Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. is a well known restaurant that has locations across North America and employs over 36,000 people. The core values of this business, “honor, integrity, continually seeking knowledge and having fun,” are doubtlessly responsible for Red Robin’s success: the restaurant has not always been as it is today.
Red Robin started in the 1940’s, not as Red Robin, but as Sam’s Tavern, near the University of Washington. The tavern eventually became associated with a song that was sung there and eventually took the name, “Sam’s Red Robin.” Red Robin made the change from tavern to restaurant in 1969 and soon expanded its menu from huge beers and packaged snacks to freshly cooked burgers that continue to be its staple. This is when the Red Robin Gourmet Cheeseburger, the Red Robin Bacon Cheeseburger and the Royal Red Robin Burger all came into being.
The expansion of Red Robin began in 1979 with its first franchisee in Yakima, Washington, and soon spread outside of Washington into neighboring states and into Canada. By 1998, Red Robin was recognized as the 15th best American restaurant for casual dining. Since then it has become a publicly traded company and is recognized as one of the top family restaurants in America.
Today, Red Robin has over 400 locations and has become famous not only for its gourmet recipe contests and “The Next Gourmet Burger Kids Contests,” but for its annual Red Robin kid’s cook-off where children from across the country face off in their efforts to concoct the best of their own burger creations. These special events are lots of fun, but perhaps the most significant community event sponsored by Red Robin is its U-ACT program. This program promotes Unbridled Acts of Kindness as part of a character building effort among middle school and junior high school students, by making kindness to others the object of a concerted effort. Each year, schools making the best efforts to encourage kindness are rewarded with grants from Red Robin.
With a restaurant this rich in history and value to humanity, their success is quite understandable. While the value of Red Robin to our society benefits all of us, Red Robin can help you personally if you sign up for their e-club. As a member of this growing list of Red Robin customers and fans, you get regular news updates, promotional offers, as well as special birthday and printable Red Robin coupons that give you money off selected meals from Red Robin restaurants.
