...Anonymous Evaluation Paper Red Lobster Evaluation Red Lobster is a restaurant that is notorious for claiming they provide excellent seafood. Their promise is to provide tasty seafood while also providing people with a wonderful dining experience. Here is Red Lobster’s story taken straight from their website, “Here at Red Lobster we’re passionate about serving our guests great seafood. It’s why we go the extra mile to bring you the best dining experience possible. Our fishermen take pride in catching only the highest quality seafood, and the freshest fish. Our grill master’s expertly perfect flavors, cooking seafood and steak over a wood fire grill. And our servers pull out all the stops to make every dining experience feel extra special. It’s our passion. It’s our pride. Because at Red Lobster, we Sea Food Differently.” For me, I was anxious to see if the Red Lobster restaurant made me feel like I was having a real, oceanic experience. It is hard to have great seafood when comparing it to fresh, straight out of the ocean, seafood. Like many restaurants, Red Lobster has claimed it provides a comforting atmosphere, tasty seafood, and excellent service; however, I believe Red Lobster actually upholds its overall promise to its guests. Immediately after walking into Red Lobster, I felt as if I was walking into a restaurant striving for that “right off the coast,” appeal. I could sense that Red Lobster was trying its hardest to appeal to every guest that entered through...
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...The widening income gap pushes Red Lobster to either go upscale or go downscale (Chen, 2013). The top 10 percent richest people earned 12 times what the lowest ten percent earned, according to 2012 Census Bureau data. Although an unexpected high percentage (23%) of experientials patronized the restaurant in 2008 (Red Lobster Case, 2010), the shrinking middle class makes it embarrassing to serve both experientials who expect the best service and price sensitive customers at the same time. Neither the rich nor the poor will choose Red Lobster since rich people will directly go to fine dining restaurants because they expect top notch service, and the low income people tend to spend more time eating at home (Gustafson, 2012). For a chain restaurant as large as Red Lobster, it should not go premium and change its customer base to experientials because of potential market opportunities and its own operating features. Segmentation The revenue brought by more profitable experientials will be offset by the loss of other 70% price sensitive customers because they can not afford the costly upscale service. It is true that experientials account for 23% of total customers and contribute more to profits. Indeed, the three phase plan has attracted many experientials that the company has not expected. However, they could not represent the company’s new customer base since 23% of them are far from enough when compared to 70% of price sensitive customers that include indulgents, traditionals...
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...MBAA 606 Talisha Quinta Case Study Write- up Red Lobster March 17, 2015 COMPANY OVERVIEW Red Lobster is a chain of casual dining restaurants, founded and managed by Bill Darden. The headquarters of the company is located Florida, and it has branches in Japan, United Arab Emirates, and Canada. Red Lobster has approximately 698 branches. The company was formed in 1968, with the aim of providing a place where Americans will get some seafood. The company was successful in introducing fresh and new delicacies to their customers. These fresh dishes became popular, and this accelerated the growth of the company, and in 1980s, the company made its presence in Canada. However, its Canadian experience was not good; this is because the company made lots of losses. Competition was stiff in Canada, and due to poor strategies and lack of sufficient market information, the company was forced to close some of its branches in Quebec, Canada. This happened on September 1997. In 1995, Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Bahama Breeze were integrated, as part of the Darden Restaurants Inc. Joe Lee was then in charge as the Chief Executive Officer, and later on, he handed the company to Clarence Otis. The company is passionate about seafood, and over the years, the company has initiated the culture of innovation for the purposes of introducing and developing new menus that will satisfy the needs of its customers. Red Lobster has become a household name and over the years was able to gain...
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...Case Study – Red Lobster Background Red Lobster was originally founded in 1968 and gained tremendous popularity since at the time, mainstream Americans ate very little seafood, finding it hard to get, difficult to cook at home, and expensive. Red Lobster made seafood accessible, approachable, and affordable for just about everybody. Even with their instant success, Red Lobster by 2004 was becoming out of date and out of touch with today’s customer. Kim Lopdrup took over as president in 2004, initiating an aggressive turnaround program and a three-phased plan to save Red Lobster. In the following case study analysis our team has evaluated Red Lobster throughout the innovation. Who were Red Lobsters target customers pre-2004? Prior to Kim Lopdrup taking over as president of Red Lobster in 2004, their target customers were known “experientials.” Experientials are people who love generous portions of affordable seafood, but use the meal occasion as more of an opportunity to connect with family, friends, colleagues, or clients. Red Lobster also had a lot of lapsed users who thought of them as a dated chain that served cheap, frozen, mass-produced seafood. In Lopdrup’s first few years on the job, he initiated an assertive turnaround program and showed some early signs of success. What was Red Lobster’s value proposition? Red Lobster was built on the premise of bringing affordable seafood to mainstream America. Prior to 2004, Red Lobster’s management team had tried to focus...
