Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. Business
Overview
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, primarily operates, franchises, and develops casual dining restaurants in North America famous for serving more than two dozen craveable, high-quality burgers with Bottomless Steak Fries ® and sides in a fun environment welcoming to Guests of all ages.
We opened the first Red Robin ® restaurant in Seattle, Washington in September 1969. In 1979, the first franchised Red Robin restaurant was opened in Yakima, Washington. In 2001, we formed Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and consummated a reorganization of the Company. Since that time, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. has owned, either directly or indirectly, all of the outstanding capital stock or membership interests, respectively, of Red Robin International, Inc. and our other operating subsidiaries through which we operate our Company-owned restaurants. Unless otherwise provided in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, references to "Red Robin," "we," "us," "our", or the "Company" refer to Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. and our consolidated subsidiaries.
As of the end of our fiscal year on December 31, 2023, there were 506 Red Robin restaurants, of which 415 were Company-owned and 91 were operated by franchisees. Our franchisees are independent organizations to whom we provide certain support. See "Restaurant Franchise and Licensing Arrangements" for additional information about our franchise program. As of December 31, 2023, there were Red Robin restaurants in 39 states and one Canadian province.
The Company operates its business as one operating and one reportable segment. Financial information for our operating segment is included in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The Company's fiscal year is 52 or 53 weeks ending the last Sunday of the calendar year. We refer to our fiscal years as 2023, 2022, and 2021 throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our fiscal years, fiscal year end dates, and the number of weeks in each period are summarized in the table below:
Fiscal Year Year End Date Number of Weeks in Fiscal Year
Current and Prior Fiscal Years:
2023 December 31, 2023 53
2022 December 25, 2022 52
2021 December 26, 2021 52
Upcoming Fiscal Years:
2024 December 29, 2024 52
2025 December 28, 2025 52
Business Strategy
In January of 2023, the Company released its North Star five-point plan designed to enhance the Company's competitive positioning. The North Star five-point plan consists of the following:
• Transform to an Operations Focused Restaurant Company:
◦ Empower decision making by operators at the unit level
◦ Incentivize and reward operators to drive business growth and results
◦ Restructured support organization
• Elevate the Guest Experience:
◦ Invest in people, food quality, and the restaurant facility
◦ New cooking platform to fully deliver on our commitment of Gourmet Burgers
◦ Menu refresh adding variety of both offerings and price points
• Remove Costs and Complexity:
◦ Optimize the supply chain to reduce costs and ensure consistent delivery of high-quality product
◦ Evaluate vendors for need, performance, and competitive costs
◦ Implement ongoing process to reduce costs through actions that uphold our commitment to a great Guest experience
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• Optimize Guest Engagement:
◦ Engage and support local communities in which we operate
◦ Enhance the off-premises experience
◦ Further build and engage Guests through Red Robin Royalty ® loyalty program
• Drive Growth in Comparable Restaurant Revenue & Unit Level Profitability, and Deliver Financial Commitments:
◦ Regain credibility with the investment community
◦ Drive performance in the existing base of restaurants, earning the right to resume new unit growth
◦ Deliver financial guidance commitments
The Red Robin vision is to be the most loved restaurant brand in the communities we serve.
Restaurant Concept
With our menu of Gourmet Burgers and American favorites, creative beverage menu, over 30 bottomless items, energetic atmosphere, and playful environment that connects families of all kinds, our brand not only carries great memories for our most loyal Guests but also appeals to a broad demographic. Our Guests enjoy the playful spirit of our experience and the comfort they feel with friends and family across a diverse and multi-generational demographic.
