John Oliver cooked Red Lobster by purchasing the entire contents of one defunct restaurant and recreating his own version of the struggling seafood chain.
Oliver then revealed that his crew participated in an auction to purchase the contents of a previous Red Lobster location in Kingston, New York. Restaurant liquidator TAGeX Brands previously confirmed to Business Insider that Red Lobster shut down dozens of locations across the US in May.
The TAGeX Brands website shows that the Kingston location is no longer available for auction.
Oliver then used the purchased items to recreate the restaurant in the show’s studio.
“The frustrating thing is, it seems just about any random idiot could run a Red Lobster better than these companies have done. But there’s really only one way to put that to the test,” Oliver said before revealing the faux-Red Lobster.
At Oliver’s Red Lobster, there was only one item that customers could purchase: Biscuits.
“I’m excited to say we’ve actually got a finite biscuits promotion on right now where for just $1, you can get one biscuit,” Oliver said, seemingly poking fun at Red Lobster’s previous Endless Shrimp promotion, which the company said resulted in $11 million in losses in the third quarter of 2023.
Other troubles that have plagued the business over the past few years include high leasing costs, less foot traffic during COVID-19 lockdowns, and multiple Red Lobster executives leaving roles.
Representatives for TAGex Brands and Red Lobster did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
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