Red Lobster...The Beginning

By Charley Woodsby and Dan Drayer

NOTE:  THE PAPERBACK IS BLACK AND WHITE AND THE HARDCOVER IS COFFEE TABLE SIZE AND IN COLOR.

In this insider’s look at the genesis of the locally grown, nationally known phenomenon that is Red Lobster, you’ll find that the quality of Charley Woodsby’s recipes is matched only by the integrity and inspiring story of th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wildercliff Publishing
• Release date: May 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9780998536927

Book preview

Text © 2018 Charles E. Woodsby

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-9985369-0-3

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9985369-1-0

Ebook ISBN: 978-0-9985369-2-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018902501

The Red Lobster logo is a trademark of

Red Lobster Hospitality LLC, and is used with permission.

In memory of my first soul mate, Jean.

Thank you for fifty-four wonderful years.

To my second soul mate, my wife, MaryLou.

Thank you for your endless support during the writing of this book.

To God, I give the glory for all my success.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him,

and He shall direct thy paths.

—PROVERBS 3:6 (KJV)

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Running this business isn’t about me. It is about all the great people who helped to grow the business and make it successful—remarkable people like Bill Darden, Wally Buckley, Joe Lee, Mack Miller, Jim Doherty, Bonnie Lynch, and the many others who contributed to the success of Red Lobster in the early days. In the later years, my own children benefited from this journey I started so long ago, as well as my grandchildren.

I want to acknowledge my son, Ron, for taking over all aspects of the restaurants’ operations, which allowed me the freedom to semiretire. His keen vision and creativity have led to the success of the Talk of the Town restaurants.

I want to acknowledge Dennis Darmoc, CFO, and Jackie Hampton, office manager, who have both been with us through the ups and downs for over thirty years, along with countless other employees who have worked so tirelessly to make Talk of the Town everything it is expected to be.

I also want to thank MaryLou (my wife), Juli Drayer, Sherri Darmoc, and Brittanie Olavarria for their countless hours editing this book.

I would like to recognize the next generation of the Talk of the Town Restaurant Group: Clark Woodsby (my grandson), Seth Miller, and Paul Darmoc. I wish them luck as they assist Ron and take the company I am so proud of into the future.

Lastly, grateful appreciation is given to Chef Dan Drayer. It was Chef Dan who came to me with the idea of writing a book about my life in the restaurant business and the actual history of Red Lobster. His inspiration has allowed me to tell my story and share it with the world, especially with the hardworking restaurant employees everywhere who might have a dream and the passion to excel.

1

1931

RECIPE FOR LIFE

I thank God every day that I was born in America, the land of opportunity.

The citizens of Spartanburg, South Carolina, prided themselves on their southern hospitality. Even in the midst of the Great Depression in 1931, families gathered around their dinner tables every evening for supper. Guests were always welcome, even if the fare was simple.

Times were tough in 1931, but you could take in a Saturday matinee at the Montgomery Theatre downtown for twenty-five cents. Dracula, a 1931 American horror film starring Bela Lugosi as the title character, was scaring audiences in Spartanburg and across the nation. The Public Enemy was released that same year and launched James Cagney to stardom. The Montgomery was packed as audiences sat riveted by the urban crime drama of a young man’s rise in the criminal underworld in Prohibition-era America. The movie also featured the beautiful young actress Jean Harlow.

Citizens of Spartanburg could follow the news by reading the Spartanburg Herald in the morning and the Spartanburg Journal in the evening. On May 31, they would have read that, with the press of a ceremonial button in Washington, DC, President Herbert Hoover turned on the lights of the Empire State Building, located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street in New York City. This event officially opened the world’s tallest building. Unfortunately, as a result of the Depression, much of the office space in the building’s 102 stories remained empty.

On that same day, the headlines reported that the Yangtze River in China peaked during a flood that killed 3.7 million people directly and indirectly over the next several months. The 1931 central China floods were a series of floods that occurred during the Nanjing decade of the Republic of China era. Collectively, these floods are considered the worst natural disaster of the twentieth century and perhaps the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded.

The men of Spartanburg would have followed the 1931 World Series, with the Saint Louis Cardinals beating the Philadelphia Athletics in seven games, a rematch and reversal of fortunes from the 1930 World Series. The spitball pitch was banned by Major League Baseball in 1920, but those who were grandfathered in were permitted to keep it in their arsenals. One of those pitching who still wet his pill was Burleigh Grimes, who had two starts, two wins, and seven innings of no-hit pitching in game three.

On June 16, 1931, the Spartanburg Herald and Journal readers learned that Al Capone had pled guilty to tax evasion and Prohibition charges; he boasted to the press that he had struck a deal for a two-and-a-half-year sentence. But the presiding judge informed him that he, the judge, was not bound by any deal, so Capone changed his plea to not guilty. On October 18, 1931, Capone was convicted after trial and, on November 24, sentenced to eleven years in federal prison.

The fourth Academy Awards ceremony was held on Tuesday, November 10, 1931, at the Sala d’Oro of the Biltmore Hotel. The next morning in Spartanburg, the Herald reported that US vice president Charles Curtis attended the banquet and was one of the event’s several speakers. Trying to stay up a little too late, ten-year-old Jackie Cooper, nominated for Best Actor, fell asleep during the ceremony.

In 1931, construction began on the Hoover Dam, standing today as a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River on the border of Arizona and Nevada. Its construction, continuing until 1936, entailed a massive effort involving thousands of workers and costing over a hundred lives. President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the dam on September 30, 1935. In its planning stages, it was known as Boulder Dam. The Herbert Hoover administration changed the name to Hoover Dam in 1930 as a political move, but in 1933, the Roosevelt administration changed it back to Boulder Dam. Then, under Harry Truman, the name of Hoover Dam was restored, and the name became permanent.

The