We pride ourselves on our Gourmet Burgers and other mainstream favorites served in a casual, playful atmosphere. Our menu features our signature product, a line of Gourmet Burgers with layers of fresh ingredients and premium quality, fresh ground beef. We also offer burgers made with other proteins including chicken breasts (grilled or fried), turkey patties, as well as a proprietary vegetarian patty and the Impossible™ plant-based burger patty. We offer a selection of buns, including gluten free, sesame, brioche, and lettuce wraps, with a variety of toppings, including house-made sauces, crispy onion straws, sautéed mushrooms, several cheese choices, and a fried egg. All of our burgers are served with a choice from eight all-you-can-eat bottomless sides from steak fries, to broccoli, to garlic fries. We specialize in customizing our menu items to meet our Guests' dietary needs and preferences and have received recognition from experts in the allergen community. In addition to burgers, which accounted for 56% of food sales in 2023, Red Robin serves an array of other mainstream favorites that appeal to our Guests. These items include a variety of foods like Donatos ® pizza, wings, salads, other entrees, and desserts. We also offer a range of single-serve and shareable desserts as well as our milkshakes. Our beverages include signature alcoholic and non-alcoholic specialty drinks, cocktails, wine, and a variety of national and craft beers.
We strive to customize the pace of the experience for our Guests based on their occasion, from accommodating time-pressured meals to offering a place to relax and connect with family and friends. We call this the “gift of time.” Red Robin also has an extraordinary approach to Guest service, and we have cataloged thousands of stories of Red Robin Team Members who live our values. Many examples can be found on our website, www.redrobin.com . Note that our website and the information contained on or connected to our website are not incorporated by reference herein, and our web address is included as an inactive textual reference only.
We also strive to provide our Guests with exceptional dining value and the ability to customize their experience. In 2023, we had an average check per Guest of $17.08. Average check per Guest increased 6.8% compared to 2022. We believe our price-to-value relationship, featuring our innovative array of quality burgers, "instaworthy" beverages, and over 30 bottomless items, differentiates us from our casual dining competitors and allows us to appeal to a broad base of middle income, multi-generational consumers.
ESG: Ongoing Commitment to Sustainability
Red Robin is a company that cares; we strive to impact Guests, Team Members, communities, and our planet for the better. We continued our sustainability journey by completing a materiality assessment, designed to help us identify and understand the ESG topics that matter most to our stakeholders. In 2023, we published our second sustainability report and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (the "SASB") Restaurant Industry disclosures, which is available on our website at ir.redrobin.com. The contents of the sustainability report, our SASB Restaurant Industry disclosures and our website are not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K. Our sustainability efforts continue to evolve, and we intend to continue to adapt our sustainability approach to integrate with our North Star strategic priorities.
Human Capital Management
We strive to ensure our people, who we refer to as Team Members, live out and benefit from our core values: Integrity, Fun, Unbridled Hospitality, and High Performance. We believe that when we live out these values, we win together!
Winning together is our core objective. We nurture this culture by ensuring that our people are front and center, that they have a clear understanding of what is expected, and that people love working for our brand. We strive to provide our people with a great place to work, opportunities for growth, and competitive compensation for their contributions. Our values empower
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and motivate our Team Members and create a Company culture that we collectively take pride in every day. We also provide our Team Members the opportunity to grow and develop, promote health and safety, and value inclusion, diversity, and engagement.
As part of our human capital management strategy, we focus on the following areas:
Our Team Members
As of December 31, 2023, we had 22,516 Team Members, consisting of 22,149 Team Members at Company-owned restaurants and 367 Restaurant Support Center and field-based Team Members.
Competitive Compensation and Benefits
We support our Team Members by offering market-competitive compensation and benefits for eligible Team Members. Tip eligible Team Members are paid at least the tip credit rate or minimum wage rate as mandated by federal, state, or local government agencies, in addition to receiving customer tips. We aim to ensure tipped positions make more than the federal, state, or local minimum wage when including tips. Our benefit programs include medical, dental, and vision insurance offerings, employee assistance programs, shift meals, Red Robin meal discounts, paid time off, 401(k) with employer match, an employee stock purchase plan, and equity-based awards for eligible Restaurant Support Center and operations Team Members, generally, at the director level and above.
