Popular US seafood restaurant Red Lobster to open in Hong Kong

Beyoncé sang about it, Nicki Minaj worked there, and now Red Lobster is coming to Hong Kong

The restaurant promises high-quality, sustainably harvested food at a reasonable price. ‘People don’t need another fine-dining restaurant,’ says man behind it

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A branch of US chain Red Lobster is opening in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Above: T-bone steak with grilled lobster tail and grilled shrimp. Photo: Red Lobster

Published: 12:35pm, 15 Nov 2019Updated: 1:02pm, 15 Nov 2019

Despite five months of growing anti-government protests in Hong Kong, which have reduced spending in the city’s bars and restaurants, entrepreneurs are still taking the plunge and opening new places.

One of them is David Martin, whose company will open a branch of Red Lobster, a well-known American seafood restaurant, in Causeway Bay’s Fashion Walk late this month or in early December. It will offer dishes including fresh lobster, popcorn shrimp, clam chowder, surf & turf, and Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

Martin, chief operating officer and co-founder of FWM Restaurants Group, says he is excited to be bringing to Hong Kong “quality seafood at affordable prices”. By affordable, he means a 450-gram (1lb) live lobster for HK$298.

The first Red Lobster opened 51 years ago in Lakeland, Florida, but Martin says the brand continues to be popular with millennials, thanks to celebrities such as Beyoncé, who mentions the restaurant in the lyrics to her song Formation, and rapper Nicki Minaj, who told US television talk show host Jimmy Kimmel she was once a waitress at Red Lobster.

An artist’s impression of the exterior of Red Lobster, opening in Causeway Bay. Photo: Red Lobster

Martin is familiar with the Hong Kong market, having operated Morton’s the Steakhouse and The Butchers Club, and has also opened Red Lobster in Shanghai’s IFC Mall and in Sanlitun in Beijing.