Springfield’s only Red Lobster restaurant will soon be closing.
An employee confirmed to Springfield Business Journal that the restaurant at 2696 S. Dirksen Parkway would be shutting down. The employee said Sunday was scheduled to be the Red Lobster’s last day in business but that it could potentially close even sooner.
The Springfield restaurant is among the latest closures for the Orlando, Florida.-based seafood restaurant chain. Red Lobster closed more than 100 restaurants during its 2024 Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the company’s chief executive, Damola Adamolekun, told the Wall Street Journal in February that more closures could be coming as the brand continues to implement a post-bankruptcy turnaround plan.
In recent months, the chain has closed restaurants in states ranging from Pennsylvania to Michigan to Texas, and in May it closed what was reportedly its longest continuously operating location in Tallahassee, Florida.
The Springfield restaurant has operated at the same location since 1972 and was one of the earliest franchises for the company founded in 1968. And its current CEO first experienced Red Lobster when he ate at the Springfield restaurant. Adamolekun’s family immigrated from Nigeria to Springfield in the 1990s when his neurosurgeon father took a job here.
Red Lobster has 20 restaurants in Illinois, according to its website. With the closing of the Dirksen Parkway restaurant, the closest Red Lobster to Springfield will be in Forsyth.
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