Kaitlin Hohman

November 5, 2019
BIS 361
Red Robin

For this project we looked at the restaurant chain Red Robin. Red Robin is an American

chain of casual dining restaurants which was founded in 1969. Red Robin is especially known

for their gourmet burgers and brew. The original Red Robin was located in Seattle, at the

southern end of the University Bridge. This building dated from 1940 and was first called Sam’s

Tavern and was eventually changed to Sam’s Red Robin. The first Red Robin was opened after

Sam’s Red Robin was bought out by Gerry Kingen who dropped the “Sam’s” from the name.

Once Red Robin was bought out Gerry Kingen wished to expand the restaurant and the first

franchise was opened in 1979 in Yakima, Washington. For many years Red Robin operated as a

tavern until hamburgers were added to the menu, eventually giving customers twenty eight

burgers to choose from. For this project we specifically looked at the Red Robin franchise in

Manchester CT. Competitors of Red Robin at the location we looked at consisted of all family

diners which sell burgers within the area this would include restaurants like Sonic, TGIF Fridays,

Olive Garden, Five Guys, etc. During our visits to the Red Robin franchise we were able to

learn a lot about the different processes that are used within the franchise. Included in the

processes we learned about the variances within the restaurant which includes the raw materials

used in the food preparation. Raw material inventory is an important aspect for the Red Robin

restaurant because it’s important that the restaurant knows how much inventory they need for a

week in order to ensure that they don’t run out, however, it is also important that the raw material

inventory isn’t a surplus of inventory. As a result, the business processes help to ensure that Red

Robin is able to operate smoothly and insure optimal revenue.