Red Lobster, which brought affordable shrimp and lobster to middle-class America and grew to become the largest seafood restaurant chain in the world, has filed for bankruptcy.
A private equity firm bought the chain ten years ago from Darden Restaurants, which owns rivals Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse. The firm, Golden Gate Capital, funded the deal partly by selling Red Lobster's real estate.
That meant the chain had to start paying rent. That's now a major financial factor in Red Lobster's bankruptcy filing, which asks the court to reject 108 leases, letting the company abandon those locations.
"What happened? It must have been the endless shrimp!"
Meanwhile