Great Scott!

The Lion King (1994) dir. Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff

Here are a few points to support this

1. The Krusty Krab is shaped like a crab and lobster trap

2. At the episode “Mid-Life Crustacean.”, Mr. Krabs takes a bite out of a Krabby Patty and says, “So that’s what I taste like”.

3. You don’t really see much Krabs aside from Mr. Krabs and his mom and if you tell me there’s tons of Krabs in the episode “Kracked Krabs”, may I remind you that they’re not from Bikini Bottom 

4. Every menu item at Krusty Krab has the key ingredient in the name

However, Nickelodeon debunked this theory.

1) The crab trap design of the Krusty Krab is just a clever little reference Stephen Hillenburg threw in as a nod to his previous career. Remember, he was a marine biologist by trade.

2) This clip is taken completely out of context. In the scene, a customer and her son are eating, and the son says his krabby patty tastes funny. The mom looks at the patty and says, “Well, no wonder. It’s all old and dried out. Like that man right there.” And she points to Mr. Krabs. After the pair ditch the stale patty, Mr. Krabs tries it, and says “Huh. So that’s what I taste like.” He’s not commenting on the actual ingredients of the krabby patty, he’s making a metaphorical comparison because HE feels old and dried out. He’s having an existential crisis regarding his age. The episode is even called “Mid-Life Crustacean”, for crying out loud.

3) All of the main characters of the show are members of races that have very little representation in Bikini Bottom and surrounding areas. It’s not fair to point out the lack of a crab population as evidence for this theory when Bikini Bottom also lacks a sizable population of sponges, starfish, octopuses, plankton, whales, squirrels, and lobsters. Unless you’re going to suggest that krabby patties are made of what basically amounts to sentient paella, citing Bikini Bottom’s demographic homogeneity as evidence isn’t gonna get you very far.

4) NOT every menu item contains the main ingredient in its name. What the heck is Golden Loaf supposed to be? And are you implying that a Sailor’s Surprise contains actual sailors? Not to mention fast food restaurants typically name their signature menu items after the restaurant itself, not the ingredients. Jack-in-the-Box has Jackburgers, Whataburger has Whataburgers, Lotaburger has Lotaburgers, and McDonalds puts “Mc” in a lot of their item names. It’s a signature dish, so it’s named after the restaurant.