UPDATE: 2 MN Red Lobster Restaurants Will Close Amid Bankruptcy

Looks like now, with Red Lobster filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy, there will be two Minnesota restaurants that will be closing.

Up until just a couple of days ago, it was unclear if any of the restaurants in Minnesota would be closing.  But now we have learned that two of them will close permanently.

Per CNN: 

Those locations have been disclosed as the Bloomington location and also the Golden Valley location.  There are closings in almost every state, with the most closures happening in Florida and Texas.  But that seems logical since both of those states are coastal.  There are probably so many other seafood restaurants to choose from.

Thanks all you can eat shrimp!!

ORIGINAL STORY:

Until recently, Red Lobster was really the only dedicated sea food restaurant in the St. Cloud area.  Now, there are a few options, but it is the one that is known for having specials and themes throughout the year.

There's Lobster Fest, there is Shrimp fest, and Crab fest.  These promotions usually last for a couple of weeks, and allow their customers to eat a lot of whatever the theme is for a special price.  And there are usually several options on what dish you will choose to eat whatever the theme is for tha promotional time.

The Shrimp Fest is the one that is coming into question as a reason, at least in part, for the financial burden.

According to Fox 9 News:

Red Lobster made the decision to make what was a Shrimp Fest deal, into an endless shrimp deal that would be a permanent fixture on their menu.  Apparently not a great idea.  They really underestimated how that would turn out.

"Something that was different from our expectation is the proportion of the people selecting this [Ultimate Endless Shrimp] promotion was much higher compared to expectation," Garnier said.

"Of course, we know on this promotion, we don’t earn a lot of money at $20. We don’t," the group CFO said, according to footage of the meeting. "The idea was to bring some traffic. We get some traffic increase, not to the level we were expecting, but still we are growing compared to last year and compared to the previous quarters. But bottom line in terms of financial performance, it did not deliver what we were expecting."

Now, Red Lobster Corporate has brought in a new CEO to go over some possible restructuring plans.  It is not currently known if this will include some closures or not.  And if there are, which markets would be considered.  The St. Cloud restaurant seems to be busy most prime times, but it also has to do with what their actual revenue numbers are.  Not decisions have been made as of yet.