Red Lobster Sales Spike, With Beyoncé's Blessing

You've probably heard of the Oprah effect, but what about the Beyoncé effect? Seafood chain Red Lobster saw a significant spike in sales and social media attention over the past weekend, and it wasn't because of its annual 'Lobster Fest' promotion. Beyoncé inadvertently boosted the chain by mentioning it in a series of 'off-color' lyrics in her new song "Formation," according to CNBC.

Kim Lopdrup, CEO of Red Lobster, tells CNBC, "We are absolutely delighted with what we saw over the weekend, particularly the consumer sentiment that we saw expressed. It's clear that Beyoncé has helped create some Red Lobster fans, and we are very grateful to her for that."

The company saw a 33 percent spike in sales over last year on Sunday, garnered over 300,000 tweets, and trended on Twitter for the first time in the brand's history. In response, Red Lobster tweeted, "'Cheddar Bey Biscuits' has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"