Red Lobster is reaping the benefits of what Fortune is calling "the mother of all branding gifts." The seafood restaurant has seen a surprise jump in sales—a 33% increase Sunday from the previous year—and it looks like it has Beyonce's new single to thank, CNNMoney reports. In "Formation," which takes on serious topics such as Hurricane Katrina and police brutality, there's also a line in which she brags about taking her lover to Red Lobster as a reward for good sex. (Actual NSFW lyrics here.) That line helped nab Red Lobster 42,000 mentions on Twitter in one hour and placed it on the top trends list for the first time ever, a Red Lobster rep says. It also saw a boost in Google searches, the company tells CNBC.
"We are absolutely delighted with what we saw over the weekend, particularly the consumer sentiment that we saw expressed," company CEO Kim Lopdrup says. "It's clear that Beyonce has helped create some Red Lobster fans, and we are very grateful to her for that." Grateful and excited, apparently, since whoever runs Red Lobster's Twitter account took advantage of the situation a few hours after it started seeing its name all over social media. "'Cheddar Bey Biscuits' has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" the company finally tweeted. Its response to the groans it received for its delayed pun-diting: "You try to bake Cheddar Bay Biscuits and tweet at the same time! #harderthanitlooks #Formation." (Beyonce has pretty much ruled everything over the past few days.)
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