The Darden Restaurants company has sold the “underperforming” Red Lobster chain for $2.1 billion to a private-equity firm, reports say.
There are around 700 Red Lobster restaurants, which means that Golden Gate Capital is giving Darden about $3 million for each location. Of course, a money-for-restaurants transaction is not literally what’s happening, because there is presumably a lot of value in the widely-recognized Red Lobster brand itself.
Golden Gate is expected to try to jump-start the chain’s fortunes by reviving its wildly successful 1970s advertising slogan “It’s Time to Shovel Some Buttered Seafood Into Your Face-Hole.” *
* Sentence is completely false.