REVEALED: Full list of Red Lobster restaurant closures as popular chain considers bankruptcy - find out if YOUR favorite is affected

The full list of Red Lobster locations that were closed overnight has been revealed. 

The 48 shuttered restaurants will have their contents, including kitchen equipment and furniture, auctioned off on Thursday. 

Closures were announced across 21 states on Monday night, effective immediately. 

Florida and California have seen the most closures, followed by Colorado and Maryland. 

All auctions will take place online on Thursday beginning at 10:30am, EST. 

Closures were announced across 21 states on Monday night - effective immediately. This map shows how they are spread across America. Scroll down for the full list the town or city

The chain, which started as a single restaurant in Lakeland, Florida , in 1968 has around 650 locations across almost all states with its menu offering variations of shrimp-infused items  

The auctions will be run by Restaurant Equipment Bid. They specialize in selling off gear from restaurants that close down and need to liquidate quickly.

Red Lobster items available vary by location but include the likes of high-performance ovens, upright refrigerators and freezers, cooking and warming gear, as well as 'comprehensive bar and dining setups', according to the auction site. 

No fresh food or alcohol will be up for sale in the auctions. And the contents of each restaurant will be sold as a job lot  - meaning Red Lobser fans cannot pick up individual items. 

Red Lobster did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment on the closures. 

The struggling chain is eyeing up a possible Chapter 11 filing to restructure its debt, allowing it to discard long-term contracts and renegotiate new leases. 

The abrupt closures come after the company last year reported record losses of $11 million, which its CFO partly blamed on its unlimited shrimp deal.

The chain, which started as a single restaurant in Lakeland, Florida, in 1968 has around 650 locations across almost all states. It's famous for its cheese-flavored biscuits.

News of the bankruptcy was first reported by Bloomberg, which said the restaurant chain is taking advice from the law firm King & Spalding.

Those familiar with the matter told the outlet the decision was yet to be finalized, but that bankruptcy would allow the company to continue operating.

Red Lobster's famous shrimp promotion came as it wanted to lure in more customers after significant losses of $5.4 million in the second quarter of 2023.

Those familiar with the matter told the outlet the decision was yet to be finalized, but that bankruptcy would allow the company to continue operating.

Red Lobster's famous shrimp promotion came as it wanted to lure in more customers after significant losses of $5.4 million in the second quarter of 2023.

But those plans backfired since the 'all you can eat' promotion was too generous.

For just $20, diners could indulge in as much of the shellfish as they could stomach.

The 'Endless Shrimp' offer was initially a special but in June it claimed a permanent spot on the Red Lobster menu. Foot traffic reportedly increased by 4 percent as a result.

More people were ordering the Endless Shrimp than the company anticipated - likely because the deal went viral on social media platforms like TikTok, where people showed off how much they ate to get their money's worth.

The chain has 'temporarily closed' locations in Buffalo, Orlando, Jacksonville and other cities

Red Lobster is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid high costs and low sales 

For just $20, diners could indulge in as much of the shellfish as they could stomach, but the price was later bumped to $25

'For those who have been in the US recently, $20 was very cheap. And the rationale for this promotion was to say we knew the price was cheap, but the idea was to bring more traffic in the restaurants,' said CFO Ludovic Garnier in November.

'But something which was different from our expectation is the proportion of the people selecting these promotions was much higher compared to expectation,' he added.

Eventually, the company bumped the price of their Endless Shrimp up to $25 in a bid to reclaim some of the losses.

Red Lobster has had multiple owners in recent years. It was previously owned by the Darden restaurant group, which also owned Olive Garden, but was taken over by Golden Gate Capital in 2014.

In 2020 it was purchased by Thai Union, which this year said its 'ongoing financial requirements no longer align with Thai Union's capital allocation priorities.'