Looking to eat at Red Robin? We've got the details on why it is so cheap to eat there! Frozen
bottomless fries? Reusing oil? Strategic menu? Keep watching for everything you need to know!
There are few things in life as reliable as Red Robin’s bottomless steak fries.
But what is it that keeps these fries coming to your table by the basket load?
Well, the ingredients might not be as fresh as you would think.
It's a rarity for fast food restaurants to make their fries from scratch, and Red
Robin is no exception. The restaurant opts for frozen fries. Not only would the labor cost be
exponentially higher if spuds were hand-cut by employees, but the cost of fries on the
menu would be a lot higher — and they might not be bottomless with your low-cost Tavern Double.
This was confirmed by a manager from Red Robin, who took to Reddit to explain the process.
According to the post, the frozen fries are delivered to the restaurant in boxes,
with each box containing six 5-pound bags of spuds. The steak fries are dumped into the
fryers for 5-6 minutes before getting doused in salt and quickly served. The manager also
confirmed they receive 80 boxes a week, which translates to thousands of pounds of french fries.
“We will go through anywhere from forty-five hundred to five thousand pounds of fries a week.”
Keep in mind that's just a standard location. The franchise's busiest restaurant, meanwhile,
is famous for slinging up to 5,000 pounds of spuds a week for 8,000+ diners.
Even if french fries are cheap, the mountain of potatoes needed to keep up that supply would add
up quickly. It simply wouldn't be logical for Red Robin staff to prepare its fries on-site.
Sipping strawberry lemonade in those fun swirly glasses is always a treat,
especially when you know a refill is already on its way. The reason the fruit beverage
flows like water at Red Robin is because it… also isn’t made on site. Minute Maid Lemonade,
that nostalgic childhood fuel, serves as the base of the burger joint's Freckled
and Flavored Lemonades. But the chain doesn't hide the fact that it relies on the longtime
juice brand. As a matter of fact, the name is blasted all over the restaurant website.
To be honest, it's unclear what Red Robin's lemonade supply needs look like. What we do know,
however, is that Minute Maid is reliable, easy to find, and most importantly, cheap. It's
carried by most major retailers, like Target and Wal-Mart, and sells for between $2-8, depending on
the packaging. Red Robin can pump out an unlimited supply without footing the bill on fresh juice and
the labor needed to extract it. Customers only pay the menu price once, as the refills are already
factored into the total. Is freshly-squeezed lemonade poured from a pitcher better than
its artificially-sweetened counterparts? Yes, probably. Is it cost-efficient? Definitely not.
Red Robin advertises itself as a gourmet burger chain, and for the most part, it lives up to this
marketing tactic. Artisanal sandwiches, like The Southern Charm Burger or Black & Bleu,
certainly come to mind. That doesn't necessarily mean everything on the menu will be gourmet,
however. Many of Red Robin's patties are actually smothered with American cheese — that rubbery,
neon-yellow substance that is so processed it can't be legally categorized as “cheese”.
Despite its negative reputation, however, it also makes a fantastic
burger topper for its melty consistency and mild tang.
“Mmm, sixty four slices of American cheese. Sixty four…”
[gurgling noise]
American cheese is featured most prominently on Red Robin’s Tavern
burgers, the budget-friendly burger lineup boasting smaller patties at a smaller price.
If you take the average price for common cheeses into account,
you'll see how American easily wins for overall affordability. According to The CheeseMaker,
Cheddar averages about $3.36-9.07 per pound, while Swiss ranges from $3.44-9.31 for the same amount.
American cheese is a downright bargain at just $2 minimum. Most burger toppings — lettuce, tomato,
onion, mayo — are pretty cheap, yet fancier cheeses could exponentially raise the price.
By skipping premium ingredients, Red Robin can sell a juicy burger at a fraction of the cost.
To achieve that golden brown crunch, Red Robin's fries are submerged in fully-refined soybean oil,
clear of major allergy-inducing ingredients. The French fries may be bottomless, but,
as it turns out, the loads of oil fueling the fryers are not. The burger chain reuses its oil
on a regular basis to keep prices down while delivering on the promise of infinite steak
fries that customers have come to expect. Oil costs money, and the amount of food the
restaurant prepares every day can add up if there aren't measures taken to preserve resources.
That’s right — Aside from saving money, reusing the oil is good for the environment.
Cutting down on supply waste has a massive impact in huge restaurant chains. However, the reused oil
has brought up concerns of cross-contamination across the restaurant's fried items. In a thread
discussing this concern, One Reddit user, claiming to be a line cook at Red Robin, chimed in:
"The oil that gets filtered goes into the same fryer,
but there will be excess oil that can get into the next fryer down the line,
which is why we do the seafood fryer last (allergies and whatnot)."