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...where the first Red Lobster was opened in the year 1968 by Bill Darden and Charley Woodsby. Red Lobster is known to be America’s best casual dining restaurant chain. It had its headquarters located in San Francisco, California. It proved to be a great success. Today Red Lobster is the largest full service seafood dining company in the world which serves nearly 3 million customers a week. As per the recent index of the year 2013, Red Lobster has crossed 705 locations worldwide. It is heard that the founder of the restaurant Bill Darden has decided to sell Red Lobster to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $ 2.1 billion as announced on 16th of May 2014, which was opposed by several activist investors. After opening of first restaurant in Lakeland, it was followed by several others throughout the south east of the nation. In 1970, Red Lobster was acquired by General Mills as a five-unit company but Darden continued to be the president of Red Lobster. In 1980s Red Lobster entered in Canada establishing its various locations by buying Ponderosa Restaurant. It maintained a bulk location in large urban centers. The financial loss prevented the Red Lobster to enter into the market of British Columbia. The brand is mainly specialized on seafood specifying its true name and slogan. It was the first casual restaurant expanding its chain at a national scale with an advertisement on the television. The specialty of the restaurant was the seafood such as live Main lobster, jumbo shrimp...
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...Evaluation of Red Lobster Restaurant My overall opinion of Red Lobster is very high. Seafood is one of my favorite foods and after visiting Red Lobster, I must say that I was extremely impressed and satisfied with the quality and the taste of the food. Also, the restaurant was very clean and inviting while the staff was more than helpful while taking my. The waitress was courteous and was always eager to refill my drink As I entered Red lobster, I was greeted at the front door with a friendly hello ' and after only a ten minute wait, I was seated at a comfortable and clean table. The waitress politely asked if I would like her to get my drink and she insisted that she would be back in only a few minutes with my drink. True to her word, she returned with a cold class of Coca Cola and she asked if I would like a few minutes more to look over the menu I told the waitress that I was ready to give my and she smiled as she asked if I would like a salad with my meal. I felt that the staff at Red Lobster was unbeatable and I would recommend my friends to this restaurant because of the excellent service that I received from the waitress The same waitress brought out a fresh garden salad with an oil and vinegar dressing which was superb and before I even finished my salad she returned with a steaming plate of lobster and crab legs The plate of food looked very appetizing to the eyes and the smell of the food was extraordinary. I was given a small , wet napkin by the same waitress...
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...MANAGEMENT RED LOBSTER Problem: How to ensure sustainable growth? Should they change their primary target customer? First positioning: Top quality affordable seafood to mainstream America. The Restaurant Industry in America (2009) Americans spent 40% of their food dollars away from home. Where? 1. Fast food (McDonald’s / Subway) – 48% – No table service 2. Casual dining (Applebee’s / Red Lobster) – 31% – Full service restaurants where checks averaged from $8 to $20 3. Family dining – Similar to casual dining but without alcoohol licenses 4. Fine dining – Impecable service – Checks above $20/person 5. Fast casual – Like quick serve, but better service and higher prices 6. Premium casual – Like casual dining, but with a more refined atmosphere and moderately higher prices Casual Dining Competition Americas ate on average two meals per month at a casual dining restaurant. * Big 7 (33% of casual dining restaurants): Applebee’s, Chili’s, TGI Friday’s, Ruby Tuesday, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden and Red Lobster * Medium sized chains * Independent casual dining restaurants Seafood specialists: Joe’s Crab Shack ($19), Bonefish ($26), McCormick and Schmick ($39) Red Lobster had 43% of seafood casual dining market share. 2004: Red Lobster had become mature and stagnant. Aquaculture had caused cost declines to some types of seafood, so other chains were offering salmon and shrimp on their menus. Surveys showed that Red Lobster had...
