Red Lobster (restaurant)
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Genre | Casual dining |
| Founded | March 22, 1968 Lakeland, Florida, U.S. |
| Founders | Bill Darden Charley Woodsby |
| Headquarters | 450 S. Orange Avenue Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
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Number of locations
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705 (2013) |
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Area served
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United States Kuwait Mexico Saudi Arabia Canada Japan United Arab Emirates Qatar Brazil Malaysia Ecuador |
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Key people
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Kim Lopdrup (CEO) Salli Setta (President) |
| Products | Seafood, Chicken, Steaks, Pasta |
| Parent | Golden Gate Capital |
| Website | www |
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Footnotes / references |
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Red Lobster is an American casual dining restaurant chain headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company has operations in Canada, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Mexico, and Japan, in addition to the United States. As of February 24, 2013, the company had 705 locations worldwide. Golden Gate Capital has been Red Lobster's parent company since it was acquired from Darden Restaurants on July 28, 2014.
On August 6, 2014, Red Lobster announced their new headquarters location in CNL Center City Commons in Orlando. On March 6, 2015, Red Lobster officially opened the Restaurant Support Center.
Red Lobster was founded in March 22, 1968, by entrepreneurs Bill Darden and Charley Woodsby. Originally billed as a "Harbor for Seafood Lovers", the first restaurant in Lakeland, Florida, was followed by several others throughout the southeast. In 1970, General Mills acquired Red Lobster as a five-unit company. With new backing, the chain expanded rapidly in the 1980s.
Red Lobster entered Canada in the 1980s, in many cases by buying Ponderosa restaurant locations. The company generally maintains between 25 and 30 locations in Canada, the bulk in larger urban centres in Ontario (across southern Ontario plus one in Sudbury in northern Ontario) with a smaller number in larger urban centres in all three Prairie provinces. It exited the Quebec market in September 1997 due to financial losses, and never attempted to enter the market in British Columbia.
On March 29, 1994, Bill Darden died after an extended illness at the age of 75.
In 1995, Red Lobster (along with Olive Garden and other sister chains), became part of Darden Restaurants, Inc. During that time, General Mills decided to release Darden into an independent, publicly traded corporation.
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Wikipedia