The Beyoncé Effect: Red Lobster Watches as Sales Rise by 33% Thanks to “Formation”

There’s a pretty saucy lyric in Beyoncé’s latest song, “Formation,” where she says that after she, uh… enjoys some physical activity with her man, she takes his ass to Red Lobster. The internet being the internet, once people heard this lyric, memes started popping up everywhere, often revolving around “earning that Red Lobster” dinner. This, in turn, helped Red Lobster see a sales spike of up to 33% in the past few days. Yeah, folks. That’s the Beyoncé effect at work.

This lyric made some folks face some pretty startling realizations. Take R&B star John Legend for example:

When you realize your dad took your mom to red lobster every week pic.twitter.com/Re7PPLmbvI

— John Legend (@johnlegend) February 6, 2016

Oh, and check out Chrissy Teigan’s supportive reply that totally reminds us of what we’d tweet to our friends when they make a good joke:

@johnlegend this is a good tweet

— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) February 6, 2016

You know, that one really romantic holiday is coming up. Will you be checking out your Red Lobster? You think it might look a little like this?

This is how Red Lobster is going to look on Valentine’s Day. pic.twitter.com/sofVPXAGTg

— Nigel Int’l D. (@Nigel_D) February 6, 2016

Not even Kanye and Kim are safe from the internet and its premium Red Lobster memes.

Kanye: How come we never go to Red Lobster?

Kim: #Formation #RedLobster pic.twitter.com/nN9pL4jyq7

— . (@pettyyonceh) February 7, 2016

In addition to its sales boon, Red Lobster also earned the ire of much of the internet in their less-than-desired social media response to the sudden internet fame. They came out with a ridiculous pun that honestly fell a little flat.

“Cheddar Bey Biscuits” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? #Formation @Beyonce pic.twitter.com/QzgVtYAKNo

— Red Lobster (@redlobster) February 7, 2016

@redlobster yall had hours and this is what yall come up with? pic.twitter.com/DY2jO6y9Ti

— E. (@ErykahTbh) February 7, 2016

To be fair, Red Lobster probably doesn’t have the same crack social media team as Doritos, Cheetos, Denny’s, or Sonic the Hedgehog (seriously that Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter though). They’ve been struggling through some financial woes, so it’s likely that they just don’t have the same amount of time to focus on collecting dank internet memes like all the other blogs have.

Still, enjoy the sales bump, Red Lobster. Hook it up with some Cheddar Bey Bae Bay Biscuits next time, eh?

(via NY Times)

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