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...RED LOBSTER: MARKET RESEARCH REVEALS WHATS FRESH TODAY BACKGROUND 1968: Foundation: Red Lobster was founded in 1968 by entrepreneur Bill Darden and Charley Woossby. Originally billed as a “Harbor for seafood Lovers”, the original restaurant in Lakeland, Florida, was followed by several others throughout the Southest. 1970: General Mills acquired Red Lobster in 1970 as a five-unit restaurant company and rapidly expanded the company nationwide. As it reached more parts of the country, Red Lobster continually introduced guests to fresh dishes that quickly became favorites, with many guests getting their first taste of calamari, snow crab and Key lime pie here – not to mention the fact that it is where popcorn shrimp was invented. (after 1970, until 1980) In 1980, this year was one of the most important for the company, reaching and being in their stage of maturity, a stage in which all companies desire to be in there. In 1983, Red Lobster opened its first restaurant in Canada (Windsor, Ontario) Finishing, in 1995, after decades of success and growth, Red Lobster, together with Olive Garden and later Bahama Breeze, became part of Darden Restaurants, with Joe at the helm until 2005, when he turned the reins over to current CEO and Chairman Clarence Otis. Over the years, their passion for seafood and delicious experiences has kept Red Lobster evolving. Their menu has grown and changed with their guests’ tastes and their ability to bring the best of the sea to your table...
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...Red Lobster “Sea-Food Differently” William K. Jackson DeVry University Red Lobster “Sea-food Differently” My favorite restaurant to dine at is Red Lobster. The Red Lobster restaurant is a well known restaurant chain that offers a wide variety of American style seafood dishes. Red Lobster is a mid-priced, causal restaurant. I love the experience of dining at the Red Lobster because the atmosphere is welcoming, the food is great and the service is excellent. A particular visit one week ago proved to me that Red Lobster lives up to the expectations of its guests. Red Lobster casual attire allowed me to feel relaxed like I was at home. It was loud at times but gave me the feeling of being with a large family eating great food and having a good time. The walls had very decorative décor and made me feel like I was in eating seafood at restaurant near the beach. Pulling into the oversized parking lot, the first thing I noticed was all the landscaping and how well it was maintained. I found the restaurant overall very well maintained and clean. Red Lobster offers a wide variety menu of seafood specialties. First I started off with an appetizer. I ordered the Lobster-Artichoke-and-Seafood Dip with A creamy three-cheese blend with artichokes, spinach, Maritime lobster meat and seafood. Served with tortilla chips and pico de gallo, for 12...
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...Case Study Analysis: Locating the Next Red Lobster Restaurant Amanda K Passaretti February 7, 2015 Prof. Jonathan Bates BUS520: Operations Management From its first Red Lobster restaurant in 1968, Darden Restaurants has grown the chain to 690 locations, with over $2.6 billion in U.S. sales annually. The casual dining market may be crowded, with competitors such as Chili’s, Ruby Tuesday, Applebee’s, TGI Fridays, and Outback, but Darden’s continuing success means the chain thinks there is still plenty of room to grow. Robert Reiner, director of market development, is charged with identifying the sites that will maximize new store sales without cannibalizing sales at existing Red Lobster locations. Characteristics for identifying a good site have not changed in forty years; they still include real estate prices, customer age, competition, ethnicity, income, family size, population density, nearby hotels, and buying behavior, to name just a few. What has changed is the powerful software that allows Reiner to analyze a new site in five minutes, as opposed to the eight hours it took just a few years ago. Darden has partnered with MapInfo Corporation, whose geographic information system (GIS) contains a powerful module for analyzing a trade area. With the U.S. geocoded down to the individual block, MapInfo allows Reiner to create a psychographic profile of existing and potential Red Lobster trade areas. “We can now target areas with greatest sales potential,” says Reiner. The...
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...Assignment 1: Vice President of Operations, Part 1 Due Week 3 and worth 200 points Scenario: Imagine that you are the vice president of operations at a production or service organization. You have noticed that your organization’s current operations strategy is not supporting the challenges that the organization is presently facing. In order to maintain a competitive edge, you must address these challenges with your Chief Executive Officer immediately. Select an existing production organization. Analyze the organization’s current vision, mission, business strategy, operation strategy, supply chain, total quality management, just-in-time philosophy, forecasting method, statistical technique, facility location, work design, project life cycle, and project management. Note: You will need this information in order to complete this and subsequent assignments. As you collect the information for Assignment 1 and Assignment 2, remember that in Assignment 3 you must prepare a presentation for your Chief Executive Officer. Write a three to five (3-5) page paper in which you: 1. Evaluate key elements of the selected production or service organization’s operational efficiency with its operational strategy. Determine three (3) tasks that do not align with the operational strategy. Determine the weaknesses that are evident in each task. 2. Formulate a new operations strategy for the selected organization based on the four (4) competitive priorities (i.e., cost, quality, time...