Compensation and performance evaluations are designed to compensate our Team Members fairly for their level of experience and overall contribution to our business. We leverage our rewards to motivate our Team Members to do what is necessary in our mission to deliver a best-in-class Guest experience. For our operations leaders we implemented a performance-based compensation program. Our individual restaurant managers and multi-restaurant operators are now referred to as "Managing Partners" and "Market Partners," respectively. Under the new compensation plan for these field Team Members, they will earn a base salary plus a performance bonus, which represents a percentage of each of their respective restaurant’s operating profit. We changed our legacy program because we believe providing each Partner with a direct and uncapped financial incentive will attract and retain the best talent in the industry and incentivizes each Partner to take action to drive growth in the restaurant or market they manage. We also believe this program rewards our Partners for making the right day-to-day decisions to satisfy our Guests and meet our financial objectives.
Health and Safety
We operate with the health, safety, and well-being of Red Robin's Team Members, Guests, and communities in mind, as well as federal, state and local regulatory requirements. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken additional measures to protect our Team Members and Guests from infectious disease as well as comply with state and local protocols designed to maintain a healthy work environment.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ("DE&I")
At Red Robin, we value everyone for who they are. We are committed to combining the key ingredients of diverse identities, perspectives, and experiences to create our own special seasoning of Unbridled Hospitality. By respecting and supporting our Team Members, our Guests, and our Communities, we all win together. We have a successful Women's Excellence program, a Company-wide resource group to support and inspire Team Members through development, networking, leadership, and other resources while fueling a culture of opportunity and diversity. In 2022, we established a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to develop a mission and vision for DE&I from a Team Member’s point of view. In 2023, we established a DE&I Steering Council made up of senior leaders of the organization to establish an overarching long-term strategy and plan for our Company. The DE&I Committee meets routinely to assess opportunities for the Company to improve its efforts to create a best-in-class work environment that thrives on inclusion and diversity of thought. The DE&I Steering Council meets with the DE&I Committee, our Executive Team, and Board of Directors on a periodic basis to provide recommendations and updates on our progress against our evolving DE&I objectives.
Restaurant Management
From 2020 through 2022, our typical restaurant management team consisted of a General Manager, an assistant General Manager, one to two associate managers, and additional shift supervisors depending on restaurant sales volumes. We believe it is critical to operate our restaurants with a full complement of experienced and professional restaurant management. Beginning in 2023, we changed the typical restaurant management team to consist of a Managing Partner, an assistant General Manager, a kitchen manager, and service managers, associate managers, or shift supervisors, as appropriate, dependent primarily on restaurant Sales volume. This transition in restaurant management is occurring in phases. This transition marks a major change in our operational approach with expectations for local restaurant leadership to behave as if they are the “owner” of the restaurant. Decision making on a number of activities is now being driven by local leadership with the support of multi-unit field operations leaders when appropriate. In support of this approach, beginning in 2024, the compensation plan for field restaurant leaders will change significantly. A larger portion of the total compensation package for Managing Partners will be in
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the form of a monthly bonus linked to restaurant-level operating profit. Leaders who are effective at driving higher levels of performance will receive higher monetary rewards over time. This model also supports our intent to improve our level of community focus within the local regions we serve. Managing Partners will have the flexibility and resources to drive localized activities aimed at nurturing relationships within their community to drive Guest traffic. Our expectation is this approach will help to drive both top and bottom-line results and engagement.
The management team of each restaurant is responsible for the day-to-day operation of that restaurant, including hiring, training, and coaching of Team Members, as well as operating results. Our typical restaurant employs 40 to 70 Team Members, most of whom work part-time on an hourly basis.
