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July 09, 2014

It was in Lakeland, Florida, where the first Red Lobster was opened in the year 1968 by Bill Darden and Charley Woodsby. Red Lobster is known to be America’s best casual dining restaurant chain. It had its headquarters located in San Francisco, California. It proved to be a great success. Today Red Lobster is the largest full service seafood dining company in the world which serves nearly 3 million customers a week. As per the recent index of the year 2013, Red Lobster has crossed 705 locations worldwide. It is heard that the founder of the restaurant Bill Darden has decided to sell Red Lobster to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $ 2.1 billion as announced on 16th of May 2014, which was opposed by several activist investors. After opening of first restaurant in Lakeland, it was followed by several others throughout the south east of the nation. In 1970, Red Lobster was acquired by General Mills as a five-unit company but Darden continued to be the president of Red Lobster. In 1980s Red Lobster entered in Canada establishing its various locations by buying Ponderosa Restaurant. It maintained a bulk location in large urban centers. The financial loss prevented the Red Lobster to enter into the market of British Columbia. The brand is mainly specialized on seafood specifying its true name and slogan.
It was the first casual restaurant expanding its chain at a national scale with an advertisement on the television. The specialty of the restaurant was the seafood such as live Main lobster, jumbo shrimp and snow crap whose demand was so high leading to rapidly expansion of the restaurant. White zinfandel wine and key lime pie were some of the popularized non seafood of the Red Lobster. The restaurant acts fast in the preparation and serving of food to its customer. To make it affordable for the mainstream consumer the food was served at a low cost and so the restaurant was efficiently operated. Besides proving a delicious facility, Red Lobster helps in creating opportunities and building of remarkable career in a culture of respect of around 200,000 employees. It is believed in providing their employees in pursuing both professional and personal dream together. The restaurant while helping others, maintain standards, maintain sustainability and helps in preserving our rich diversity and culture. They create a long term collective value through innovative approaches to ecosystem, conservation and enhancement. In 2004, the indication for its maturity and stagnant were seen after Lopdrup took the chair of president ship in the history of Red Lobster. Competition in the seafood category intensified as and when the percentage in the rates of the guest has increased rapidly. Inspite of the core purpose to nourish and delight everyone while creating a vibrant organization, it also believes in helping at their full potential by forecasting diversified workforce and creating employment opportunities. The restaurant also focuses on suppliers and the local communities. To achieve the above goals they offer robust diversity training, a supportive employee network and enforce accountability standards for each one. They also organize educational programs that in the improvement of the communities where they live and work.
The Red Lobster casual dining restaurant chain is known in the US for its “endless shrimp” specials. Darden’s operating of 706 Red Lobster locations in US and Canada accounted for around 30 percent of its total sales. The company is said to use more than $ 1 billion of the proceeds in the payment of its debt. The Red Lobster has been struggling to attract US diners to its restaurant after the recession curtailed spending. The competition with the slightly cheaper restaurant which is not providing table services has to be faced by them. The chain suffered from the hike in the price of shrimp as a result of an incurable bacterial infection diminishing the Asian stocks. An estimate made by an analyst at Credit Suisse that an increase in price could cost Red Lobster $ 30 million in this year. Red Lobster being famous for its delicious and daily fresh seafood menu. The secret behind this delicious taste is in its unique wood fire grill technique giving the dishes the perfect flavor in a great atmosphere within an affordable price. The phase appeared when the consumers preferred frozen seafood much of which were fried at the low end places over the offering of top quality, fresh seafood prepared with culinary expertise at the high end places. This ultimately led to losses for the restaurant as they were buying high quality fresh seafood ingredients. But this perception needs to be altered from the minds of the consumers from frozen to top quality fresh seafood.
Achieving the operational excellence became possible for the Red Lobster after reduction in the cost inspite of providing high quality product for the mass market and so focusing on serving the guest. Testing of new initiatives were rigorously started that helped in avoiding all the churns expected to happen in the initiation phase of the restaurant. The restaurant executed its work and started insisting on discipline. The best way of doing out everything and in a standardized manner became the motive of the Red Lobster. With the introduction of these initiatives methodology lead to the excel at the basics for the seafood restaurant. Fresh and cleanness are the two main motive of the restaurant. Fresh foods were served at the end of the customer by cooking at the right temperatures in maintaining the freshness of the food. Deep cleaning of the rest rooms was one of the upcoming issues which were been solved after the adaptation of the motive. Chronic odor issues were the other factor responsible for the maintenance of cleanliness of the restaurant. Staffs and employees attitude towards the guests were always friendliness. Employees hiring and training on this nature were given stress which determined the most important serving attribute. The other motive full was to emphasis on the turning table faster during the peak period which will help to serve each guest waiting outside the restaurant.
The president of the Red Lobster Salli Setta played a crucial role in the development of the product serving at the end of the customer. The president hired a new team who previously worked for Disney as the executive chefs of the restaurant. These chef works within their limits those were responsible for creative piece. The process became iterative, starting with marketing then moving to culinary operations and purchasing of the desired food. The new team worked with the focus in the development of new menu around freshness which still has the live force in it. The team appointed changed their cooking strategy and adopted not serving fried item and thus introducing wood fire grilling which improved attention to quality and this were regarded as the most prestigious job inside the kitchen. In the menu card of the Red Lobster new variety of seafood were prepared and served to the guest. This passion of preparation of seafood A to Z was being shared. There were also some upgrades in the ingredients of the seafood leading super A1 hard shell, which was a very top grade of the live of Red Lobster. With the increment in the fresh fish in the menu card also results in the highest fresh fish entrees in terms of customer satisfaction.
