Pregnant Mom Surprised By Eatery's Act of Kindness

When it comes to Red Robin, it's usually the catchy, "Red Robin, yummmmm," commercial jingle that first pops in one's mind.

Now the famous burger chain might have reason to change their slogan to, "Red Robin, awwwww."

The Colorado-based chain of more than 400 restaurants is in the headlines for a good Samaritan act by one of its managers that, it turns out, is not all that unusual.

A manager at the Red Robin in Apex, N.C., paid it forward by comping the dinner of one very pregnant woman dining with her family.

As first reported by Consumerist, the manager joked with the woman, Amie Sivon, a local attorney, about her Red Robin dinner possibly being her last meal before giving birth. When Sivon and her husband, Jason, dining with their 2-year-old son, got the bill, Sivon's $11.50 meal had been deducted from their total, with nothing more said than a "MOM 2 BEE GOOD LUC" note.

"The manager said nothing to us about it," Jason Sivon told ABCNews.com. "We were already happy with the service so that action really blew us away. I looked at my wife and told her that I guessed we would be coming here more often."

The now-viral story - told by Sivon to Consumerist only in hopes it would "make businesses see the value of being more personable," he told ABCNews.com - is nothing out of the ordinary for Red Robin team members.

"These kinds of random acts of kindness in our restaurants are part of our culture," said Kevin Caulfield, a Red Robin spokesperson.

"Our team members, day in and day out, will bestow these random acts," he said. "They're empowered to do special things for our guests to make the experience a great one for our guests."

Caulfield - who confirmed that this specific random act was carried out by manager Charles Vann, a 7-year Red Robin employee, during a weekend dinner shift - says the tradition goes as far back as the company's founding in 1969 and is now just part of the culture, not something they specifically demand of their more than 30,000 team members.

"It just evolved as part of the Red Robin culture and brand," he said. "Any new team member quickly sees that bestowing these acts of kindness is really ingrained in the culture. They see the idea manifest every day and so it becomes part of the way that they serve the guests every day."

The chain even has a section titled "Unbridled Acts" on its website devoted to the thousands of emails, phone calls, letters and comments they get each year from customers telling the company of their own personal encounter with a Red Robin random act of kindness.

The three featured on the website now - they're rotated frequently to accommodate all the stories - highlight Red Robin employees who dug through trash to find a forgotten keycard, employees who pooled together $300 to replace money stolen from a left-behind wallet and employees who made a four-year-old girl's waitress-for-the-day dreams come true.

"I can't say enough that it's just part of our culture," Caulfield said. "Anything we can do to make the guest experience extra special and go the extra mile to make sure the guest experience is as memorable as it can be."

While "unbridled acts" may be an everyday occurrence for Red Robin employees, the Sivons were so pleased with the restaurant's generosity that, as predicted, the newly-expanded family returned to say thanks.

"We did go back to that Red Robin about a week ago and took our new daughter there," Jason Sivon said. "The same manager was on duty, and we made it a point to say thank you to him and introduce him to our new daughter."

via gma.yahoo.com

Comments

[The Last Archimedean]

Wow. That was a very nice thing to do.

And a great way to draw in business. Now she's going to tell all her friends and family and they'll be loyal for a long time to come.

[Hellbound Alleee]

This IS nice.

Now, I'd like to see the executives pay it forward. Yes, we would al like more personalized service and have employees pay for our stuff, because it's really nice of them.

The truth is, people who work in the service industry are often struggling just to get by. Those at the lowest end have been shown to be quite generous people. People with little money are often liable to give it to people out of kindness.

So stuff like this going around should show these corporations just how valuable their employees are to their businesses. They should encourage this kind of behavior by offering incentives like healthcare and compensative pay. That would be a good start.

[Boho]

I love Red Robin. At least at the one by me, everyone working there just seems so happy. The food and service are consistently great. I've been there many of times and have never been anything but extremely satisfied. The upper echelons of this place clearly know what they're doing when they're hiring people.

[Lita]

Red Robin is awesome. Great food, great employees. I really need to get back to the one by me; not being able to drive really limits how often I get out to restaurants. :|

(And for what it's worth, they don't even bat an eyelash when a twenty-three year old woman, after having had a couple of alcoholic drinks and a very good adult time, asks for a balloon on the way out. Best night I ever had. :D)

[Jason Thorn]

God bless Red Robin. Kindness as part of doing business? How counter-culture!

I know of one nearby, heard the food was good, but now have to go there on my next paycheck. Reward this kind of behavior and give them all the business you can!