Red Lobster diners may be eating shrimp or tilapia beside a bustling South Florida highway, but the restaurant chain's executives want you to imagine you're relaxing along the scenic New England coast.
Red Lobster on Friday finished renovating its eatery on University Drive in Plantation, the last in South Florida to be revamped under the company's rebranding initiative, which includes new menu items and pricing, and an updated logo.
The upgraded restaurants now feature a Down East theme — think the trendy town of Bar Harbor, Maine — with an exterior reflecting New England architecture and ship lanterns lighting the way to the entrance. Inside, there are images of Maine lighthouses and harbors, and nautical flags.
Red Lobster's previous look resembled a coastal home, Chip Wade, executive vice president of operations for Red Lobster, said Friday.
"We want to delight more guests and give them a compelling reason to use Red Lobster on a more frequent occasion," Wade said.
Casual dining restaurants like Red Lobster are updating their interiors more frequently "not because they're wearing out faster, but because customers' preferences are changing and evolving more quickly," said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic, a food industry research and consulting firm based in Chicago.
They also have to broaden their appeal to attract not just baby boomers — their loyal customers — but other age groups, especially a younger generation of spenders, he said.
"They have to be relevant and contemporary," Tristano said.
Red Lobster ranks among the top four casual dining chains across the country, according to Technomic. Last year, posted and estimated $2.64 billion in sales, according to Technomic's estimates. That compared with Applebee's $4.5 billion, Chile's $3.7 billion, Olive Garden, $3.63 billion. Red Lobster and Olive Garden are operated by Orlando-based Darden Restaurants Inc.
Casual dining restaurants are also revamping their sites to keep pace with the rapidly growing fast casual sector led by Panera Bread, Chipotle and other chains, experts said.
But there are customers, like 90-year-old Eliza Bickers, who will continue to patronize casual dining chains, despite rising competition. Bickers has been a loyal customer of a Red Lobster in Fort Lauderdale for 40 years, she said after finishing her meal on Thursday.
"I'll keep coming here no matter how it looks," the Pompano Beach resident said. "I can't find one better than this."
