There are few experiences in the restaurant world that are as indulgent as the all-you-can-eat buffet. It looks like there are endless rows of hot chafing dishes and stacked plastic containers, all of which are full of food. You can walk up and down the smelly aisles, picking out the best bites from each container and putting them on a perfect, heaping plate before shoving as much food as you can into your mouth.
The American buffet, as we know it, emerged in the 1940s. In the years that followed, many restaurants followed suit. Today, you can enjoy an all-you-can-eat meal in every single U. S. state. It’s common to think of cheap staples when you think of buffets, but can the endless model work for expensive food? Red Lobster, a seafood chain that tries to be both casual and fancy, tried to offer an endless crab deal one time, but it failed horribly.
All-you-can-eat deals are a familiar staple at many casual dining restaurants. Who can resist the lure of unlimited portions of your favorite foods? Red Lobster has offered various bottomless promotions over the years but one notoriously disastrous trial run keeps them from ever having endless crab again.
In this article we’ll explore Red Lobster’s history with all-you-can-eat crab legs and why this luxury food item proved unsustainable as an unlimited offer.
The Appeal of All-You-Can-Eat Deals
First, let’s look at why unlimited food promotions are so popular with consumers:
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They allow you to sample small portions of a variety of menu items instead of choosing just one.
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All-you-can-eat takes away the pressure of ordering the “right” dishes. You can keep going back for more of what you like.
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They provide great value for hungry diners or large groups splitting the cost.
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The indulgent nature fits well with casual dining restaurants focused on abundance.
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Customers enjoy the challenge of getting their money’s worth by eating as much as possible.
For affordable foods like pasta, pizza, or soup, these promotions can work well for restaurants. But offering bottomless portions of pricier items can quickly devastate profits.
Red Lobster’s Infamous Endless Crab Trial Run
In 2003, Red Lobster decided to test out offering unlimited crab legs for the first and only time. The price was $22.99 for endless plates of snow crab legs, accompanied by sides and biscuits.
This was a luxury ingredient priced around $5 per pound wholesale at the time. Red Lobster failed to anticipate just how much crab some customers could consume when presented with an all-you-can-eat opportunity.
The endless crab promotion only ran for about three months before being pulled. In that short time, Red Lobster saw losses in the millions. Their stock dropped three dollars per share.
Some individual restaurant locations raised the price mid-promotion to try to compensate. But the damage was done, and the endless crab experiment became known as a cautionary tale in the restaurant industry.
Factors That Caused the Failure
There were a few key factors that stacked the odds against endless crab legs being a sustainable promotion:
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High wholesale crab prices – Snow crab was around $5/lb at the time, meaning diners only needed to consume 2 lbs worth to cost Red Lobster money.
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Limited supply – Crab is fished wild, not farmed, so supply was tight in 2003. Red Lobster buying it in bulk raised prices further.
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Luxury ingredients – Customers are more tempted to overindulge when they perceive abundance of fancy foods.
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American appetites – Many customers took the unlimited offer as a challenge, consuming 5+ pounds each.
Red Lobster simply underestimated how much crab some customers would consume and overestimated how much supply they could acquire at a reasonable bulk cost.
The Aftermath: No Endless Crab Since
The 2003 endless crab fiasco was so financially damaging that Red Lobster has never offered it again in the nearly 20 years since. They learned the hard lesson that bottomless offers are unsustainable for expensive seafood items like crab.
However, Red Lobster still offers other unlimited dining deals:
- Endless Shrimp (various preparations) for $21.99 on Mondays
- Bottomless Soup & Salad for $12.99 on weekdays
These cheaper ingredients at lower base prices are less risky as unlimited offers. But you’ll never again see endless crab make an appearance at Red Lobster.
Perspectives on All-You-Can-Eat Crab Ethics
The ethics of bottomless crab promotions spark debate:
Supporters argue:
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Customers have a right to get value from what they pay for.
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It’s a fair exchange as long as the restaurant willingly offers the deal.
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People should get to indulge once in a while.
Critics counter:
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It promotes food waste and overconsumption.
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It can damage the supply chain when restaurants buy in bulk.
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All-you-can-eat normalizes overeating.
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It takes advantage of scarcity of wild resources like crab.
There are good points on both sides. But from a business perspective, it proved clearly unsustainable for Red Lobster.
The Verdict: All-You-Can-Eat Crab Legs Are History
While not officially banned, endless crab is realistically off the table after the 2003 debacle. Red Lobster’s losses were just too massive to ever justify trying it again. Other restaurants also took note, scaring them away from offering bottomless crab.
The lure of unlimited abundance works better for cheaper foods produced en masse. But wild-caught luxury ingredients like crab legs will simply never realistically work as an all-you-can-eat promotion. Don’t expect to ever crack into unlimited crab legs at Red Lobster. Their lesson was learned the hard way.
Red Lobster underestimates the American appetite
Once youve started cracking into a plate of freshly cooked crab legs, it can be tough to stop. Red Lobster offered endless crab promotions for both the first and last time in 2003. For only $22. 99, Red Lobster patrons could enjoy as many plates of crab and sides as their hearts desired. People were definitely interested in the generous offer, but Red Lobster was woefully unprepared for the insatiable hunger that American diners get when they have the chance to eat as much as they want.
People started going on long crab-eating trips, and some groups of diners ate so much crab that it filled up an entire ocean trawler. To cope with the rapidly accumulating losses, some locations raised the price of the deal by several dollars. Nevertheless, the endless crab promotion proved devastating to Red Lobsters bottom line. The companys first-quarter earnings plummeted by millions, and its stock dropped by nearly three dollars a share.
Edna Morris was the Red Lobster president who oversaw the endless crab promotion. Nevertheless, she quit the company after the disastrous test run, though it’s not clear if her leaving was only because of the shellfish catastrophe.
Does Red Lobster have all you can eat crab legs?
What can I eat with snow crab legs at Red Lobster?
At Red Lobster, you can enjoy a full pound of snow crab legs prepared your way over crispy potatoes, with your choice of side. Choose between having them simply steamed or with roasted garlic butter.
Does Red Lobster have snow crab legs?
When Edna Morris was CEO of Red Lobster, the restaurant chain had a $14.99 all-you-can-eat buffet. She thought she could lure in more customers by offering an all-you-can-eat buffet for $22.99 that included snow crab legs. Her ploy to fill seats worked.
Does Red Lobster suck?
Red Lobster is the Olive Garden of seafood, which basically means it sucks. It’s pre-frozen food. But if you aren’t picky, and are ravenously hungry, you might like it. They offer a limited all-you-can-eat buffet. Some seafood is too pricey to let people gorge themselves into oblivion on. One such item is snow crab legs.
Why did Red Lobster turn red?
Red Lobster had to keep buying up crab legs at exorbitant prices. Combine this with overeating, and the monthly accounting reports began turning red. Red Lobster had made another major miscalculation: customers weren’t eating the entire crab legs they took. They were eating only the legs and not the other parts, including the body of the crab.