Learning and Development
We strive to maintain quality and consistency in each of our restaurants through the training and development of Team Members and the establishment of, and adherence to, high standards relating to Team Member performance, Guest satisfaction, food and beverage preparation, and the maintenance of our restaurants. Each restaurant maintains a group of certified learning coaches, including a head learning coach, who collectively are tasked with preparing new Team Members for success by providing on-the-job training leading up to a final skills certification for their position. Team Members seeking advancement have the opportunity to join our management development program as a Shift Supervisor. We continue to focus on hiring, training, and retaining our Team Members as we believe this is key to maintaining quality and consistency in each of our restaurants.
New restaurant managers participate in our eight-week Management Foundations training program. This program hones each manager's skills, specifically in two areas: flawless shift execution and effective coaching of Team Members.
These learning and development practices at the restaurants support our talent pipeline to develop and promote our restaurant management Team Members from within.
Team Member Engagement
We regularly collect feedback to better understand and improve Team Member experience and identify opportunities to strengthen our culture. We welcome open, candid feedback to promote Team Members feeling heard and engaged and to better support the values important to each of our Team Members. We accomplish this through a variety of programs and forums, including Team Member engagement surveys, virtual open forums, one-on-one coaching, wellness and engagement meetings, Town Hall meetings, leadership conferences, and exit interviews. In addition to these structured programs and forums, we maintain an open-door policy at all levels of the Company. Our Company remains committed to offering Team Members numerous opportunities to have their voices heard because we believe our Team Members are our most valuable resource.
In 2022, we partnered with an outside vendor and launched a new Team Member engagement survey to all field Team Members in 2023. We have utilized this information to gather insights from our Team Member population and have created action plans from this data to continue to enhance our workplace. We also plan to offer the use of this survey tool multiple times during the year to gain feedback when key events occur, so we can quickly respond to suggestions and concerns when they arise. We believe that such a tool will not only assist us with workforce retention, but also enhance labor productivity over time.
Food Safety and Purchasing
Our food safety and quality assurance programs help manage our commitment to safe, quality ingredients and responsible food preparation and service. Our Food Safety Management Program is a set of systems designed to protect from risk and control hazards. We provide detailed specifications for our proprietary food ingredients, products, and supplies to our suppliers. We qualify and require outside third party certification audits on an annual basis for all of our food and beverage suppliers (excluding alcoholic beverages, which are not held to the same auditing standards), as well as growers. Their certifications must comply with the Global Food Safety Initiative, if applicable. Our restaurant leaders must pass and maintain an accredited manager-level food safety and sanitation certification. We maintain strict food safety protocols, including safe cooking temperature requirements, food handling procedures, cooling procedures, and frequent temperature and quality checks, for the safety and quality of the food we serve in our restaurants. In order to provide fresh ingredients and products and to maximize operating efficiencies between purchase and usage, each restaurant's management team determines the restaurant's daily usage requirements for food ingredients, products, and supplies, and accordingly, orders from approved suppliers, and distributors. The restaurant management team inspects deliveries to ensure that the products received meet our safety and quality specifications. Additionally, we engage an independent auditing company to perform unannounced comprehensive food safety and sanitation assessments at least three times a year in all Company-owned and franchised restaurants. If an assessment identifies any gaps, a documented plan is required for any deficiency noted. This same follow-up requirement is in place for government regulatory inspections.
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To enhance our purchasing efficiencies and obtain competitive prices for our high-quality ingredients, products, and supplies, our centralized purchasing team negotiates supply agreements that may include fixed price contracts that can vary in term or formula-based pricing agreements that can fluctuate on changes in raw material commodity pricing. Of our total cost of goods in 2023, ground beef represented approximately 14%, potatoes represented approximately 12%, and poultry represented approximately 11%. We monitor the market for the primary commodities we purchase and extend contract positions when applicable in order to minimize the impact of fluctuations in price and availability. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced distribution disruptions, commodity cost inflation, and certain food and supply shortages. To manage this risk in part, we enter into fixed-price purchase commitments for certain commodities; however, it may not be possible for us to enter into fixed-price purchase commitments for certain commodities, or we may choose not to enter into fixed-price contracts for certain commodities. We believe that substantially all of our food and supplies meeting our specifications are available from alternate sources, which we have identified to diversify our supply chain. As of December 31, 2023, approximately 50% of our estimated annual food and beverage purchases were covered by fixed price contracts, most of which are scheduled to expire at various times through the end of 2024.
