Success with new international restaurant openings is encouraging Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.-based Red Lobster Co. to look at additional expansion overseas in the future.
In 2014, when Golden Gate Capital purchased Red Lobster from Darden Restaurants, company executives saw opportunities abroad, opening 21 new international restaurants, including locations in Ecuador, Malaysia, the Middle East and Mexico, over the past two years.
“Our international restaurants are performing well, and we continue to be optimistic about continued growth,” Jarrett Whitlow, senior director of international operations for Red Lobster, told SeafoodSource. “We obviously have more ‘white space’ internationally, and expect that a majority of our growth will be in international markets.”
While the company operates 677 restaurants in the U.S., it also has 27 locations in Canada and 50 in other countries. Moving forward, Whitlow said the company sees “a lot of potential in the Americas – particularly in Brazil, Peru, Panama and Chile,” Whitlow said. In addition, Asia, China, India, South Korea and the Philippines “is where we’re targeting,” he said.
Red Lobster has also created a series of dishes exclusive to its international restaurants that have helped it catch on with local consumers. The chain has developed Octopus Tostadas for its restaurants in Mexico; serves local fresh fish such as Amazon Pintado in Brazil and Arabian Hammour in the Middle East; and offers more live seafood and full shell-on, head-on proteins in its Asia locations, Whitlow said.
And, not to be ignored, Thai Union’s timely investment of USD 575 million (EUR 537.6 million) last fall is helping fuel the 754-unit seafood chain’s overseas growth. Last October, the international seafood giant acquired a 25 percent stake in of Red Lobster for USD 230 million (EUR 215 million) and agreed to buy USD 345 million (EUR 322.5 million) worth of preferred shares, which can be converted to common shares – and an additional 24 percent stake of the company – within 10 years.
In comments provided by email to SeafoodSource, Red Lobster CEO Kim Lopdrup said the Thai Union investment will help push the chain's continued expansion abroad.
"Thai Union’s minority investment in Red Lobster reflects the strong progress we’ve made since we became an independent company as well as our exciting plans for the future – both domestically and internationally," Lopdrup said. "Red Lobster has been growing internationally since 2010 – having opened 21 international restaurants in the last two years. Thai Union invested in Red Lobster in October 2016. Thai Union’s investment reflects the strong progress we’ve made and is an extension of a strong relationship we’ve had with them for years as a supplier. The investment provides key business benefits, including expertise and resources to help us grow.”
Thai Union has supply chains in place for most of the countries where Red Lobster wants to expand, Lopdrup said. In addition to being the world’s largest producer of shelf-stable tuna, Thai Union is a global supplier of lobster, shrimp, sardines, mackerel, tuna, salmon, crab and other seafood.
“They have been a trusted, innovative supplier of high-quality seafood to Red Lobster for more than 20 years, so this is really just an extension of a strong relationship that has existed for a very long time,” Lopdrup said.
Even though Red Lobster already has a global supply chain with “trusted suppliers” for both its U.S. and international eateries, “We always welcome innovative ideas that help us differentiate Red Lobster from all the non-specialist restaurants that have seafood on their menus,” Whitlow said.
Despite Red Lobster’s international growth, the restaurant chain is not ignoring its U.S. eateries. As part of its plan to boost sales at its U.S. restaurants, Red Lobster in 2014 unveiled a new menu that focused on improved seafood dishes, a variety of price points, and reduced the number of non-seafood dishes back to its previous level of between 10 and 15 percent.
Domestically or internationally, Red Lobster customers are searching for the same things in their restaurant experience, Whitlow said.
“Our guests want freshly prepared, top-quality seafood served by friendly seafood experts in clean, comfortable restaurants that reflect our passion for seafood. We’ve been rolling out a lot of changes to make that a reality and, as a result, are now delivering a best-ever guest experience,” Whitlow said. “And we have more improvements coming.”
