Red Lobster had a rough time last year, making headlines after it filed for bankruptcy, partly blaming it on a poorly conceived deal to sell endless shrimp. It happens to the best of us. Naturally, the seafood fast-food chain was looking for a new CEO.
Damola Adamolekun, 35, has been handpicked for the tough job of turning around Red Lobster. Adamolekun, former CEO of Asian fusion chain PF Chang’s, already has some experience as a young executive whiz kid. He certainly didn’t get to where he is now by pretending to be relaxed, as he put it Fortune in 2023. His career mentality revolves around one thing.
“My life is my work. My work is my life,” he said. Adamolekun described his days as starting with a seven- to eight-mile run around 4:30 a.m. and ending around 6 p.m. with an after-work cigar after a long day of meetings.
At 33, Adamolekun had already made history as one of the few black CEOs to lead a major American company and the first to lead PF Chang. Having joined the company two years earlier, he had admitted Fortune that he had a lot to do when he started.
“I grew up next to a PF Chang’s in Columbia, Maryland. I knew the company from the beginning. It has about 85% brand awareness, and it’s a small company. What piqued my interest was the company itself. It was poorly run and had a lot of room for improvement,” he said.
In turn, he “remodeled about 80% of the fleet, introducing more colorful decor, ambiance and music.” Adamolekun, a millennial, also brought the company into the digital age, paying special attention to digital tools for takeout, restaurants offering to-go orders and a subscription model.
His stints in the fast-casual sector are framed by the world of finance, as after about three years at PF Chang, Adamolekun returned to investment firm Paulson & Co. Inc in August 2023. After previous stints at Goldman Sachs and TPG Capital, Adamolekun described a past where he “worked all the time,” although he said he enjoyed it.
“I thought it was fun. So I didn’t have to go on a Saturday,” Adamolekun said, embracing the work-as-a-task mentality associated in part with millennials. “It was like, I have stuff to do and I want to finish it, or I want to watch something.”
For Adamolekun, work and no play makes Jack a dull guy, but it doesn’t really. “I’ve never really been a work-life person,” he says. “It gets mixed up.” He acknowledges, though, that this isn’t the case for everyone, and that those stressed by a lack of work-life balance should take breaks. Or, in the case of his former employees, they should “build in some wiggle room” and take Tuesdays or Wednesdays off, when restaurants are less crowded.
Perhaps it’s for the best that Adamolekun is a self-proclaimed go-getter, given that he has his work cut out for him.
Red Lobster is expected to be owned by Fortress Investment Group and co-investors TCW Private Credit and Blue Torch after it emerges from Chapter 11. Fortress, which appointed Adamolekun, will hear whether its plan is approved at Red Lobster’s bankruptcy court date in early September.
Although Adamolekun is not likely to get stage fright before the first day. As he once said Fortune“Work doesn’t stress him out.”