Restaurant Development, Remodels, and Donatos ®
With the transition to a new leadership team and focus on the North Star plan in 2022 and 2023, we deprioritized new restaurant growth in the short-term as we focus on other business initiatives and uses of capital.
Beginning in 2022, we resumed our restaurant refresh and remodel program to keep our restaurants relevant and well-maintained. We continue to believe this type of investment presents an opportunity to provide compelling investment returns. We are conducting a thorough review and evaluation of all completed refreshes and remodels to gather learnings and measure consumer response. When complete, we expect this evaluation will inform our go forward design criteria, investment level, and pace of refreshes and remodels.
In 2020, we announced our partnership with Donatos ® , a high-quality pizza brand "nested" inside of Red Robin restaurants. Through this partnership, our restaurants prepare and serve Donatos ® branded pizzas to our dine-in and off-premises Guests. Pursuant to a licensing arrangement, we pay royalties on sales of Donatos ® pizza products to Donatos ® . As of December 31, 2023, we have introduced Donatos ® pizzas to 273 restaurants. We plan to continue implementation of Donatos ® and anticipate eventually operating Donatos ® in substantially all Red Robin restaurants. We invested $8.6 million and $6.1 million in the Donatos ® expansion in fiscal 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Restaurant Franchise and Licensing Arrangements
As of December 31, 2023, our franchisees operated 91 restaurants in 14 states and British Columbia, Canada. Our two largest franchisees own 41 restaurants located in Eastern and Central Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio.
Franchise Compliance Assurance
We actively work with and monitor our franchisees' performance to help them develop and operate their restaurants in compliance with Red Robin's standards, systems, and procedures. During the restaurant development phase, we review the franchisee's site selection and provide the franchisee with our prototype building plans. We provide trainers to assist the franchisee in opening the restaurant for business. We advise the franchisee on all menu items, management training, and equipment and food purchases. We also exchange best operating practices with our franchisees as we strive to improve our operating systems while attaining a high level of franchisee participation.
Information Systems and Digital Technology
We rely on information systems and digital technology in all aspects of our operations, striving to create seamless Guest experiences and enable Operations to deliver on our Brand commitments. In our restaurants, these technologies are designed to facilitate operational efficiency and support the Guest experience. These technologies include (but are not limited to) labor management systems, sales and forecasting tools, inventory management, and operational execution technologies. These technologies are integrated with our point-of-sale system to provide daily, weekly, and period-to-date reporting that is important for our Operators to run an efficient and high-performing restaurant. We also use technology to interact with our Guests via our digital platforms, including our website, mobile Apps, loyalty platform, online ordering site, tabletop kiosks, Server handhelds, and Guest feedback systems, which provide actionable insights on the overall Guest experience.
We utilize centralized financial, accounting, and human resource management systems to support our Restaurant Support Center and Company-owned restaurants. In addition, we use an Operations scorecard that integrates data from our centralized systems and distributes information to assist in managing the performance of our restaurants. We believe these combined tools are important in analyzing and improving our operations, profit margins, and monitoring other key business metrics.
In 2024, we continue to make iterative enhancements to the digital and loyalty experience that benefit our Guests and Team Members. Beginning in 2024, we expect to begin implementing infrastructure modernization efforts to improve
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performance and stability of current and future technology solutions. In 2024, we also expect to launch a new loyalty program, transitioning to a points-based system to reward our most loyal guests.
