For who? Was that the best option for the employees who relied on the income? Or the customers who enjoyed the food? There are plenty of actions that are rational from an economics standpoint as long as you don't care about any of the externalities such as human dignity.

Employees have a contractual claim, one that is above shareholders and most other creditors, nothing more nothing less.

By all accounts they are being made whole, and can go off and get another job.

Employees have no more of a right to sell their labor to red lobster than any other of their suppliers has a right to sell their products.

Ultimately a company exists, and should exist, solely for it's shareholders. Anything else leads to waste, grift and mismanagement.