Red Lobster owner said he would never eat lobster again

• Thai Union CEO Thiraphong Chansiri wants nothing more to do with lobsters.
• His company took a majority stake in Red Lobster in 2020, which filed for bankruptcy in May.
• “Other people are stopping eating beef. I’m going to stop eating lobster,” Chansiri said in February.

Thai Union CEO Thiraphong Chansiri, 58, might once have been a staunch supporter of the Red Lobster seafood chain.

But owning Red Lobster left such a “big scar” on Chansiri that he told investors in February he was giving up lobsters forever.

“Other people are stopping eating beef. I’m going to stop eating lobster,” Chansiri said during a conference call about the results — a possible reference to how some followers of Buddhism prefer not to consume beef and other meat products.

On May 19, Red Lobster said in a statement that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after suffering significant operating losses in 2023. Red Lobster said its restaurants “will remain open and operate as usual during the Chapter 11 process.”

Chansiri, a Thai business executive, may have studied business administration in the United States, but an ancient Chinese practice known as feng shui also appears to have had considerable influence on the way he ran Red Lobster .

Feng shui, which means “wind” and “water” in Chinese, aims to achieve harmony between an environment and its inhabitants.

Former Red Lobster executives told CNN in an article published Saturday that Chansiri consulted a feng shui consultant named Angel when he visited their headquarters in 2022.

Chansiri decided to leave Red Lobster’s executive offices empty after Angel said the rooms had poor feng shui, CNN reported, citing a former Red Lobster executive.

Thai Union did not respond to questions raised by CNN regarding the allegations raised in their article. Representatives for Thai Union did not immediately respond to a BI request for comment sent outside normal business hours.

Much speculation has swirled around why Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy. For one thing, the seafood chain’s unfortunate decision to make its “Endless Shrimp” deal a daily promotion backfired, leaving it with operating losses of $11 million and $12.5 million dollars in the third and fourth quarters of 2023 respectively.

But Red Lobster’s fall also highlighted the damage private equity firms can inflict on their portfolio companies.

In 2014, longtime Red Lobster owner Darden Restaurants sold the company to Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion. The investment company financed the purchase by selling Red Lobster’s real estate. Red Lobster’s operating costs increased because the company now had to rent its restaurants.

Then, in 2020, Thai Union took the majority stake in Red Lobster after Golden Gate Capital sold its remaining stake to them.

But the change in ownership has brought little relief to Red Lobster. The company has experienced frequent turnover within its management ranks.

In fact, the company just brought on its latest CEO. Turnaround expert Jonathan Tibus was named CEO in March, making him Red Lobster’s third CEO since 2021.

Last week, Tibus questioned Thai Union’s “inordinate influence” over Red Lobster’s shrimp purchases. In addition to ownership, Thai Union is also Red Lobster’s primary seafood supplier.

Tibus accused Red Lobster’s then-interim CEO Paul Kenny of straining Red Lobster’s supply chain when he fired two shrimp suppliers “in apparent coordination with Thai Union.”

A Thai union spokesperson previously told BI’s Meghan Morris that Tibus’ allegations were “baseless.”

“Thai Union has been a supplier to Red Lobster for over 30 years and we intend to continue that relationship,” the company said.