Red Robin Restaurants
It all started in 1969 in the Emerald City of Seattle, Washington. Now an American burger chain with casual dining in 562 locations (2019) … it has spread outside the United States. It is also known as “Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews” or simply Red Robin. Their first franchise out of Seattle was in Yakima 10 years later. They now have their headquarters in Greenwood Village, Colorado.
It was established first along the southern end of University Bridge in a historic 1940’s building that originally was “Sam’s Tavern”. The owner of the tavern was quite fittingly called “Sam” and was well known in the local arena for singing in a barbershop quartet, with an infamous song “When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along”. The Tavern was later renamed “Sam’s Red Robin”. It was later in 1969 that Gerry Kingen, a Seattle entrepreneur bought the restaurant from Sam and expanded it simply as “Red Robin”. It became a destination for gourmet burgers with over 28 to choose from. In 1979 Michael and Steve Snyder bought the rights to open one in Yakima Washington becoming the first franchise. It wasn’t until 1980 when Red Robin flew the state of Washington to Portland, Oregon.
The mascot, “Red” the bird Robin was identified in 1983 beginning to attract Children and families to the restaurant chain. By 1985 there were 175 restaurants. The Corporate headquarters were then moved to Irvine California and became Red Robin Corp to Skylark Corporation of Japan. By 1995 and many disasters, Kingen joined with Michael Snyder to get it profitable again moving headquarters to Denver, Colorado. The company went public in 2002. The original location closed in 2010 due to skyrocketing maintenance costs for the building which was demolished in 2014. By 2015 they surpassed over 538 restaurants with annual revenue of 1.25 billion US Dollars. The chain experienced a major loss in 2018 with the suicide of owner Michael Snyder.
While not a fan of chain restaurants persay, this one has been an exception as it is well loved by my son. Great burgers, fries, and sauces as well as other dishes. Rating 4.5 stars out of 5.
Bellingham, Washington:
