Red Lobster will shut its 36-year-old Tallahassee location at 2583 North Monroe St. on May 24, a closing that marks the end of the chain’s oldest continuously operating restaurant—just as the seafood chain continues restructuring after its May 2024 Chapter 11
By May 18, the end was already on the horizon for locals in Tallahassee who have watched Red Lobster’s oldest continuously operating restaurant become part of their routine.
The store at 2583 North Monroe St. will close its doors on May 24, the store’s manager and employees confirmed to the Tallahassee Democrat. The closing lands in the middle of a broader effort by the company to restructure after its May 2024 Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Tallahassee restaurant is about 250 miles from Red Lobster’s first-ever location in Lakeland. Florida. and it opened with pomp and fanfare in 1970. The Tallahassee Democrat described it as the chain’s oldest continuously operating restaurant. For residents, the shutdown is being framed as the end of an era.
When the restaurant first opened, Red Lobster was selling “family priced seafood” in an atmosphere designed to feel “at home,” the Democrat reported. An ad from the original opening featured baby shrimp, crabmeat and baked oysters for $1.85 each, while steak and lobster were priced around $3.55.
This latest closure comes even after the chain tried to steady the ship with a post-bankruptcy revival that helped some locations avoid the deeper cuts. Red Lobster filed for Chapter 11 in May 2024. and during the mass store closures that followed. the company impacted 130 stores—including 17 in Florida. The Tallahassee location was among those that “escaped” that wave.
It even hosted a grand “re-opening” with new menus emphasizing “wild caught” seafood flavors in October 2024. But the timing of this shutdown suggests that the restructuring pressure didn’t stop at the first round.
Red Lobster did not immediately respond to a request for more information about why the location is closing. The Tallahassee Democrat reported the store is shutting as part of the company’s ongoing restructuring.
That kind of restraint is consistent with what the chain’s leadership has described publicly. Damola Adamolekun. who became CEO in August 2024. told The Wall Street Journal in February that the company might need to close more locations to support a successful post-bankruptcy emergence. When he spoke with the paper. he said sales have increased by about 10% from last year. and that younger customers are exploring the chain.
Adamolekun has also discussed the comeback effort on The Breakfast Club podcast in March 2025, describing three moves that kicked off Red Lobster’s efforts to return.
On the corporate footprint, Red Lobster lists about 460 locations in 44 states on its website—about 20 fewer than the number reported in February when Adamolekun spoke with The Wall Street Journal.
The chain’s troubles go back years. Red Lobster posted a $76 million net loss in 2023. That year, it made the Endless Shrimp offer a $20 permanent menu item, after previously offering it for a limited time.
The bankruptcy filing pointed to a mix of pressures. including significant debt. management changes. high inflation and rent expenses. and a decline in customers. The “endless shrimp” promotion also became a central problem: then-CEO Jonathan Tibus said in the bankruptcy filing that the promotion contributed to $11 million of the 2023 net loss.
When Adamolekun became CEO, he removed the Endless Shrimp menu item to relieve stress on restaurant kitchens. Still, fans didn’t have to wait long for it to return. A limited-time comeback for Endless Shrimp began April 21 for dine-in only at participating locations in the United States and Canada. and Red Lobster did not specify when the promotion would end.
In the middle of all those operational shifts—reopenings, promotions, and CEO-led menu changes—one restaurant in Tallahassee is now slated to close its doors.
The Tallahassee closing is scheduled for May 24. By then, the chain’s oldest continuously operating restaurant—opened in 1970 and located 250 miles from its first-ever Lakeland site—will become part of local history as Red Lobster continues to reshape itself in the wake of bankruptcy.
Red Lobster Tallahassee Chapter 11 restructuring Damola Adamolekun Endless Shrimp Florida restaurants restaurant closures 2583 North Monroe St May 24 2026