• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
RetailRed Robin

Red Robin Is the Latest Restaurant Chain to Embrace Digital Ordering

By
John Kell
John Kell
Contributing Writer and author of CIO Intelligence
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
John Kell
John Kell
Contributing Writer and author of CIO Intelligence
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 12, 2017, 8:30 AM ET
Photo by Mark Ballogg

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers is launching the chain’s first-ever digital ordering platform, the latest restaurant brand to embrace the web as diners increasingly migrate to online channels to place orders.

The casual-dining chain, which operates 550 locations across the U.S. and Canada, says online orders booked via redrobin.com will let diners place orders with a specific pick-up time, prepay for those orders, and also feature customization of the burgers in a way that mirrors the experience in the brick-and-mortar restaurant locations.

“Consumers want ease of access in the order process, order pickup and every step of that experience,” Jason Rusk, vice president of Red Robin’s (RRGB) alternative platforms, told Fortune in an interview. “The reason you are ordering online is because you don’t have time to sit down in the restaurant.”

Rusk is right in his view that consumers say they want to go online to place (and pay) for their restaurant orders. Orders booked via the web, mobile apps and text messages account for 1.9 billion food service visits, growing 18% last year according to research firm The NPD Group while overall traffic to restaurants actually dipped a bit in 2016. Dinner is often the meal that sees the most orders placed digitally, a trend that favors Red Robin’s burger-focused menu.

But NPD Group says that orders placed with a mobile app are growing more strongly, likely bolstered by the efforts digital leaders like Starbucks (SBUX) and Domino’s (DPZ) have made to make app-based ordering. The Red Robin offering is web-only (though also enabled on mobile if using a smartphone web browser).

Rusk said Red Robin opted not to add digital ordering capabilities to an app because casual dining chains don’t enjoy the steady pace of visits like Starbucks, which can become a daily habit for loyal coffee drinkers. “We won’t get the same user acceptance via a mobile app,” he explained. “I think we will evaluate over time if an app makes sense for us.”

Casual dining chains have started to embrace the trend of digital ordering in recent years, with DineEquity’s (DIN) Applebee’s and Brinker’s (EAT) Chili’s also debuting their own online ordering platforms in recent years. Like Red Robin, those two rivals also work with online and mobile ordering startup Olo to ensure the back end of the technology would run smoothly with their physical restaurants.

“61% of all restaurant industry transactions are not for food that’s consumed at the restaurant,” says Noah Glass, CEO of Olo. He says Olo aims to help restaurants think about the orders that consumers want to place when they want to visit a restaurant—but don’t actually want to sit down and eat at the restaurant. The goal for Olo and Red Robin is to ensure those orders are booked efficiently, especially when factoring in advanced orders, and can also be delivered to the customers smoothly when they arrive at the restaurant for pickup.

That’s a shift in thinking that presents both a challenge and an opportunity for all restaurant chains aiming to embrace digit. Throughout the industry’s history, the focus has been on menu innovation, building alluring restaurants that people want to visit, and training waitstaff. Now, they have to think about how to manage and scale up an e-commerce business that doesn’t always fit neatly in a brick-and-mortar retail location.

But the trend of digital ordering will only accelerate, forcing big players like McDonald’s (MCD) to think about what mobile ordering should look like as this trend becomes more pervasive.

While coffee purveyors, pizza chains, and fast-casual players have been among the earliest adopters, burger-focused chains have been late to the digital ordering game. Shake Shack’s (SHAK) mobile ordering app only went fully national in January. McDonald’s is still just really starting to talk about it publicly. And Red Robin is only jumping on the trend just now.

Experts have said there’s a perception out there that burgers just won’t hold up as well for delivery and to-go orders like coffee and pizza. But Red Robin disagrees with that assessment.

“People have told me in the past that hamburgers don’t travel well,” Rusk said. “But the number one item consumed off premise is a hamburger,” pointing to the particular success that fast-food chains like McDonald’s have had in selling their burgers to go.

A higher price point and more intricate burger from Red Robin would likely come with higher expectations than say, a $1 burger sold by Wendy’s (WEN). Red Robin says it is experimenting with packaging innovation to ensure the burgers it sells via digital ordering will retain their freshness and stay hot. That packaging isn’t finalized just yet, but the company says a national launch could be ready soon.

“For us, it is about making sure that our gourmet burgers travel even better than everybody else,” said Rusk.

About the Author
By John KellContributing Writer and author of CIO Intelligence

John Kell is a contributing writer for Fortune and author of Fortune’s CIO Intelligence newsletter.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Retail

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Retail

delivery
Retailecommerce
Walmart’s upper hand over Amazon in the $1 trillion e-commerce race: 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a superstore
By Anne D'Innocenzio and The Associated PressMay 16, 2026
18 hours ago
gamestop
RetailM&A
‘Neither credible or attractive’: eBay slaps down GameStop’s $56 billion takeover bid
By Michelle Chapman and The Associated PressMay 12, 2026
4 days ago
amazon
RetailAmazon
Amazon’s promise of 30-minute delivery collides with memories of Domino’s drivers crashing in the late 1980s
By Anne D'Innocenzio and The Associated PressMay 12, 2026
4 days ago
India’s Gen Z turned Diet Coke into a status symbol. A can shortage just made it a luxury
Asiadiet coke
India’s Gen Z turned Diet Coke into a status symbol. A can shortage just made it a luxury
By Brendan Cosgrove and Morning BrewMay 11, 2026
6 days ago
Content creator Logan Walter
SuccessJobs
This Gen Zer dropped out of college to become an influencer—now he’s a millionaire from selling products like Medicube and Neutrogena on TikTok Shop
By Emma BurleighMay 11, 2026
6 days ago
Investors are betting big on senior housing. There’s just one problem—the baby boomers they’re chasing can’t pay the rent
Real Estatebaby boomers
Investors are betting big on senior housing. There’s just one problem—the baby boomers they’re chasing can’t pay the rent
By Sydney LakeMay 9, 2026
8 days ago

Most Popular

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
AI
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
20 hours ago
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
Politics
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
10 hours ago
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
Future of Work
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
24 hours ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
5 days ago
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
Future of Work
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
By Jacqueline MunisMay 16, 2026
20 hours ago
Despite having a $165 million net worth, Scarlett Johansson says work-life balance doesn’t exist—and the first step to success is admitting that
Success
Despite having a $165 million net worth, Scarlett Johansson says work-life balance doesn’t exist—and the first step to success is admitting that
By Preston ForeMay 13, 2026
4 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.