Who:
Red Lobster is aimed at the mid-level "casual dining" segment of the market. The menu includes a variety of speciality seafood entrées, appetizers, salads, and desserts. Red Lobster's goal is to establish a place in which all guests have the opportunity to experience fine dining. They also broad their target group to attract vegetarians and people whom prefer meat over fish, through offering food in which fish and or meat is not included and by selling meat dishes.
What:
The formula that Red Lobster restaurants use is of course the seafood. America is known for its huge amount of fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Wendy’s, Burger King and KFC and when starting Red Lobster, Bill Darden wanted to attract the seafood lovers to his restaurant. Creating not only the opportunity to enjoy a meal at one of the restaurants, but also to enjoy Red Lobster in the comfort of your own home by offering delivery service. The seafood is fresh and of a high quality. The marketing tools are advertising through all the types of media (TV, newspapers, radio and billboards)
The large range of seafood menus in his restaurants gives the customers a lot to pick from. But because not all Americans are seafood lovers, they also added meat dishes to the menus to attract a wider target audience. The point of focus is not only the seafood but the whole “Red Lobster experience”. Red Lobsters restaurant are decorated with sea oriented attributes.
When:
The focus is on the lunch and dinner meals. They don’t serve a breakfast menu. They don’t step away from the seafood concept and seafood isn’t popular at breakfast time. The opening hours of all the branches are from 11 am to 10pm. Thanks to the quick and friendly service at the restaurant, there is a possibility to have a meal during a business lunch or for a quick bite after work. In the menu is also a special part for light food. In this case it is also a healthy choice.
Why:
The goal of the concept is to give the costumer a real seafood experience. They are using high quality sea food. On the menus are not only sea food there are a lot of other food so that everyone can enjoy a meal by Red Lobster. Next to that, the founder wanted to share his love for seafood with the rest of the world.
Today, there are nearly 700 Red Lobster locations throughout the United States and Canada as well as a small number of locations in Japan. Because it is such a big brand, they not only focus on the east and west coast, but also the rest of the country, especially because seafood is rare in those areas. With those restaurants, the organization treats the people to something extra by offering other kinds of food then just fast food. Because of the difficulty in transport from the coast to the franchises in the middle of the United States of America, there are fewer restaurants in these areas. Most of the restaurant s are concentrated at the east coast of the country, because of the lower level of difficulty when it comes to transport.
The founder of Red Lobster (the Darden group) have different foundations what they support in different kind of segments. Darden support foundation in the next segments.
Access to Postsecondary Education
Our Recipe for Success initiative supports organizations that positively impact the educational prospects of under served youth, ages 14 to 18, by providing them with access to the information and tools they need to pursue their dreams of higher education.
Preservation of Natural Resources
We support organizations whose mission is to protect wildlife, restore and preserve ecosystems and teach environmental sustainability.
Good Neighbour Grants (Central Florida only)
Good Neighbour Grants support arts, educational and social services programs and organizations based in Central Florida.