We accept electronic payment cards from our Guests for payment in our restaurants. We also receive and maintain certain personal information about our Guests and Team Members. We have systems and processes in place that focus on the protection of our Guests' credit card information and other private information we are required to protect, such as our Team Members' personal information. We have taken several steps to prevent the occurrence of security breaches in this respect. Our systems are carefully designed and configured to protect against data loss or compromise. For example, because of the number of credit card transactions processed in our Company-owned restaurants, Red Robin is required to maintain compliance per the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) for our networks and systems both at our Restaurant Support Center and Company-owned restaurants. Red Robin not only meets the requirements but also maintains a higher-level designation as a Merchant. These PCI compliance standards, set by a consortium of the major credit card companies, require annual assessment to ensure certain levels of system security and procedures are in place to protect our Guests' credit card and other personal information.
We engage external security assessors and consultants to review and advise us on our other data security practices with respect to protection of other sensitive personal information that we obtain from Guests and Team Members.
Marketing and Advertising
Our marketing strategy has been designed to foster awareness, elevate brand equity, encourage consideration, and ultimately drive traffic and sales. Our approach encompasses a blend of highly targeted and efficient paid, owned, and earned media channels, including paid search, programmatic digital, social media, creators, reputation management, search engine optimization, social community management, loyalty programs, personalized email marketing, local restaurant marketing, public relations, and investor relations. Our digital footprint extends across platforms such as RedRobin.com, our mobile application, and a dedicated Catering site.
Funding for these initiatives is primarily derived from cooperative creative development efforts and national marketing funds. Beginning in 2023, we initiated a strategic realignment, optimizing the allocation of resources across paid and earned media, and local marketing endeavors. This realignment emphasizes personalized Guest engagement within the communities we serve, with a focused objective to enhance the dine-in experience. Recently, we undertook an extensive consumer research initiative, coupled with a segmentation study, to deepen our understanding of today's Guests. This research informed our growth targets, reinforced the distinctive essence of our brand, and guides our commitment to delivering on our promise to Guests. Additionally, utilizing a Guest satisfaction tool in our restaurants, we actively gather feedback to identify areas for improvement, enhancing restaurant performance and tracking progress. Continuous performance monitoring relative to industry peers, coupled with testing potential business drivers among current and potential Guests, promotes our adaptability and responsiveness to market dynamics.
Leveraging our expansive Red Robin Royalty TM database, comprising over 13 million members, we also gain valuable insights into Guest behavior, frequency, and purchase patterns. Our brand creative and messaging celebrate the shared values and playful spirit of both our Guests and our brand, seamlessly extending across craveable food, distinctive positioning, dine-in experience, and emotional connections with Guests.
Central to our vision for future growth is a three-pillar approach, strategically designed to drive stronger dine-in experiences, facilitate more convenient off-premises options (including carryout, catering, and delivery), and employ retention-focused marketing initiatives to enhance Guest frequency. We firmly believe that this holistic approach positions us for growth in the dynamic landscape of our industry.
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Executive Officers
The following table sets forth information about our current executive officers:
Name Age Position
G. J. Hart 66 President, Chief Executive Officer, and Member of the Board of Directors
Todd Wilson 46 Chief Financial Officer
Sarah Mussetter 45 Chief Legal Officer and Secretary
Jyoti Lynch 52 Chief Technology Officer
Meghan Spuler 43 Chief People Officer
Kevin Mayer 54 Chief Marketing Officer
G.J. Hart. Mr. Hart joined Red Robin as President and Chief Executive Officer in September 2022. Mr. Hart served as a director of the Company since August 2019. Mr. Hart most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Torchy’s Tacos from 2018 until 2021. He was previously the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of California Pizza Kitchen from 2011 to 2018. From 2000 to 2011, Mr. Hart served as President of Texas Roadhouse Holdings, LLC and as Chief Executive Officer and member of the board from 2004 to 2011. Mr. Hart also held leadership positions at Al Copeland Investments, TriFoods International, New Zealand Lamb Company, and Shenandoah Valley Poultry earlier in his career.
