Ah yes of course, like the all you can eat shrimp was simply too generous sounded like a fucking dumb explanation
Also their largest shareholder, a seafood distributor, maneuvered things so they became the sole supplier of breaded shrimp for the chain. Think of how much breaded shrimp Red Lobster buys.
One of the other fun tricks of private equity firms is to charge the company to be managed by them. Imagine if your boss charged you literal actual dollars to be managed by them.
It’s kinda funny how often people think there are machinations behind the scenes, but as long as there’s a good joke, they don’t look further. A big chain doesn’t go bankrupt because of a single $11 million loss due to a shrimp promotion. (Also, btw, they were forced to make that losing promotion permanent instead of time limited.)
Private equity has and continues to kill companies and livelihoods. The pacific northwest had an amazing chain of sporting goods stores called GI Joes that was founded as a military surplus store post-WWII and grew to automotive and sporting goods. They had the best bike center with full time techs and you could get a decent overhaul of your bike, find some camping gear and clothes while also picking up parts for your car. They got bought by a private equity firm, the “brand” got changed to just Joes and it failed, they dropped the automotive part, fired bike techs from their stores and basically ran it to the ground. I know the 2008 recession didn’t help but it was a successful company killed off for investors. The former management of the chain tried to resurrect the name but some other firm got the rights to it and the slogans and sued to keep it from returning, so like a lot of other brands, it rests in a graveyard and due to equity and trademark vampires, will never exist again.
