Red Lobster is courting disaster by bringing back the notorious all-you-can-eat promotion that bankrupted the company

Red Lobster is bringing back the deal that became a humiliating symbol of its financial troubles: Endless shrimp.

The seafood chain has revived its infamous all-you-can-eat promotion for a limited time, giving customers another chance to pile their plates high with shrimp just two years after the company filed for bankruptcy.

The promotion returned on August 17 and is available at participating restaurants, with customers able to mix and match shrimp dishes and order additional servings until they're satisfied.

'Our guests were thrilled to have Endless Shrimp back this spring and made it clear they wanted more – so we listened,' Red Lobster CEO Damola Adamolekun said in the Monday announcement. 

'We proved we could bring it back in a way that delights our guests and works for our restaurant teams and our business. Now we're bringing our fans more of the Endless experience they asked for.'

But this time, Red Lobster is taking a much more cautious approach.

The chain's decision to bring back Endless Shrimp is a remarkable reversal after the promotion was blamed for helping drive millions of dollars in losses and contributing to the restaurant's eventual bankruptcy.

Endless Shrimp had been a popular limited-time promotion for years before Red Lobster made the fateful decision to turn it into a permanent menu item in 2023.

The $20 deal proved so popular that customers simply ate too much shrimp for the economics to work.

According to company filings, the promotion contributed to roughly $11 million in operating losses in 2023.

Red Lobster ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2024 and closed roughly 130 restaurants as part of its restructuring.

The chain's then-interim CEO Jonathan Tibus had criticized the promotion, pointing to the burdensome supply obligations associated with the deal.

It's worth noting that the chain's troubles went far beyond the shrimp promotion, with declining sales, rising costs and problems involving its ownership and business strategy contributing to the company's financial woes.

The Endless Shrimp promotion, however, became perhaps the clearest example of Red Lobster's broader problems: a customer favorite that was simply too expensive for the company to sustain at its bargain price.

Now, under CEO Adamolekun, Red Lobster is betting that it can bring the promotion back without repeating its previous mistakes.

When the company announced the return earlier this year, Adamolekun said the promotion had been mentioned thousands of times by customers on social media since it disappeared from menus.

'This is about putting our guests first and bringing back something they truly love,' Adamolekun said in Red Lobster's initial April 20 announcement. 

The new version is being offered for a limited time rather than as a permanent menu item.

Customers can choose from five shrimp preparations, including returning favorites such as Shrimp Linguini Alfredo, Walt's Favorite Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp Scampi and Parrot Isle Coconut Shrimp, along with a new Garlic Bread-Crusted Shrimp dish.

Prices can vary by location, making the new promotion notably different from the $20 nationwide-style bargain that helped get the company into trouble.

The comeback is part of Adamolekun's broader effort to rebuild Red Lobster after its bankruptcy.

The chain emerged from Chapter 11 under new ownership in 2024, with Adamolekun taking over as CEO that August.