Red Lobster’s 35-year-old CEO announces new menu items and return of favorites in bid for millennial resurgence

Familiar favorites hush puppies and popcorn shrimp are also making a comeback to the menu

Red Lobster’s CEO is trying to refresh the 56-year-old casual dining chain with new menu items to appeal to millennials as the beleaguered chain looks to rebound from bankruptcy.

“We want to make the restaurants more fun,” Damola Adamolekun, 35, told NBC News last week. “We want to make this more energetic.”

The company announced last week it was adding seven new items to the menu, including lobster pappardelle pasta and bacon-wrapped sea scallops. Red Lobster is also bringing back two familiar favorites: hush puppies and popcorn shrimp.

“There should be some equal rejoicing on social media once you bring those back,” Adamolekun told the outlet.

The fried bits of deliciousness aren’t the only aspects of the business he’s changing. The CEO said he intends to change up the lighting, revitalize the decor, and offer new music in the hopes that the upgrades appeal to all ages. Roughly 40 percent of Red Lobster customers are over 55 years old, so he said: “You have to strike a balance.”

Red Lobster millennial CEO is trying to refresh the chain with a new menu as the company looks to rebound from bankruptcy (AP)

But bringing in younger guests is key to surviving in the industry. He told NBC News: “If you want to be here in 20, 30 years, you need millennials.

The company’s rebrand comes after it was forced to close more than 100 of its nearly 650 restaurants amid financial struggles. The company plunged into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May after its endless shrimp special got out of hand.

Red Lobster clawed itself out of bankruptcy in September after RL Investor Holdings acquired the fast-casual chain and ushered in a younger generation to revamp it, starting with tapping the 35-year-old CEO to take the helm.

The $20 “endless shrimp” was originally a once-a-week promotional deal, but the chain switched it to a permanent menu item, driving up company costs and table wait times.

Adamolekun told CNN in October that the seafood was “a very expensive product to give away endlessly.” He told Today earlier this month that he was putting an end to the endless shrimp deal “because I know how to do math.”

He emphasized to the outlet: “Relevant, compelling, and exciting is what we want Red Lobster to be for the future, and so we’re working on that now.”