20/12/2013 | 02:13 PM

Red Lobster may find itself on chopping block

ORLANDO, FL—Darden Restaurants Inc. announced a comprehensive plan that could see Red Lobster restaurants across the U.S. and Canada transformed into a separate business, rebranded or sold off.

While Darden is open to offers of sale for Red Lobster, it is expected the seafood chain will become a separate company within the year.

“As a stand-alone company, we will be free to focus in a more single-minded manner on the many current and prospective guests who find what Red Lobster brings to the marketplace highly relevant,” Kim Lopdrup, Darden’s president of specialty restaurant group and new business, said in a release.

Lopdrup—who served as president of Red Lobster from 2004 to 2011—will become its chief executive officer following the separation.

The 705 Red Lobster restaurants across Canada and the U.S. saw annual sales of approximately $2.6 billion in 2013.

The plan will also reduce expansion plans for Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse.