Red Lobster Revives 'Endless Shrimp' Deal at Higher Price Point After Millions in Bankruptcy Losses

Red Lobster has revived its 'Endless Shrimp' promotion at prices up to 50% higher than before, a gamble arriving less than two years after the all-you-can-eat offer pushed the US seafood chain into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed more than 130 restaurants.

Higher Price, Same Pressure on Staff

The limited-run deal, which returned to dine-in menus on 20 April, is priced between $24.99 (£18.52) and $29.99 (£22.23) per person, depending on location, up from $20 (£14.82) in 2024. Five dishes are included, among them a new 'Marry Me Shrimp' tomato-cream recipe.

Behind the fanfare, former employees say the economics do not work for anyone on the floor. Saul Eugene, who waited tables at Red Lobster in 2019 and 2020, told Business Insider that diners routinely 'sit there and eat shrimp for two and a half hours,' turning a single check into 'essentially a 22-course meal'. He called the stretch 'hell for servers' and 'the time when the most staff quits.'

From Bait-and-Switch to 'Big and Bold'

Current and former staff posting on the Red Lobster subreddit echo that view, describing tables that tip on the low menu price rather than the hours spent, attempting to smuggle shrimp home in unauthorised to-go boxes, and occasionally eating until they vomit before ordering more.

One user posting as a server wrote that refill after refill for hours typically ends in a $5 (£3.71) tip, if any tip is left.

A former senior communications executive told Business Insider the promotion was originally engineered as a footfall play rather than a shrimp push. Marketing would 'shout from the rooftops' about the deal externally while staff steered diners toward higher-margin mains such as lobster.

The offer is now advertised 'big and bold' across menus, she said, which risks cannibalising the Orlando-based company's Lobsterfest window, a period the executive said has generated up to 20% to 35% of annual revenue.

$11 Million Loss and a Forced Supply Chain

The shift lands right before Red Lobster's fiscal year-end in May, a window when margins matter most. It also revives a structural problem.

When Thai seafood giant Thai Union Group owned the chain between 2016 and 2024, restaurants were required to buy shrimp from the parent company at above-market rates. That arrangement, combined with demand surging far beyond forecasts, contributed to an $11 million (£8.15million) operating loss tied to Endless Shrimp in 2023, according to Thai Union's then-chief financial officer Ludovic Garnier.

Chief executive Damola Adamolekun, who took charge after the May 2024 bankruptcy filing and oversaw the closure of more than 130 locations, had previously told NBC's TODAY show he would not bring the deal back 'because I know how to do math.' He reversed course this week, citing thousands of social media mentions and sustained customer demand.

The Test of a Turnaround

Staff at participating restaurants have reportedly been told to deflect questions about the last Endless Shrimp run with a scripted line, 'we figured out a way to make it happen,' according to Reddit posts compiled by Kotaku. Red Lobster has not publicly confirmed that guidance.

Higher price points are meant to absorb the shrimp cost volatility that sank the last version. Bank of America senior restaurant analyst Sara Senatore told Good Morning America the format still carries the risk of drawing customers who come only for the deal.

For a chain still proving it can survive without its former parent's supply chain, and for workers who say they dread every shift the deal is on, the second act of Endless Shrimp may look a lot like the first.