North Dakota Just Abruptly Lost A Red Lobster Restaurant

According to CNN Business, the casual dining restaurant chain Red Lobster just abruptly closed 48 restaurants across the country.

I remember growing up in Grand Forks, North Dakota how popular our Red Lobster restaurant was.  It was one of the few places where you had to make a reservation if you wanted to get a table right away.  Otherwise, you might be waiting for a long time.

Red Lobster was also a bit on the spendy side (from a college kid's perspective), so if you brought a date to this restaurant, it was because you knew the relationship was long-term.

The article says Red Lobster has around 650 locations around the country.

Red Lobster is reportedly considering filing for Bankruptcy protection.  This is also one of the only times in Red Lobster's more than 50-year history the chain has closed dozens of stores at once.

Casual dining, in general, has been trending downward for a while.  According to the article, it's down from 36% of total restaurant industry sales in 2013 to 31% in 2023.

Now, it appears we have lost at least one Red Lobster restaurant in North Dakota.

According to iNewZ.TV, the Red Lobster that I grew up with in Grand Forks, which is located on 32nd Avenue South has suddenly closed its doors for good.  The article explained that the Manager said on social media this was a complete shock to the staff and nobody knew this was coming.

I reached out to the Red Lobster in Bismarck to see if they would be affected by this round of closures.

The manager I spoke to assured me the Bismarck Red Lobster is not closing and everything is going good with their location.  I was happy to hear this.  Bring on the shrimp!