DAMOLA ADAMOLEKUN

On August 26th 2024,  Damola Adamolekun was appointed as the CEO of Red Lobster; he was only 35 years old. It was not the first time he was named CEO of a major food chain. At 31 years old, he was appointed as the CEO of P.F Chang.

HIS CAREER

Damola Adamolekun was born in Nigeria in 1989, to  parents who both worked in the medical field. His dad, a neurologist, and his mother, a pharmacist.

After spending many of his childhood years in Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, his parents relocated to Springfield Illinois in the US when he was 9 years old. They later settled in Columbia, Maryland;  it was there Damola attended high school and upon graduation, he admitted into an Ivy League institution- Brown University -to study  Economics and Political Science.

His love for Business actually started even before he got into Brown. He was only 16 years old, when he had his first stock portfolio, then  at Brown University, he was the President of the Brown Investment Group. He was also a member of the Ivy League Football Team.

When he graduated from Brown, Damola made his way into another Ivy League institution- Harvard Business School where he obtained his MBA. While at Harvard, he was  Portfolio Manager for Harvard Business School Investment Club.

 Damola worked at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and later worked as a Private Equity Associate at TPG Inc. He also held board positions at P.F. Chang's, Inday, NuLeaf, National Restaurant Association and International Tower Hill Mines. 

 In 2017, he joined Paulson & co; the firm which later purchased P.F. Chang. Damola suggested the idea of purchasing  P.F. Chang to the founder of the company, John Paulson. The acquisition was made in 2019, the following year, Damola ( a strategy officer) was appointed as the new CEO. The 31 year old,  was the first Black CEO of the Asian restaurant chain.

Under Adamolekun’s leadership, P.F. Chang generated  revenues of $1 billion a year—almost an impossibility because most restaurants were dealing with the challenges and constraint  of the covid pandemic.
in 2023, Damola stepped down from his position as  CEO of P.F Chang, though he remained involved in some strategic role.

RED LOBSTER
In 2024, Red Lobster closed 93 stores; the seafood chain -with over $1 billion in debt- was  headed for  bankruptcy. In June 2024, Fortress Investment acquired Red lobster and  Damola was appointed as the CEO. He was only 35 years old. He became the youngest CEO in the company's history.
Red Lobster is now working on a few ideas to make the brand more interesting and create excitement. We will be watching. 

Ademola's plan is to make  ' the changes will be incremental' and not sudden radical changes.

He said once : 'Always set high goals for yourself and never allow anyone to make you feel you do not belong.......no matter what you do, do it very well with  focus on your craft...

There’s nothing really stopping you.”