1940s: Red Robin started as 'Sam's Tavern' near the University of Washington in the 1940's. Sam sang in a barber shop quartet and loved to sing the song "When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin along…" Sam enjoyed the song so much he eventually changed the name of his tavern to Sam's Red Robin.
1969: Over the years, Sam's Red Robin simply became Red Robin. The restaurant was transformed from the tavern into the first Red Robin® restaurant. The restaurant was in a 1,200 square-foot building perched on a Seattle hilltop.
1973: Red Robin expands the menu from jumbo beers, cellophane-wrapped sandwiches and popcorn to include Red Robin's most popular burgers – the Red Robin Gourmet Cheeseburger, the Red Robin Bacon Cheeseburger and the Royal Red Robin Burger™, which is crowned with a fresh fried egg.
1979: Red Robin regulars, Mike and Steve Snyder, decide to open their own Red Robin in Yakima, Wash. The Snyder Group Company becomes Red Robin's first franchisee.
1980: On course to becoming "America's Gourmet Burgers & Spirits," Red Robin expands beyond Washington by opening a restaurant in Portland, Ore.
1983: Red Robin hatches one of America's only restaurant mascots, a colorful robin named "Red." Families everywhere become overnight fans.
1985: A domestic success, Red Robin crosses the U.S. border and opens a Canadian Red Robin® restaurant in Burnaby, British Columbia.
1985: Skylark, a food-service operation in Japan, acquires a majority interest in Red Robin from Red Robin's owner.
1994: Already known as a place for great family fun, Red Robin reinforces its reputation as a restaurant industry leader by offering Bottomless Steak Fries® (a.k.a. free refills) with its Gourmet Burgers and Sandwiches.
1996: Red Robin International cuts its ties with Skylark and is brought back home from Tokyo. The headquarters are moved from Irvine, Calif., to Greenwood Village, Colo.
2000: Red Robin merges with the Snyder Group, its largest franchisee, and celebrates the opening of its 150th restaurant in May. Securing $75 million in financing, Red Robin continues its nationwide expansion efforts.
2002: On July 19, Red Robin goes public with an initial public offering of 5,038,000 shares, of which 4,000,000 shares were sold, at a price to the public of $12 per share. The remaining 1,038,000 shares were offered by selling stockholders. Red Robin received net proceeds of $42.8 million from the offering. Red Robin also entered into a three-year, $40.0 million revolving credit agreement to fund construction and acquisition of new restaurants, to refinance existing indebtedness and for general corporate purposes, including working capital.
2003: Red Robin receives the Dealmakers Award in the Retail and Restaurant category presented by the Denver Business Journal. Red Robin was selected to receive the award for its successful IPO in July 2002, continued growth and increased revenue.
In November 2003, Red Robin completed a secondary offering of 3,458,673 shares of common stock, of which it sold 750,000 shares, at a price of $26.50 per share. The remaining 2,708,673 shares were offered by selling stockholders. The company received proceeds of $18.0 million from the offering, net of $1 million of underwriting fees and commissions and $868,200 of other offering costs. In December 2003, the company's underwriters exercised their over-allotment option with respect to 518,801 additional shares offered by selling stockholders. The company received no proceeds from the over-allotment exercise.
2004: Red Robin continues its growth with the opening of its 250th restaurant. At the 2004 MUFSO Conference, Nation's Restaurant News and Coca-Cola® present Red Robin with the People and Performance Award (PAPA) for its outstanding employee recognition programs.
In August 2004, Red Robin completed a secondary offering of 1,937,543 shares of common stock, all of which were held by selling stockholders, at a price of $32.36 per share. The company did not receive any proceeds from this offering. Fees related to this offering, which were borne by the company, totaled $200,400 and were recorded in general and administrative expenses.
2005: Red Robin is honored with Restaurant Hospitality's Chain of the Year award and receives Restaurants & Institutions' Choice in Chains Crystal Award in the Burger category.
The company celebrates the third anniversary of its initial public offering by opening the NASDAQ stock market in New York City on July 19, and demonstrates its Unbridled culture by hosting a Freckled Lemonade® stand in Times Square, which included distributing its signature Bottomless Beverage™ and Metro subway cards to tourists for free.
2006: Red Robin's senior vice president and chief financial officer, Katie Scherping, is the recipient of an Outstanding Women in Business Award presented by the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Denver Business Journal. The company is a national finalist for the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Neighbor Award and a finalist for ColoradoBiz magazine's Top Company of the Year Award.
Red Robin held the inaugural "The Next Gourmet Burger Kids Contest" where kids ages 10 and under were asked to submit an original burger creation. More than 16,000 entries were submitted at Red Robin® restaurants nationwide. Nine-year-old Adrianna Montgomery wins the contest at the chain's annual Leadership Summit with her "Spicy Asian Burger." Her burger was sold in every U.S. Red Robin® restaurant during the summer of 2007. In addition, more than 50 recipes were selected to be included in a kids' cookbook sold to benefit the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a non-profit organization whose mission is to help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation; help find missing children; and assist victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation, their families, and the professionals who serve them.
2007: Red Robin's president and chief operating officer, Eric Houseman, is the recipient of the Forty under 40 Award presented by the Denver Business Journal.
