what happened was a hedge fund bought Red Lobster and as a condition of the sale, they made therm split up their land and their restaurants.
Because up until that point, Red Lobster actually owned all of the land that their restaurants were located on.
And then once they made them split that up, the hedge funds made the leases on that land so expensive that the Red Lobsters couldn't possibly continue to operate.
Wickedpedia says:
"Golden Gate Capital was Red Lobster's parent company after it was acquired from Darden Restaurants on July 28, 2014."
It also says:
"Golden Gate Capital is an American private equity firm based in San Francisco. The firm makes investments in a number of select industries, including technology, financial services, retail and industrial, through leveraged buyout transactions, as well as significant minority purchases and growth capital investments. As of April 2018, it had over $15 billion in assets under management. ... On July 28, 2014, Golden Gate completed the purchase of Red Lobster from Darden Restaurants, for $2.1 billion."
I can't independently verify if what he says is true about the restaurant-vs-land thing is true, but it would not surprise me.
In 2011, it acquired California Pizza Kitchen.[10] The company declared bankruptcy in July 2020,
I used to love CPK when I lived in the west coast, and I did notice a decline in their quality compared to in early 2000s vs 2015. Sad to see even that one has gone bankrupt.
Wickedpedia says:
It also says:
I can't independently verify if what he says is true about the restaurant-vs-land thing is true, but it would not surprise me.
Oh, interesting about Golden Gate Capital:
I used to love CPK when I lived in the west coast, and I did notice a decline in their quality compared to in early 2000s vs 2015. Sad to see even that one has gone bankrupt.