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The first Red Lobster restaurant was opened on January 18, 1968, in Lakeland, Florida, by entrepreneurs Bill Darden and Charley Woodsby. [11] [12] The oft-quoted date of March 27, 1968, is based on the incorporation date of Red Lobster Inns of America, Inc. (now GMRI, Inc.) in the Florida Secretary of State's Office.
He later founded the Red Lobster Inns of America and opened the first Red Lobster restaurant in Lakeland, Florida, in 1968. [4] Red Lobster, which grew quickly, formed the basis of the organization that later became known as Darden Restaurants. [5] Darden chose Lakeland to see how a seafood restaurant would fare in a non-coastal region.
William Bristor Darden (November 17, 1918 – March 29, 1994), known as Bill, was an American businessman and the founder of the Red Lobster restaurant franchise. He is also the namesake of the multi-brand restaurant operator Darden Restaurants, which considers Darden to be its founder.
General Mills owned brands like Wheaties, Cheerios and Betty Crocker, and the company wanted to enter the restaurant industry with Red Lobster’s five no-frills restaurants. A Red Lobster in 1989.
Walter King, who was hired in 1971 to manage a Red Lobster restaurant, was one of the company’s earliest Black employees and stayed with the chain for 36 years.
At the outset, Red Lobster would be paying $118.5 million in cash rent, about half the chain's annual operating earnings, he wrote. "Red Lobster's real estate sale gives its new owners little room ...
[20] [21] [22] During his tenure, the company launched P. F. Chang’s To Go, a concept that led to the growth of the brand’s delivery business. He also navigated the company through Covid-19 pandemic challenges, returned it to profitability with a 31.7% increase in sales by 2021 and annual revenues of $1 billion.
The sale/leaseback that helped sink Red Lobster involved the July 2014 sale of premium real estate underneath 500 of its stores, which generated $1.5 billion.