Todd Wilson. Mr. Wilson joined Red Robin as Chief Financial Officer in November 2022. Mr. Wilson previously served as Chief Financial Officer at Hopdoddy Burger Bar and Hibar Hospitality from 2018 until 2022. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Finance for Jamba Juice from 2016 until 2018. From 2011 to 2016, Mr. Wilson served as Division CFO and Vice President of Finance at Bloomin’ Brands.
Sarah Mussetter. Ms. Mussetter joined Red Robin as Chief Legal Officer and Secretary in December 2022. She previously held the roles of Associate General Counsel and Vice President, Deputy General Counsel for the Company from 2011 to 2021. Prior to joining the Company Ms. Mussetter worked for the law firm of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP). Most recently, Ms. Mussetter was SVP Deputy General Counsel for Skillsoft Corp., a learning application and technology company, from September 2021 to December 2022.
Jyoti Lynch. Ms. Lynch joined Red Robin as Chief Technology Officer in June 2023. She previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Jamba Juice from 2017 to 2019, and as Chief Information Officer at European Wax Center from 2019 to 2023. She has also served in senior technology leadership roles at Blockbuster, Inc., Fortium Partners, and Speed Commerce.
Meghan Spuler. Ms. Spuler joined Red Robin as Chief People Officer in December 2023. Prior to joining the Company, she held the roles of Chief People Officer of Eckerd Connects from 2021 to 2023. From 2016 to 2021, Ms. Spuler served as Director of Human Resources, Senior Director of Human Resources, and Vice President of Human Resources for Bloomin' Brands.
Kevin Mayer. Mr. Mayer joined Red Robin as Chief Marketing Officer in May 2023. Prior to joining the Company, he served as Chief Marketing Officer of Pedego Electric Bikes during 2022. He previously held the roles of Executive Vice President, Chief Growth and Brand Officer and Chief Marketing Officer from 2014 to 2022 at BJ's Restaurants. From 2012 to 2013 Mr. Mayer served as Vice President of Marketing for Volkswagen of America.
Competition
The restaurant industry is highly competitive, and our Guests may choose to purchase food at supermarkets or other food retailers. Although, for some occasions, we compete against other segments of the restaurant industry, including quick-service and fast-casual restaurants, our primary competition is with other sit-down, casual dining restaurants within the full-service dining segment. In addition, we compete to attract Guests for off-premises dining occasions, including online ordering, delivery, to-go, and catering. The number, size, and strength of competitors vary by region, concept, market, and even restaurant. We compete on the basis of taste, quality, price of food and related Guest value, Guest service, ambiance, location, and overall dining experience.
We believe our Guest demographics, strong brand recognition, Gourmet Burger concept, family friendly atmosphere, attractive price-value relationship, and the quality of our food and service enable us to differentiate ourselves from our casual dining competitors. We believe we compete favorably with respect to each of these factors. Our competitors include well-established national chains which have more substantial marketing resources. We also compete with many other restaurant and retail establishments for Team Members.
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Seasonality
Our business is subject to seasonal fluctuations. Sales in most of our restaurants were historically higher during the spring and summer months and winter holiday season due to factors including our retail-oriented locations and family appeal. As a result, our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly as a result of seasonality, and seasonality of sales may shift over time. Accordingly, results for any one quarter or year are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for any other quarter or for any year.
Trademarks
We have a number of registered trademarks and service marks, including the Red Robin®, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers®, "YUMMM®", Red Robin Gourmet Burgers + Brews®, and Red Robin Royalty® and logos. We have registered these marks, among others, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and we have registered various trademarks in certain other international jurisdictions. Pursuant to our licensing arrangement with Donatos®, we license the right to use the Donatos® trademark.
In order to better protect our brand, we have also registered the Internet domain name www.redrobin.com. We believe our trademarks, service marks, and other intellectual property rights have significant value and are important to our brand building efforts and the marketing of our restaurant concept.
