Red Lobster’s new CEO will bring about two decades of experience with the chain and its former parent company as the Orlando-based seafood restaurant looks to continue its recent rising tide.

Horace Dawson, revealed as CEO Thursday, takes on a role that has been empty for nearly a year and a half. Red Lobster’s previous CEO resigned last April after just eight months on the job.

He takes the helm of the chain of about 700 restaurants at the same time a key shareholder has reported improvements in its finances this year.

Dawson has been executive vice president and general counsel of Red Lobster since 2014, the same time Orlando-based Darden Restaurants sold the chain.

Dawson spent 11 years with Darden and was vice president and division general counsel there before taking on his role with Red Lobster after that sale.

Coming from the legal side of the business is a good thing because general counsels are involved in most aspects of the company, from financial deals to human resources problems, said San Diego-based restaurant analyst John Gordon.

“Given the fact that he had all that time in Darden and then all the Red Lobster time, I think he’s a pretty good choice,” Gordon said.

Dawson was not available for an interview Friday.

Filling a CEO post typically takes a few months, said Kevin Stockslager, executive vice president and partner at St. Petersburg-based Wray Executive Search. His firm specializes in restaurant leadership searches but was not involved in Red Lobster finding a new CEO.

The much longer amount of time Red Lobster’s vacancy took to fill indicates to Stockslager that leadership was confident with the guidance it was getting from its board and top executives.

“For a brand like Red Lobster, it makes a lot of sense to have somebody in this position that really understands the brand, understands their challenges and opportunities,” Stockslager said.

One potential reason Red Lobster may not have promoted Dawson sooner was the company perhaps could have been waiting to show financial improvement before naming a permanent CEO, Stockslager suggested.

Key Red Lobster shareholder Thai Union reported in August that its share of losses from operations in Red Lobster fell by 66% in the second quarter compared with the same time last year. Earlier this year, Thai Union reported a “share of profit from operations” for Red Lobster in the first quarter of the year.

But industrywide, restaurant operators have reported declines in customer traffic for four consecutive months, according to the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index.

“This is an important time for our brand. We are continuing to evolve our menu and guest experience to give our guests more of what they want every time they visit one of our restaurants,” Dawson said in a news release. “We have some of the most passionate customers and dedicated employees in the restaurant industry, and I am looking forward to working with my teams to address the challenges we face in light of industry headwinds and to execute on our plans and deliver results.”

Gordon said having a CEO in place with more years of experience with the company will help “plan for what Red Lobster going forward should look like to get itself back into the game, how Red Lobster can be modernized.”

“I think that’s the value added of having a more mature company experienced team, is that they’ve been there and they’ve seen it,” Gordon said. “You don’t have to reteach them the history.”

The CEO post at Red Lobster became vacant after Kelli Valade resigned in April 2022. She had replaced another longtime leader of the brand, Kim Lopdrup, after he retired in August 2021.

Paul Kenny, former CEO of Asia’s Minor Food, had been described as a “liaison” between Red Lobster’s leadership and the board after Valade’s departure. Also on Thursday, Kenny was named chairman of Red Lobster’s board.

“I have served on the Red Lobster Board for several years and strongly believe that Horace is the right leader for this iconic brand at this time in the company’s history and I look forward to continuing a strong and productive working relationship,” Kenny said in the release.