitter.com/bVxfdylWYO
— leslie (@leslie59904273) May 15, 2024
The Daily Dot has reached out to Red Lobster via email for further comment.
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