An unlikely restaurant won over millennials by ignoring them
The chain was named the top restaurant choice among 18- to 24-year-olds in a recent survey by Nation's Restaurant News that included 173 other brands.
The rating came as a surprise even to Red Lobster CEO Kim Lopdrup. He says the restaurant hasn't been advertising directly to millennials.
"Red Lobster is not the first place people think of as a favorite restaurant for millennials," Lopdrup said in an interview with Business Insider. "It's particularly interesting because we have not been explicitly targeting millennials. We've just been focusing on making improvements overall."
Red Lobster was in decline when it was taken private nearly two years ago.
Same-stores sales had dropped 5.6% in the fourth quarter of 2014, the last quarter for which the company reported financial results before it was taken private by Golden Gate Capital.
In the prior quarter, same-stores sales had dropped by nearly 9%.
So what has changed?
Since going private, the company has started catering its menu to new food trends with the additions of wild-caught Alaska Sockeye Salmon, lobster tacos, and new flavors like chimichurri and spicy Tennessee bourbon shrimp.
Red Lobster has also increased the size of its shrimp by at least 47% in most of its dishes and says it changed cooking practices to improve taste. For example, cooks started preparing the shrimp scampi in-house and added more sauce to the dish, after customers said they wanted additional sauce for dipping their cheddar bay biscuits.
And while many casual-dining restaurants, such as Olive Garden, are increasingly emphasizing carryout to keep up with growing competition from fast-casual chains (like Chipotle), Red Lobster has been encouraging customers to dine in, in part by offering a new line of alcoholic beverages.
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