I'm sharing this news story because it made me bust out laughing today.

Red Lobster, the seafood restaurant chain, has reported an $11M operating loss stemming from its 2023 promotion of endless shrimp. Basically it was that for $20, you could get your choice of two types of shrimp and eat all you wanted of it, so long as it was in one sitting.

It was supposed to increase traffic, which it did. Unfortunately the patrons ate a whole lot more shrimp than that average $20 meal was going to cover and Red Lobster came out on the wrong end of the price.

Now I ask you, who would have not known that people can pack down a few dozen shrimp at one time? Who doesn't know how much even wholesale shrimp cost these days? What kind of jackass manages a restaurant and doesn't expect to lose money on a deal like that? My only regret is that there isn't a Red Lobster too close to me and I didn't get in on the deal before they shut it down. Hope you laughed too.

They'd been warned by Homer Simpson years ago.

Based at what I've seen at buffets, some people were probably filling zip-locs with shrimp as well.

In my experience Red Lobster seems to cook with more grease than other seafood restaurants. A friend's wife once managed a Red Lobster in central Florida and he told me we could get a free lunch there so went one day. Well, it wasn't exactly free. She told us we needed to tip well and for what it cost to do that, I ended up paying about what the lunch normally cost and it was greasy. I should've gone to Arby's or Chik-Fil-A instead.

It has been around a decade since I went to a buffet but after observing the other diners I could barely eat.

we have chinese and indian food buffets here in the uk, they are really great, it gives you a chance to try all the diffrent dishes.

Buffet tables are great. Before it was forced to close down, there was a Sizzler chain that had the best soup and buffet combo meals. But the restaurant has to have Servers nearby to the food always watching the customers and keeping it clean.

This was prior to the pandemic. Now I don't think people want to share trays with strangers who may or may not be doing the right thing with their hands.

I also don't think Red Lobster was doing that. I could be wrong because it's been quite a while, but if I remember that place, you had to ask for your refills and a Server brought it to you.

I always hated to see people pile food on their plates and then not eat half of it only to get another plate of something else. The waste was very sad.

quote:

Originally posted by barobehere:
It has been around a decade since I went to a buffet but after observing the other diners I could barely eat.

There was a Sizzler near where I worked across most of the 90's. You could make tacos too when you chose the soup/salad buffet. That was good and then you could get some chocolate pudding and some fresh fruit as I recall.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Buffet tables are great. Before it was forced to close down, there was a Sizzler chain that had the best soup and buffet combo meals. But the restaurant has to have Servers nearby to the food always watching the customers and keeping it clean.

This was prior to the pandemic. Now I don't think people want to share trays with strangers who may or may not be doing the right thing with their hands.

I also don't think Red Lobster was doing that. I could be wrong because it's been quite a while, but if I remember that place, you had to ask for your refills and a Server brought it to you.