Red Lobster

The initial target market before 2004 was the mainstream American customer base. Red Lobster wanted to bring affordable seafood to the general public. They wanted to target Americans who could not afford to dine out all the time, and wanted to offer them a seafood dinner that they could afford. In 1963 Darden became aware that mainstream Americans, and especially non-coastal regions, ate very little seafood, so he wanted to target those people. Red Lobster’s positioning was to offer top quality seafood that was still affordable to the mainstream American customer base.

Darden did his own part to make sure he delivered top quality seafood at a low price. When they opened the first store in 1968 he worked in the kitchen to make sure the food got out and was fresh. The restaurant took off so fast he was forced to open more and more restaurants. Red Lobster became the first restaurant to develop the first national seafood distribution system. They were also the first to advertise on network television and the first to use computerized point of sale system. Darden created something great, but over the years it was evident that there were some changes that needed to be made, because their annual revenue was decreasing.

In 2004, when Lopdrup became president of Red Lobster, the company’s image had taken a hit. With the competition in the seafood category growing and Red Lobster not changing much over the years, it was time for them to react. Consumers have seen the seafood market divide into two groups: high end, top quality seafood, and low end frozen seafood. Red Lobster had become known for having low end, frozen seafood. When Lopdrup heard this news he wanted to do something to get the company image back. He wanted to still target mainstream America and provide them with affordable high quality seafood. He wanted to focus his main positioning on serving “fresh” and “wood fire grilled” products. People are becoming more heath conscious, and “wood fire grilling” is...