The company is honored with Restaurants & Institutions' Choice in Chains Gold Award in the Burger category, and is selected as a winner of Nation's Restaurant News' Excellence in Advertising on Television (EAT) Award.
Red Robin's "The Next Gourmet Burger Kids' Recipe Contest" is selected as a Gold Pick winner of PRSA Colorado's award ceremony that celebrates PR campaigns and components by Colorado professionals.
Eleven-year-old Joey Yarwick's "Au Brie Burger a la Francais" is selected as the winning recipe at Red Robin's second annual "The Next Gourmet Burger Kids' Recipe Contest" during a Championship event held in Denver, Colo.
2008: Red Robin's chief financial officer, Katie Scherping, is the recipient of the CFO of the Year Award in the medium-sized public company category presented by the Denver Business Journal.
Milford Junior High School in Milford, Ohio, receives $20,000 and is named the 2007-2008 Red Robin U-ACT™ Champion School for their efforts to promote kindness. In addition to the U-ACT™ Champion School, Red Robin also selected two Award of Excellence schools and seven Award of Merit schools.
Red Robin celebrates the opening of its 400th restaurant on June 16 in Covington, Wash.
Red Robin is named one of Parents Magazine's "10 Best Family Restaurants."
Seven-year-old, Rathdrum, Idaho resident Charlie Beckett's "Holy-Peño Burger" is selected as the grand prize winning burger at Red Robin's third annual "The Next Gourmet Burger Kids' Recipe Contest" during a Championship event held in Denver, Colo.
2009: Word of God Catholic School in Pittsburgh, Pa. is named the 2008-2009 U-ACT® Champion School for their Unbridled Acts. As the Champion School, they received a $20,000 grant and a school spirit night at their local Red Robin. Red Robin also selected two Award of Excellence schools and seven Award of Merit schools.
Red Robin is named the Best Burger in the Full-Service Category of the national Zagat Fast-Food Survey. The winners were selected based on the responses of 6,107 consumers who responded to the survey, which charted 103 chains nationwide.
Restaurants & Institutions magazine names Red Robin a Gold Award winner for the 2009 Consumers' Choice in Chains Award in the Burgers category. The award is based on 3,000 consumer votes from a national survey that R&I conducted to evaluate nearly 120 chain restaurants on customer satisfaction measures.
The National Restaurant Association named the U-ACT Program the Colorado state winner of the "Restaurant Neighbor Award" in the large business category.
Nine-year-old Emma Potts' "Spicy Honey Glazed Bacon Burger" is selected as the grand prize-winning recipe at Red Robin's fourth annual "Kids' Cook-Off" event held in Denver, Colo.
2010: Red Robin receives three awards at the PRSA Colorado Gold Pick Awards Ceremony, including the top award, which recognizes well-executed PR campaigns and components by Colorado professionals.
Nation's Restaurant News selected Red Robin's Southwest Ancho Chicken Salad as "Best Limited-Time Offer" for their annual MenuMasters Award, which recognizes foodservice professionals for visionary achievements in Research & Development, culinary and menu development.
The 2009-2010 Red Robin Foundation U-ACT® program names Amherst Middle School in Amherst, New York as the U-ACT Champion School in recognition for their Unbridled Acts. As the Champion School, they received a $15,000 grant and a school spirit night at their local Red Robin. In addition to the U-ACT® Champion School, Red Robin also selected two Award of Excellence schools and seven Award of Merit schools across the country.
Red Robin is named the Best Burger in the Full-Service Category of the national Zagat Fast-Food Survey. The winners of the survey, which charted 136 chains nationwide, were selected based on the responses of 6,500 consumers.
The National Restaurant Association names Red Robin as the winner of the Restaurant Neighbor Award in the large business category for the work Red Robin does to support local communities through programs like the Kids' Cook-Off and Child ID Kit Programs that support the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Special Olympics Tip-A-Cop events, and the Red Robin Foundation U-ACT Program.
A panel of judges names 12-year-old Donovan Duggins as the 2010 "Kids' Cook-Off" grand prize winner for his "Mt. Vesuvius Burger."
Red Robin's chief legal officer, Annita Menogan, is named as one of the Lawyers of the Year by Law Week Colorado for her work on diversity and inclusion in the legal profession with the Center for Legal Inclusiveness.
2011: Parents Magazine names Red Robin Gourmet Burgers as one of the 10 Best Restaurant Chains in America.
Red Robin receives two gold awards at the PRSA Colorado Gold Pick Awards Ceremony, for the Red Robin Kids' Cook-Off in the following categories: "Marketing Consumer Products – Restaurants" and "Blogger Campaign."
Red Robin's chief financial officer, Katie Scherping, is recognized by Northern Illinois University, her alma mater, as an Outstanding Accountancy Alumni for her professional achievements and continued support of the Accountancy Department at the university.
The 2010-2011 Red Robin Foundation U-ACT® program names Salem Christian School in Crozier, Va. as the U-ACT Champion School in recognition for their Unbridled Acts. As the Champion School, they received a $15,000 grant. In addition to the U-ACT® Champion School, Red Robin also selected two Award of Excellence schools and seven Award of Merit schools across the country to receive monetary grants for promoting an Unbridled culture.
In March, Red Robin launches first iPhone app to encourage Guests to customize their meal based on their taste and dietary preferences on their mobile device.