Government Regulation
We are subject to laws and regulations relating to the preparation and sale of food, including regulations regarding product safety, nutritional content, and menu labeling. Our collection or use of personal information about Guests or our Team Members is regulated at the federal and state levels, including the California Consumer Privacy Act.
Our restaurants are subject to various licensing requirements and other regulations by state, and local health, safety, fire, and other authorities, including licensing requirements, regulations for the sale of alcoholic beverages and food, and public health related indoor capacity restrictions. We obtain and maintain necessary licenses, permits, and approvals to run our business. The development and construction of new restaurants is also subject to compliance with applicable zoning, land use, and environmental regulations. We are also subject to certain guidelines under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and various state codes and regulations, which require restaurants and our brand to provide full and equal access to persons with physical disabilities.
We are subject to federal regulation and state laws that regulate the offer and sale of franchises and substantive aspects of the franchisor-franchisee relationship. Various federal and state labor laws govern our relationship with our Team Members and can significantly impact our operating costs. These laws govern minimum wage requirements, overtime pay, tip credits, paid leave, meal and rest breaks, unemployment tax rates, health care and other benefits, workers' compensation rates, citizenship or residency requirements, child labor regulations, and discriminatory conduct.
Available Information
We use our investor relations website, ir.redrobin.com, as a channel of distribution of Company information. The information we post through this channel may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor this channel, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, conference calls, webcasts, and other investor events. Investors and others can receive notifications of new information posted on our investor relations website by signing up for email alerts. We make available through this investor relations website, free of charge, our Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. All SEC filings are also available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Our website and the information contained on or connected to our website are not incorporated by reference herein, and our web address is included as an inactive textual reference only.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information and statements contained in this report are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "PSLRA") codified at Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements which are other than statements of historical facts. These statements may be identified, without limitation, by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "future," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "will," "would," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things: (i) our business objectives and strategic plans, including projected or anticipated growth, including in Guest traffic and revenue, growth strategies, planned improvements in operational efficiencies, gross margins, and
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expense management and enhancements to our restaurant environments and Guest engagement, including the anticipated impacts of innovations, improvements, marketing and branding strategies, and changes to our loyalty program; (ii) our expectations about pricing strategy and average check size; (iii) our expectations of the competitiveness of the labor market and our ability to hire, train, and retain Team Members, as well as the success of our Managing Partner and Market Partner compensation program; (iv) anticipated capital investments and the results of such investments including in our restaurant refresh and remodel program and our digital ecosystem, information technology systems, our restaurant development program, and the anticipated related benefits; (v) our expectations about restaurant operating costs, including commodity and food prices and labor and energy costs; (vi) anticipated legislation and other regulation of our business; (vii) anticipated continued investments in our partnership with Donatos®; (viii) our expectations about anticipated uses of, and risks associated with future cash flows, liquidity, future capital expenditures and other capital deployment opportunities, and taxes; (ix) our expectations regarding competition; and (x) our expectations regarding demand, consumer preferences, and consumer discretionary spending; (xi) our expectations regarding the implementation and anticipated benefits of our ESG, diversity, equity and inclusion and other initiatives; (xii) our ability to successfully implement our food safety programs, (xii) our ability to successfully implement our health and safety initiatives; (xiii) the seasonality of our business; (xiv) our ability to successfully implement, and our expectations regarding, our North Star five-point plan to enhance the Company’s competitive positioning; (xv) our expectations and other statements regarding interest rates, commodity prices and other factors; (xvi) the expected impacts of government regulations on our operations and financial condition, and changes in such regulation; (xvii) the implementation of our restaurant management transition program, including anticipated benefits to our sales, Team Member performance and engagement, Guest traffic, community focus and results of operations; and (xiii) the other risks discussed under Risk Factors below.
Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such expectations may prove to be materially incorrect due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties.
In some cases, information regarding certain important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from a forward-looking statement appears together with such statement. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include those described under “Part I - Item 1A. Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with other cautionary statements included in this and other reports we file with the SEC.
All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us, or persons acting on our behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances.
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