Red Lobster Auctioning Off ‘Entire Contents’ of Over 50 Closed Restaurants

A Red Lobster restaurant in Hialeah, Fla. on Dec. 19, 2013. (AP/Alan Diaz)

A restaurant supply liquidator is auctioning off equipment and furniture from over 50 closed Red Lobster restaurants across the United States.

TAGeX Brands, a restaurant liquidator, announced on May 13 that it would be selling inventory from Red Lobster restaurants in multiple states.

Auctions commenced on May 13 and are expected to end on May 16. The listing says that winning bidders will receive “the entire contents of the Red Lobster location they bid on.”

“TAGeX Brands is proud to launch the largest restaurant liquidation EVER through its online auction marketplace,” Neal Sherman, the chief executive of TAGeX Brands, stated on LinkedIn.

“The Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment from select Red Lobster locations MUST GO ASAP!” he added.

Red Lobster has not yet made a public announcement about the closures. The Epoch Times reached out to Red Lobster but did not hear back by publication time.

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The listing includes Red Lobster locations in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas, among others.

Unexpected Layoffs

Danville, Illinois Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. posted a statement on Facebook claiming that “the entire crew” of Red Lobster restaurant in the city had been laid off abruptly.

“I was just notified by one of our local Red Lobster managers that after 31 years of serving our community, without notice, their parent company laid off the entire crew and closed the restaurant effective immediately,” he stated.

“This is despite the fact that they were rated number 15 out of over 600 stores for customer service & satisfaction last year,” the mayor added.

Mr. Williams alleged that the restaurant chain has shuttered “nearly 120 other stores” without prior notice.

“When they were taken over by Golden Gate Capital, they sold all of their actual property & started making the stores pay rent (ours to the tune of ~$12,000/mos). We were making enough money for the store but not the corporation,” he stated.

Covid-19, Rising Costs

Thai Union Group PCL, a minority investor and strategic partner of Red Lobster since 2016, announced earlier this year that it was looking to exit its minority investment in Red Lobster.

The company said that the decision was made after a 2023 review of Red Lobster that sought to identify “areas for operational and financial improvement,” according to a Jan. 16 news release.

Thai Union CEO Thiraphong Chansiri said the company found that Red Lobster’s ongoing financial requirements “no longer align with our capital allocation priorities.”

“The combination of COVID-19 pandemic, sustained industry headwinds, higher interest rates, and rising material and labor costs have impacted Red Lobster, resulting in prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders,” he stated.

Thai Union reported a loss of $19 million from its Red Lobster investment in the first nine months of 2023, according to the news release.

The first Red Lobster location was opened in Florida in 1968, with the first Canadian restaurant opening in Ontario in 1983, according to the company website. The chain still has over 700 locations around the world.

Chandra Philip contributed to this report.