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...Write-up Red Lobster Customer Analysis Red Lobster is flavored by those who desire to use the meal occasion as an opportunity to connect with family, friends, colleagues and clients, , not as it assumed that customers are there for affordable seafood. Customers who come to Red Lobster are classified as 5 different people. The most common one is Indulgents, then Experientials, Traditionalists, Eclectics, Fruguals. Experientials are more frequent to come and spend more money per meal than the other four. In addition, Eclectics are more likely to take wine during meal, wine which is the most profitable part of sales. Profit from each kind of Customers are calculated by: [Average spend per meal * (1- percent alcohol) * 81% + Average spend per meal * percent alcohol * 67%]* Annual meals per customer (See Exhibit 1) Obviously, Experiential customers are most profitable. In addition, 2000 Experientials = 215303 > 1000 Indulgents and 1000 Eclectices = 147610. Company Analysis First, In 2004, Red Lobster is rated as excellent by 64 percent of its guests. This number goes up to 78% by 2010. Second, from the survey done by Copernicus, it shows that, compared to other sea food restaurants, Red Lobster best in non-seafood items and price. However, the most important ones, such as freshness, cleanliness and quality of seafood, Red Lobster did worse than other restaurants by 16%, 5% and 14%. Red Lobster is seemed as low end places by customers. Third, Red Lobster...
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...2012 NAME: Last: Tamayo First:Fransisco Link to Article (if available): http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-02/darden-sees-olive-garden-red-lobster-making-new-revenue-retail Strategy Article Illustrates: Concentric Diversification/ Market Development What leads you to believe this is the strategy illustrated? Both restaurants are known for their casual dining atmosphere in suburbia America. What a lot of people do not know is that the same company, Darden, owns these companies. The article states that the company will begin offering a both Red Lobster and Olive Garden under the same roof, a strategy often used by fast-food restaurant chains. This move leads me to believe that Darden is trying to implement a, much like their restaurants, a combination strategy. The new combination restaurant exemplifies the concentric diversification strategy by taking the two individual restaurants and evolving them under one roof. They will continue to capitalize on each of the restaurants specialties while minimizing the cost of two separate buildings. Additionally, they will use the strategy of market development to nicely complement concentric diversification. The article continues to explain that Darden has chosen to use the Red Lobster-Olive Garden restaurant fusion to reach potential customers that live in rural areas. Why has the company decided on this strategy? There are a few reasons why the company has decided to...
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...Martin 23 November 2015 Evaluation of Red Lobster Is Red Lobster as nice as everyone thinks it is? When I got offered a job at Red Lobster to be a hostess the first thing the manager told me is that Chris Rock and Nicki Minaj had worked there before they had become famous, and that right there sold me. The day I started working at Red Lobster off of I-240 in Oklahoma City, I thought I was working at the nicest place anyone could ever go. Every year on my birthday my parents would ask me where I would want to go for my birthday dinner and my answer would always be Red Lobster. A large building with Red Walls along the outside, of course it was welcoming. Nice dim lighting inside to set the mood of romance, also had three sections of the restaurant, which were called The Galley, the front of the restaurant by the bar, The Main floor, which is just the tables in the middle, Back Main was where there were booths along the back with some tables sectioning them from other booths. Then there was the pier where people could have big parties in a private back room. The restaurant it self is in a very good location and there are always different kinds of people coming in and out of Red Lobster. It was absolutely not the expectation I thought I was going to get from this place when I started working there, I mean I love the place, but only because of the people there. Entrepreneurs Bill Darden & Charley Woodsby founded Red Lobster in 1968. Originally billed as a "Harbor for...
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...Institute in Tuscany has shaped a genuine Italian menu. Geographic Segmentation is something that Darden exhibits in the Longhorn chain. Longhorn Restaurants are currently only found in the eastern half of the US. This offers an opportunity for extensive expansion going forward. Demographic Segmentation is exemplified by Red Lobster’s efforts to fill the gap between fast-food seafood and upscale white-tablecloth restaurants. Behavioral Segmentation is realized in usage rates. Darden, along with all other sit-down restaurants, are seeing a decline in the frequency that diners are eating out at sit-down meals. This is a result of economic decline and consumers becoming more particular with how they chose to use their limited finance resources. 2. Has Darden differentiated and positioned its brands effectively? I believe that Darden has done a good job of this. Darden’s brands are so well differentiated and positioned and the corporate name is kept so low-profile that most customers don’t realize they share a common ownership. They have different niche-type markets meaning they have Italian market through Olive Garden, Seafood through Red Lobster, and Steakhouse market through...
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