Red Lobster's Endless Shrimp is back, but customers aren't taking the bait

• Red Lobster once blamed its blockbuster Endless Shrimp deal for its downfall.
• Now the all-you-can-eat promo is back — but the vibe is different.
• Some customers worry the value isn't the same, and the deal isn't driving the traffic it once did.

Endless Shrimp is back — but it's not exactly causing a stampede.

On a recent evening at a Red Lobster in Los Angeles, a steady stream of diners ordered the all-you-can-eat deal, and the restaurant was busier than usual. However, large sections of the dining room sat empty, and the pace never tipped into the chaos that servers remember from past runs of the promotion.

"It's been popular," one server said, "but not as popular as I would have thought."

That's a notable shift for a deal that once defined the brand — and, at times, overwhelmed it.

Red Lobster has brought back Endless Shrimp for a limited run, six weeks in Los Angeles, servers said, reviving a promotion it once said it couldn't afford to keep. CEO Damola Adamolekun told Business Insider last year that he had "no plans" to bring it back, after the company cited the deal as a key factor in its 2024 bankruptcy.

Now, at a time when the business could use a boost, Red Lobster says it's reviving Endless Shrimp in response to customer demand.

New data suggests a more muted comeback.

Foot-traffic data from Advan shows Red Lobster saw a clear surge in visits during a 2023 Endless Shrimp push, when it first made the promotion a permanent menu fixture. That bump wasn't seen in 2024 or 2025, after it was removed from menus, and hasn't been as significant this time around. Advan's data shows that foot traffic the week of the latest Endless Shrimp launch was down 0.9%, well below the prior surge and a dip compared to positive trends in March.

More recently, traffic has been uneven, according to analysis by Placer.ai. After seeing a five-month surge last summer, when Adamolekun launched the chain's viral seafood boils, visits have been down year over year since November 2025. Placer did not have data available regarding the performance of the Endless Shrimp relaunch at the time of publication.

The chain's 2026 performance has been affected by "unfavorable weather, rising gas prices, and broader macroeconomic concerns," Placer's head of analytical research, R.J. Hottovy, said. He added that the shrimp promotion "should resonate with value-conscious consumers," but it's arriving in a softer, less predictable environment.

Casual dining chains like Red Lobster are trying to win back customers in a tougher environment than they faced a decade ago. The industry is navigating a K-shaped economy, in which higher-income diners are still spending, but middle- and lower-income consumers — long the backbone of chains like Red Lobster — are pulling back or trading down.

That's put pressure on legacy brands with higher price points, especially as competitors like Chili's lean into value deals and aggressively market cheaper options. For Red Lobster, which typically charges more than many casual-dining peers, that dynamic makes it harder to convince diners they're getting a deal — even with an "endless" one on the menu.

Two former Red Lobster executives told Business Insider that Endless Shrimp worked best as a tightly controlled, seasonal promotion — something rare enough to feel like an event and strategically timed to fill slower periods.

Over time, they said, the company leaned on it more heavily to drive traffic, eroding the sense of urgency that once made it so effective.

"It lost its appeal," one former executive said.

That shift shows up not just in the data, but in the dining room.

Some customers are showing up for Endless Shrimp. One Los Angeles diner, Jeffrey Turney, told Business Insider he visits Red Lobster every couple of months when promotions are running and was "excited for the return" of the bottomless deal, enthusiastically texting friends about it as he waited for his meal.

After dinner, he told Business Insider that overall the meal was "pretty good," but he "really disliked" the new Marry Me Shrimp, a social-media-driven flavor launched last week.

About a third of the diners at the Los Angeles location had purchased the deal during a recent dinner service, a server told Business Insider.

Most skipped the bottomless shrimp, with some opting for different deals — like the $30 steak and lobster Wednesday night special, which carries the same price tag as the Endless Shrimp promotion in the Los Angeles market.

"I love that they brought it back," said Destiny Howard, a social media creator and Red Lobster fan who runs the account "Munch with Des," adding that the move shows the company is "listening to their customers." She framed the appeal in terms of responsiveness and novelty, not necessarily value.

For some diners, the math doesn't add up. With restaurants charging between $24.99 and $29.99 for unlimited servings of five dishes, depending on location, some felt it wasn't a particularly good bargain — especially compared with other menu options at the same price point.

"I wasn't too happy with the raise in price," Turney said. "For $30, I think you should get at least two sides," he added, but noted that groceries and dining out have gotten more expensive across the board.

That perception lines up with broader industry pressures: Seafood costs have risen, and casual dining chains are increasingly competing on value with both fast-food and fast-casual brands.

Endless Shrimp was never just about cheap seafood. It was about drawing people in during slow months, ideally to order something with a higher margin, the former executives told Business Insider.

These days, while the promotion is bringing some diners through the door, it's not clear whether it's delivering the same kind of lift. For Red Lobster, that may be beside the point.

The chain is running Endless Shrimp at the tail end of its fiscal year and during a typically slower stretch, a window when a modest bump in traffic can matter.

As one former executive put it, the promotion can still work as a lever to "drive business quickly," even if it no longer carries the same magic.

For customers like Turney, the comeback doesn't quite hit as it used to. He said he wouldn't be back again for Endless Shrimp — but he'd be willing to give something else a go.