Other phase arrived focusing on the remodeling of the restaurants which was led by Briggs Sellers, VP of development. The new exterior features seem to be attractive which includes shingle and stone towers, signal flags and Adirondack style benches. While creating a comfortable seaside atmosphere the restaurant provide high quality and fresh seafood. The specialty of the restaurant made feel the guest that they are being dining at a special restaurant better than an ordinary casual dining with an affordable cost. In 2008, remodeling was being tested at the four different locations in Florida and some other location around the whole country costing of around $ 350,000 per restaurant over and above of general maintenance expense of $ 150,000. The efforts were made for remodeling both the exteriors and the interiors of the restaurants. The remodeling of the interiors was done after the business hours in the afraid of losing the traffic due to construction work. The interior works include the dark wood paneling, warm toned fabrics, soft lighting and nautical décor and art work. The very next step was to remodel the exterior of the Red Lobster. Inspired by Bar Harbor, Maine, Red Lobster new design creates a warm inviting seaside atmosphere. This remodeling builds on the many improvements made inside the restaurant over the last several years which results in an award winning. Now people are heard talking about the new Bar Harbor design. This led to a hike in the index level in terms of satisfaction of the customer over and above the industry average. Red Lobster casual dining chain was outperforming the competition which results in the increase of staff morale along with the turnover of the restaurant.
Then the phase appeared in the history of Red Lobster, when Lopdrup, the president of the restaurant was surprised on the segmentation study. The report segmented various habitat of the consumer including the important source of pleasure, the frequent visit for dinner at the casuals or the fine dining restaurants. Any guest would not be tolerating the bad services if offered at their end. Seafood being the specialty became the favorite of all guest and a fresh variety were seen in this food at cheap price. The atmosphere was seen to be sophisticated around. The economical people are the price sensitive and they generally look forward for an inexpensive restaurant. They are the ones who do not prefer going out for dinner or they rarely visit to casual restaurant. It was a shocked for the president that nearly quarter of the consumers described as experimental. The experimental led a high standard along with a very high expectation of services and a sophisticated atmosphere. The priority of the Red Lobster is to strengthen the relationship of people with their family and friends. To handle these experimental a personnel interview section was conducted by the marketing team of the restaurant to characterized the different view of people and at the same time gaining over the lacunae of the restaurant making it as profit oriented along with the satisfaction of the customer. These experimental were seen as an indication as an effect of changes in their working with an expectation of approaching zenith that would attract a lot more of guests. Particulars orders at the restaurant were the desserts, appetizers and wine all of those were less price sensitive. Thus the experimental were the most profitable customers for the casual dining chain.
In the year 2003, the promotion of the casual dining chain were seen which resulted in the parent company Darden Restaurant who took around $3 million charge to third quarter earnings. These promotion technique adopted by the company resulted in the departure of Edna Morris as the president from the company. The ill timed promotion resulted in increased waiting time of the customers at the lobby and thus reducing the overall guest capacity per hour. The marketing team also encouraged the ad agency and placed a contract with them for their advertisement so as to get a review over the workings of the casual dining chain and plan according to their needs. The dining chain has offered an endless snow crab leg promotion twice in their history. The promotion techniques were launched aiming at high wholesale crab leg prices. The chain also underestimated the number of times a guest would order more. Doubt raised on the pricing policy and the product quality. To overcome the promotional expenses incurred should the price of the food increased? Should a high quality wine at a higher price be added to the experimental? Should the menu card be extended beyond serving seafood? At what frequent time the remaining restaurant is renovated to attract more of customers? After analyzing various doubts about the promotion technique, the product included in the menu card and the others to be included, whether the pricing policy adopted by the chain should be changed and the frequent renovation of the various chain located at different locations, Red Lobster reached a point where decision should be taken on what should be done to overcome all the lacunae of the dining chain. The common people approaching the dining chain needs a comfort zone along with a reasonable price at the end of their satisfaction.
The Red lobster, the so called the casual dining chain had risen nearly fivefold over the last 50 years. The procurement policy and the processing facilities were regularly inspected at the end of the Darden for the quality and the safety so as to restrict the entry of substandard seafood in the supply chain. The company plays a crucial role in the industry for setting standard. The company was certified by the Aquaculture Certification Council, who where the first restaurant chain to worked with the aquaculture industry. The aquaculture was a more cost effective production method which is essential for protecting the sustainability of the ocean for later years. Thus Red Lobster is famous for its delicious and daily fresh seafood menu that suited to every taste. For any variety of consuming seafood including lobster, shrimps or the fresh fish, the best destination point for the dining chain would be Red Lobster. The secret behind its delicious taste is in its unique wood fire grill technique giving the dishes the perfect flavor in a great sophisticated atmosphere at an affordable price. Building and maintaining a strong, people focused culture is the single most crucial reason to become the world largest full service restaurant. The employees of the chain were a part of the success of the company who create great dining experiences for the guests, in return to which the chain provides educational training programs helping the people to improve their skills and treat the employees’ value and reward them for their job. It is a team working company creating a positive workplace for all the employees. The competitive advantages are believed to be the vibrant culture within the organization. When talking about the strength, countless factors nourishes in the company. Integrity and fairness of each other to always do the right thing honestly and having courage to solve out the commitment made. Showing respect towards the guest, caring for the employees, and diversification of the culture, perspective, attitude and the ideas are the other strength of the dining chain. Treating the guest as special, as a service of pleasure distinguish the company from others. Trusting each member and adopting the policy of working together as a team work led the company beyond the boundaries of ordinary success. Pursuing the innovative ideas, courage, humility and the ever higher standards had helped the company to achieve excellence in the field.