Author Archives: Retailing Management

Seas the Day: Red Lobster Reinvents Itself

13 Wednesday May 2026

Posted by in Chapter 11: Customer Relationship Management, Chapter 12: Managing the Merchandise Planning Process

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istockphoto / Chuck Bennet

The recent history of Red Lobster has been a real rollercoaster (see, for example, “What If the Pricing Promotion Is Too Popular? Ask Red Lobster” from our January 2024 newsletter). Once known for its promise to supply diners with literally endless amounts of shrimp, the restaurant chain sought to leverage the popularity of a limited-time promotion by extending it throughout the year. As we discussed in previous abstracts, the strategic shift proved unwise. It was financially untenable to keep giving people all the shrimp they could eat, and extending the promotion made it seem less special.

Faced with a serious crisis and impending threat to its very survival, the company undertook a radical shift by bringing in new leadership. Previously the CEO of P.F. Chang, Red Lobster’s new head Damola Adamolekun has committed to turning the ship around. Immediately and unsurprisingly, he retired the endless shrimp promotion. But at the same time, he imposed substantial cuts to the chain’s menu, seeking to reduce the cluttered, confusing list of options by approximately one-fifth its size. Having eliminated a lot of poor sellers, Adamolekun introduced a few replacement menu items, which have been designed explicitly to appeal to diverse customers’ taste preferences. Thus, the new menus feature some globally inspired additions, like lobster Pappardelle, as well as safe favorites such as bacon-wrapped scallops.

Perhaps reflecting Adamolekun’s youthful perspective—the new leader is just 37 years of age—this pivot also involves an aggressive social media approach, which highlights the restaurant’s determination to be responsive to customer preferences. For example, having received requests for specific sausage pairings on the menu, Red Lobster readily introduced Cajun-inspired and Old Bay–seasoned bratwursts to the menu.

Although these novel efforts add some much-needed youth and vitality to the restaurant, Adamolekun also emphasizes his clear recognition of the restaurant chain’s roots. Red Lobster has long benefitted from its strong, enduring ties with the Black community. When the first store opened in 1968, the restaurant immediately established and distinguished itself as a place where all customers were welcome, and it made inclusive hiring a foundation in designing its workforce. As the chain grew, so did its place in popular Black culture, earning recognition and call-outs from stars like Beyoncé and Tyler Perry.

To acknowledge this history and build on it for the future, some special promotions feature nostalgic menu items that harken back to Red Lobster’s heyday. Seafood boil bags are the most visible, and most popular, addition so far. Within the first week they had been introduced, they accounted for an estimated 80 percent of sales. Citing such evidence, Adamolekun has expressed confidence in the chain’s ability to continue trending in the right direction over time. With its long, storied history, Red Lobster has an enviable foundation from which to start.

Discussion Questions

  1. Does ending the well-known endless shrimp promotion hurt Red Lobster’s ability to retain cost-conscious customers?
  2. How might the chain still position itself as an affordable choice, while still making the necessary menu changes?

Sources: Korsha Wilson, “Red Lobster Is Betting on Black Diners with Its Brand Comeback,” The New York Times, August 22, 2025; Pete Gannon, “Red Lobster’s Next CEO,” Axios, August 26, 2024; Rachel Ventresca and Nick Lichtenberg, “Red Lobster’s 36-Year-Old CEO Isn’t Repeating the Chain’s $11 Million Endless Shrimp Disaster. But He Is Reading All of Your Social Media Comments,” Yahoo! Finance, July 25, 2025

Lights Out: China Leads Dark Factory Production

15 Wednesday Apr 2026

Posted by in Chapter 10: Information Systems and Supply Chain Management

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istockphoto / SweetBunFactory

It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie: a factory run completely by robots. From the mining of raw materials to final packaging, the system is completely autonomous. But China has already made it a reality, in the form of dark factories or lights-out factories. Because these operations require human intervention only on rare occasions (e.g., monitoring, repairs, software updates), they can remain completely dark, or perhaps just minimally lit, which reduces electricity costs while still allowing the system to work the same.

The luxury Chinese carmaker Zeekr, founded in the early 2020s, has achieved nearly completely autonomous factory operations. With the help of around 800 robots, its factories produce about 300,000 vehicles every year. Other countries have not achieved similar success as of yet. In the United States, Tesla promised, when announcing the launch of its Model 3, that it would manufacture the car using completely autonomous production. But after mass delays pushed the business to the brink of bankruptcy, Tesla chose to revert to its traditional assembly process instead.

The emergence and success of dark factories in China seemingly stems from its status as the global leader in production capacity and factory installations. China is responsible for almost 30 percent of the production of manufactured goods, more so than the next five countries combined. In support of such vast capabilities, it has deployed an estimated 300,000 new factory robots in 2024, almost ten times as many as are in operation in the United States.

Such dominance is reinforced and encouraged by federal incentives. In setting expanded uses of robotics and artificial intelligence as a national priority, the government has offered subsidies for adopters, as well as established beneficial regulatory policies. Qualifying businesses receive access to more affordable loan rates too, which they can use to expand their technological prowess but also to pursue more aggressive growth prospects.

Accordingly, multiple Chinese firms have signaled their ambitions. The domestic firm UBTech Robotics, in a partnership with the European aircraft conglomerate Airbus, plans to investigate and experiment with ways to integrate its robotics into aerospace construction. Similarly, UBTech reached a deal with U.S.-based Texas Instruments to integrate similar technologies into a variety of semiconductor manufacturing processes.

Discussion Questions

  1. How might the global economy be affected by China’s early dominance in autonomous manufacturing?
  2. What safety regulations should countries implement for autonomous testing?

Sources: Meaghan Tobin, Keith Bradsher, “There Are More Robots Working in China Than the Rest of the World Combined,” The New York Times, September 25, 2025; Ben Jiang, “China’s UBTech Partners with Airbus to Bring Humanoid Robots to Aviation Manufacturing,” South China Morning Post, January 19, 2026; Zachary Shahan, “‘Dark Factories’—Chinese Automakers Living Tesla’s Dream,” CleanTechnica, July 24, 2025.