There's no gentle way to put it: It's tough being a seafood chain these days. Could Red Lobster be
on its way out? And which franchise is down to its last location? Keep watching to find out!
Founded in 1969, Long John Silver's has a storied history few seafood chains can match.
Sadly, if things don't turn around quickly, that story may be coming to an abrupt end.
In 1989, Long John Silver's expanded to a record-high 1,500 locations. But that same year,
the chain was purchased by a group of private investors in a bid to
get a handle on its mounting debt burden. It's been nearly all bad news ever since.
A small sampling of the restaurant's low points over the years includes filing for bankruptcy in
1998, getting hit with a branding lawsuit in 2010, and, as the cherry on top, having the Center for
Science in the Public Interest declare its "Big Catch" the worst restaurant meal in America.
All this has led to a drop in popularity and, in turn, the number of locations.
QSR Magazine reports that the chain had 1,000 restaurants in 2015.
There are now under 700 Long John Silver's locations in the country.
Unlike many of its competitors who can blame the COVID-19 pandemic for their troubles,
Kona Grill's downturn has been largely self-inflicted.
According to Restaurant Business Online, in the four-year span from 2013 to 2017,
the seafood chain doubled its location total from 23 to 46. Unfortunately,
the company admitted its rapid expansion was one of the main factors in its recent downfall.
Each restaurant costs roughly $4 million to open, but in 2015 sales began to drop.
With little available money on hand, Kona stopped opening new restaurants in 2017
and focused on reducing costs. This also proved to be unwise. Cutting staffing,
marketing, and culinary improvements helped the company's bottom line in the short term
but led to an overall drop in standards and, in turn, a further drop in revenue.
All of this culminated in the company filing for bankruptcy in 2019. At the same time,
it announced the closings of 15 restaurants, dropping its total down to 27 locations.
According to its website, Kona Grill is down to 24 stores at the time of this video.
Houston-based Joe's Crab Shack is another chain whose problems predate the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June 2017, parent company Ignite Restaurant Group filed for bankruptcy.
Apparently, the best operational strategy it came up with was to close dozens of restaurants,
because less than two months after the bankruptcy announcement,
news dropped that Joe's Crab Shack had shuttered more than 40 locations.
FSR Magazine reported that there were 140 Joe's Crab Shack restaurants as recently as 2014. The
mass closings left the company with 72 locations, with a former employee telling Consumerist at
the time that Ignite, quote, "only wants 60 Joe's Crab Shack locations to remain open."
A quick look at the chain's website, however, shows that there are fewer than 50 restaurants
across just 18 states. Many of these states have only a single location, so any more closings could
spell the complete disappearance of Joe's Crab Shack for large parts of the country.
In 2011, seafood chain McCormick & Schmick's was purchased by Landry's Inc.,
owners of casual restaurants including Bubba Gump and Joe's Crab Shack.
At the time of the purchase, according to The Oregonian, Landry's CEO said,
"[McCormick & Schmick's] fell victim to the need to grow and located some restaurants in
secondary markets which were adversely impacted to a greater degree by the economic downturn."
At least three restaurants closed the very next year, and in 2017,
Landry's turned off the lights in nearly one-third of its locations.
Then, in 2020, some of McCormick & Schmick's premier outposts were shut down.
All these closings have left McCormick & Schmick's with under 30 restaurants to its name,
per the company's website — less than one-third of what it had a decade ago.
The first Lost Cajun opened in 2010 and was an immediate success. So much so, owner Raymond
Griffin opened a second location just two years later. The upward trajectory continued for quite
a while. In 2016, Griffin told the Denver Business Journal he expected to grow the business to 100
restaurants. But then, the Lost Cajun ran into a wall known as the COVID-19 pandemic. Like so
many other chains, the company was forced to close locations and, in April 2021, filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy. According to Restaurant Business Online, the company said in court documents,
"A number of The Lost Cajun franchisees failed and those that remain open suffered
significant revenue losses, with some indicating to the franchisor that closings are imminent."
However, they have started to turn things around. According to a January 2022 press release, the
Lost Cajun did open four new locations during the pandemic and have two more planned for early 2022.
The Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump remains as highly regarded today as
it was when it came out in 1994. The restaurant chain based on the movie,
however, seems to be getting less popular by the year.
"Shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich…"
Inspired by the fictional shrimping company in the film, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. has been serving
southern-style seafood dishes for over two decades. Business was good for most of that time,
allowing the chain to expand across the country, as well as overseas. However, recent years have
not been as kind. Bubba Gump has closed down restaurants every year since at least 2018.
It started in Hawaii when the Kailua-Kona location was shuttered. Per Live 5 News,
less than a year later, a Bubba Gump restaurant in Charleston shut its doors for good after
nearly two decades in business. In 2020, the Bubba Gump at Chicago's Navy Pier closed and in 2021,
another Hawaii location, this one in Maui, said goodbye. Today,
Bubba Gump finds itself with just over 20 restaurants, according to its website.
Pappas Restaurants is a culinary empire consisting of several different restaurant concepts.
Recently, that empire has had a few bricks fall out from its foundation.
In June 2020, Restaurant Business Online reported that the Texas-based
company announced it had closed five restaurants in its hometown of Houston.
According to Culture Map, Pappas' struggles were also brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Included amongst the closings were two Pappas Seafood House restaurants,
leaving just three locations still standing. Also shuttered was the company's only Pappas Shrimp
Shack restaurant, which had been open less than a year. The other seafood-based eatery to meet
its demise was a Pappadeux Seafood Kitchen location. This is the company's one chain,
however, that could likely afford to lose a restaurant. There are dozens of Pappadeux
outposts across several states, including a number of locations still open in Houston.
News of disappearing Red Lobster restaurants isn't new. In fact, back in 2013, there were rumors the
chain was shutting down for good and closing all 700-plus locations amid declining sales. That
turned out not to be the case, but Red Lobster's luck hasn't gotten any better in recent years.
According to SeafoodSource, in early 2020, credit rating agency Moody's downgraded Red
Lobster's credit and predicted the restaurant would fair worse during the coronavirus pandemic
than other chains. Lo and behold, just a few months later, CEO Kim Lopdrup admitted,
"[We're in] the most challenging time Red Lobster has faced in our 52 years of operation."
While there were once more than 700 Red Lobsters across the country, there are currently just
672 locations, according to ScrapeHero. With the pandemic still hampering restaurants, particularly
those of the casual dining variety, it wouldn't be surprising to see that number continue to fall.
Bonefish Grill, the market-fresh seafood chain owned by Outback Steakhouse parent
company Bloomin' Brands, has been steadily closing locations for years. In 2016,
SeafoodSource reported that Bloomin' announced it would be closing 14
underperforming Bonefish Grill restaurants within the next three years. Before the year was out,
three such locations already had their doors closed for good.
But it appears 14 was just a starting point. According to SeafoodSource,
there were 210 Bonefish Grill restaurants in the United States in 2016. As of this video,
the restaurant’s website says there are just 185.
If recent news is an indicator, that number could drop even lower in the near future.
In late 2021, MarketWatch reported that the company's stock price fell 4% after
its restaurants failed to hit sales goals. And as history has shown us,
underperforming Bonefish Grill locations tend to find themselves on the chopping block.
Depending on how old you are, you may have fond memories of the incredibly popular
seafood chain known as Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, or you might have never even heard
of it before. According to QSR Magazine, the restaurant, which was founded in 1969,
once counted 826 locations to its name. But a lot has changed since Arthur Treacher's
heyday of the 1970s and ‘80s. In fact, the chain is now down to just one restaurant.
In June of 2021, Spectrum News reported that the location in Garfield Heights,
Ohio shut down, leaving the restaurant in nearby Cuyahoga Falls as the last remaining
artifact of a former culinary dynasty. Restaurant investor Robert Allen said,
"When a customer walks [in] the door and you haven't seen them for years,
and they're so excited that Arthur Treacher's is still here,
still selling the fish, it just motivates me more to hang in here, just to see one day
that someone's going to come in here and say, 'Come on, let's put this thing back together."
Fans of Arthur Treacher's may not be able to visit the restaurant anymore,
but they can still enjoy its food. In June, Nathan's Famous announced a partnership to
sell Arthur Treacher's fish and chips in a ghost kitchen concept, according to Spectrum News.
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