To me this is not even slightly surprising. Red Lobster used to be at the top of our list of restaurants. Then in recent years the quality of both the food and service deteriorated. One visit the food was so bad I couldn't even eat it. That was compounded by not having a server to talk to. Took our order and never returned - even had someone else bring out the order.
The thing about a restaurant is that you'll always have business if the food and service are good. You can talk about how the market changed or whatever, but no restaurant can survive at that price point while offering so little.
We had a chain BBQ restaurant in town that had a booming business for more than a decade. Then the quality of the food went downhill and they shut down, citing lack of a market. They had a market for years but there's no market for crap. Red Lobster's situation is no different.
The thing about a restaurant is that you'll always have business if the food and service are good. You can talk about how the market changed or whatever, but no restaurant can survive at that price point while offering so little.
We had a chain BBQ restaurant in town that had a booming business for more than a decade. Then the quality of the food went downhill and they shut down, citing lack of a market. They had a market for years but there's no market for crap. Red Lobster's situation is no different.