- John Oliver recreated a closed Red Lobster restaurant on his show.
- Oliver criticized the private equity firm behind Red Lobster, which filed for bankruptcy in May.
- Oliver also mocked the restaurant's “endless shrimp” promotion, which has cost the company millions of dollars.
John Oliver created Red Lobster by buying all the locations of a closed restaurant and recreating the struggling seafood chain on his own terms.
During a segment about Red Lobster on his show “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday, Oliver criticized the private equity firm behind the chain, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May.
Oliver later revealed that his staff had participated in an auction to buy inventory from a former Red Lobster location in Kingston, New York. Restaurant liquidation firm TAGeX Brands previously confirmed to Business Insider that Red Lobster closed dozens of locations across the US in May.
The TAGeX Brands website states that the Kingston store is no longer available for auction.
Oliver used the items he purchased to recreate the restaurant in the show's studio.
“The frustrating thing is, any idiot could run a Red Lobster better than these companies, but there's really only one way to test that,” Oliver said before revealing the fake Red Lobster.
At Oliver's Red Lobster, customers could only purchase one item: biscuits.
“We actually have a biscuit-only promotion running right now where you can get one biscuit for just $1,” Oliver said, seemingly poking fun at Red Lobster's previous endless shrimp promotion, which the company said cost it an $11 million loss in the third quarter of 2023.
Other issues that have plagued the business over the past few years include: Leasing costsfew people around COVID-19 Lockdownand multiple Red Lobster executives Leave the role.
Representatives for TAGex Brands and Red Lobster did not immediately respond to BI's requests for comment.
