Report: Jefferson City’s Red Lobster to close permanently

A published report confirms what Jefferson City’s mayor told us on 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” in April: the Red Lobster in the Capital City will be closing. The “Kansas City Business Journal” reports two Kansas City-area Red Lobster restaurants will also close.

The Red Lobster on Jefferson City’s Country Club drive has been closed since a late September fire that damaged a utility room and caused smoke damage throughout the entire building. That Red Lobster used to be packed every time Jefferson City’s 14,000 state employees were paid, with people waiting at times for an hour for a table and sitting at benches outside the restaurant, facing Capital Mall.

“My understanding is there’s probably a very remote opportunity for that business to come back in. I agree with you: when I would drive by there, the parking lot seemed like it was always full: the peak times, lunch time. And Sundays it was very busy. I don’t know what happened to the business, but I would not anticipate that it’s coming back. But we’ve not heard anything on it for quite some time now,” Mayor Fitzwater told “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” listeners in April.

Jefferson City firefighters have described the September 26 fire as accidental in nature.