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Article: Red Lobster rights the ship.(Top STORY)
- Article from:
- Seafood Business
- Article date:
- August 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Diversified Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Two years ago, Red Lobster was riding a 22-quarter streak of same-restaurant sales growth, but the nation's largest casual-dining seafood chain was clearly foundering.
The concept reported lower-than-expected total sales of $2.4 billion and a drop in earnings in fiscal 2003. Then the bottom fell out, literally.
Red Lobster vastly underestimated the number of helpings its diners would devour during a seven-week promotion featuring all-you-can-eat snow crab in the summer of 2003.
The poorly planned promotion caused first-quarter earnings at Darden Restaurants, the chain's Orlando, Fla.-based parent, to fall $3.3 million, to $68.6 million, from ...