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Red Lobster names Nichole Robillard chief marketing officerRed Lobster names Nichole Robillard chief marketing officer

Most recently she was CMO of Smokey Bones

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

October 24, 2024

1 Min Read
Red Lobster exterior
A Red Lobster restaurant

Red Lobster has named Nichole Robillard its new chief marketing officer two days after it announced its new chief financial officer.

In addition to overseeing the casual-dining seafood chain’s marketing and communications teams, Robillard will also be in charge of its culinary team and will report directly to chief executive officer Damola Adamolekun.

Most recently, Robillard was CMO of Smokey Bones, where she worked for nearly four years. Prior to that, she was an independent marketing consultant.

Her LinkedIn profile also lists experience at marketing agency Team Enterprises and Zimmerman Advertising.

According to the press release announcing her appointment, she also has restaurant operations experience, having opened a farm-to-table restaurant in Washington, D.C., early in her career

"Nichole's ability to blend creative vision with operational expertise makes her the perfect leader for this role," Adamolekun said in a statement. "As we look to reconnect with longtime guests and reach new audiences, Nichole's leadership will help us remind the world what they love about Red Lobster and invite them to experience it again. I am confident that with her guidance, we will achieve these goals and strengthen our position in the industry."

Adamolekun, who was hired by RL Investor Holdings, the company led by Fortress Investment Group that bought Orlando-based Red Lobster out of bankruptcy in September, is working to rebuild the chain, now down to 545 locations after months of restructuring, following years of declining traffic and sales.

Related:Damola Adamolekun named future CEO of Red Lobster

Robillard earned a bachelor’s degree in English communication arts at Villanova University outside of Philadelphia and a masters of business administration from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

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About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
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Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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