When dollar menu cheeseburgers are just a drive-thru away, the dependably
mid-priced fare seems almost antiquated in comparison. After all these years, however,
they've remained surprisingly affordable. In a 2015 survey spanning 20+ restaurants,
investment company Morgan Stanley found them to offer the best deal for eating out at just
$12.17 per person, according to Yahoo! News — that's with all the free refills included.
Unlike its competitors, Red Robin doesn't really offer discounts in the traditional sense. Instead,
the company prides itself on, "affordable abundance," a phrase former CEO Denny Marie
Post used to describe the chain's emphasis on reliable pricing over flashy markdowns.
When customers stop by for a burger and fries, they can expect similar prices and generous
portion sizes, no matter what location they go to. A Red's Tavern Double may cost more
than the value menu at McDonald’s, but it’s still a lot of bang for your buck.
Consistency is just as important as low prices, but outside factors can always make maintenance
difficult. Take price hikes, for example. At the 2018 Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit,
COO Carin Stutz noted a past cost increase in crucial ingredients: beef and French fries.
The chain has to weigh keeping prices at customer expectation against raising them to
meet commodity prices. Choosing the menu price customers expect makes sense in the long run:
consistently reasonable prices create more repeat visits,
allowing Red Robin to remain relatively cheap in the restaurant sphere.
Behind your sixteenth Freckled Lemonade refill is a Red Robin team member who has made sixteen trips
to the fountain and back. To keep things cheap for its customers, Red Robin vastly reduces labor
costs — so it is the employees who ultimately pay the price. On average, Red Robin servers and
waiters are paid $11 an hour. This doesn't largely differ from the industry's national average,
but low-ball pay rates remain a glaring fact restaurant chains like Red Robin can't deny.
It's what lays behind the free bottomless fries you get with every burger, no questions asked.
Red Robin has a consistent history of cutting labor costs. In 2018, the chain scrapped
busboy and expeditor positions to stave off minimum wage increases around the country.
In addition, Kiosk Marketplace reported that the chain signed a contract with Ziosk,
a tablet device that allows diners to pay for their meal at the table. This kind of
automation seems harmless enough — who can argue with customer convenience? — but the
human side of the labor chain will be impacted. If more automation is implemented at Red Robin
locations, there will inevitably be less of a need to rely on workers.
There’s a burger for every appetite and budget at Red Robin, and that variety serves more than
one purpose. In order to bankroll cheaper items, Red Robin offers a tiered menu covering a variety
of price points. Tavern burgers are the most affordable, Gourmet burgers are the middle-ground,
and the Finest burgers are the most expensive. Business Insider reports that the strategy was
implemented to compete with shifting consumer trends that have emerged as a
result of the pandemic. By serving a little bit of everything, Red Robin can eat the costs of
its budget-friendly fare, so long as pricier items are able to make up the difference.
“Ladies and gentlemen, her.”
Let's consider the Tavern burger. One would assume a tasty burger at an even tastier price — around
7 bucks — would be enough competition to drive the lion's share of profits, right?
Surprisingly, that isn't the case. According to CEO Marie Post,
Red Robin’s emphasis on Tavern burgers left higher-priced burgers in the dust in 2018,
resulting in lower profits. The solution? The company decided to whittle down the selection,
with plans to rotate them at will. Customers get to enjoy dining out on their own budget,
while the restaurant reaps sales from every direction. It’s a win-win.
Before the pandemic hit, Red Robin was a bustling burger destination. The shuttering of dining rooms
and newfound customer expectations, such as eating at home and spending less, forced the restaurant
to retool its business strategy. In Red Robin’s case, the changes came mainly through down-sizing.
The company purged over 50 menu items in 2020 to streamline the ordering process.
Covering everything from entrees to desserts, casualties included the Chili Chili Cheeseburger,
Sauteed ‘Shroom Burger and the Chocolate Fruffles. In total, 55 menu items were
permanently cut throughout the pandemic. It's also worth noting that as of June 2020,
about 62% of Red Robin's sales could be attributed to takeout and delivery.
Knowing how attached customers get to their favorites, this decision could have easily
backfired for the restaurant. However, paring down the options has actually paid off. Red Robin Chief
Executive Paul Murphy III said the change produced little to no negative feedback from guests.
In a company communication, he elaborated on the positive effects of the change, saying,
“Reducing our menu by 55 items has facilitated improved back-of-the-house
speed and efficiency as restaurants have adjusted to reduced staffing levels,
and has improved food quality with consistency.”
Less preparation labor, fewer ingredients. All of this saves money that could go
toward better-performing entrees on the menu. Sometimes, less really is more!
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