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On the age of 35, Damola Adamolekun He’s the youngest CEO of seafood chain Purple Lobster. Born in Nigeria and raised in Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, Purple Lobster moved to Springfield, Illinois when he was 9 and was one of many first chain eating places he visited after arriving in the US. It rapidly grew to become his household’s favourite eating spot.
It was at Purple Lobster in Springfield that Damora and his household—his mother and father, a neurologist and pharmacist, and two siblings—skilled cracking open crab legs for the primary time and the enjoyment of tasting lobster.
Purple Lobster has confronted a sequence of challenges in recent times, particularly after launching its common “Final Limitless Shrimp” promotion. For simply $20, visitors may get pleasure from limitless shrimp, which proved common but additionally got here with an enormous monetary affect. The corporate misplaced $11 million within the first quarter alone.
In an interview with CNN, Damora mirrored on the transfer, saying, “It is a very costly product that must be given away endlessly.” Whereas the deal elevated foot visitors, it additionally led to operational chaos, It resulted within the closure of greater than 100 eating places and hundreds of layoffs. By early 2024, the corporate had filed for chapter. “You place stress on the kitchen. You place stress on the servers. You place stress on the hosts. Individuals cannot discover their seats,” Damora defined, revealing the pressure the deal has placed on operations. .
Regardless of these challenges, Purple Lobster just lately emerged from chapter underneath new possession, and Damora took over as CEO in August with bold plans for the chain’s revival. He plans to make “incremental modifications” that won’t solely restore it to its former glory but additionally appeal to a youthful, extra numerous buyer base. A “model refresh” is underway, aiming to revamp the restaurant’s structure, decor, lighting, music and even waiter uniforms. The purpose is to boost the eating expertise with out alienating Purple Lobster’s loyal traditionalists.
When requested about his age and the way it impacts his management, Damora was unfazed. “I have been in positions of authority for a very long time. My 35 could also be totally different from different folks’s 35, however these are simply numbers. It is about your expertise, who you might be as an individual, your character traits, your integrity, Your intelligence, your skill to speak – quite a lot of issues fluctuate from individual to individual, age is only one of them.
Damola’s journey to the highest didn’t occur in a single day. After receiving his MBA from Harvard Enterprise College in 2017, he joined Paulson & Co., a famend funding agency based by a billionaire. John Paulson. It was there that he noticed the potential to broaden PF Chang’s small supply enterprise. After Paulson & Firm acquired a controlling stake in PF Chang’s in 2019, Damora joined the restaurant’s board of administrators and have become its CEO in the course of the 2020 pandemic.
Watch his interview with CNN under:
