Damola Adamolekun, Red Lobster's new 35-year-old CEO, has a plan to pull the chain back from bankruptcy. A top priority? Bringing back the restaurant's fan-favorite hushpuppies. But hushpuppies alone won't save the floundering chain.
The young CEO has a big task in front of him — and he's eager to take on the job. , Adamolekun explained that he admired the chain's significance as the "first really successful casual dining chain in America at scale." Despite his youth, Adamolekun has found success leading casual dining chains before.
In 2020, he took over as CEO of P.F. Chang's and helped guide the chain through the pandemic.
He's going to need that experience at his new job, since . As one of his first moves at Red Lobster, Adamolekun plans to cut back the existing menu while adding a few new options. True to his respect for the chain's history, though, Adamolekun's new menu reintroduces beloved classics.
Aside from the hush puppies, he plans to revamp the chain's tartar sauce to taste more like the original recipe. Red Lobster's new CEO has big plans for hush puppies There's no word of when the hushpuppies will be back, but they're sure to cause a commotion when they do. "There was a social media riot over us taking off the hush puppies a few years ago.
So that is coming back," , joking, "I expect a stampede into our restaurants because we're bringing back the hush puppies." It sounds like TODAY show co-host Al Roker will be first in line. "I stopped going to Red Lobster b.