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Red Robin to roll out new kids’ menuRed Robin to roll out new kids’ menu

GALLERY: A look at Red Robin's new kids' menu

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

May 14, 2015

2 Min Read
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Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. will roll out on June 15 a new kids’ menu that includes three new items, a line of unlimited sides and bottomless drinks.

The new items are:

Meatball Lollipops: Six meatballs, each skewered on a breadstick and available in teriyaki, marinara or four-cheese sauce, for $4.99. Nine lollipops are $5.99.

Big Bark, Little Bites: Six honey-battered corn-dog bites made of chicken hot dogs, for $4.29, or $5.29 for nine bites.

Swirly Twirly Pasta: Cavatappi pasta in marinara sauce, topped with Parmesan cheese, for $4.79, or $5.79 for a portion that’s 50-percent larger.

Kids’ entrées are available in two sizes, Red’s Little Bites and Red’s Big Bites, and also include macaroni and cheese; chicken skewers with a choice of barbecue, ranch or teriyaki sauce; hamburgers available in beef, vegetable, turkey, Boca or grilled chicken; chicken tenders, battered cod and pizza. They are priced between $4.79 and $4.99 for Red’s Little Bites, except for the cod, which is $5.79. Big Bites are $1 extra.

All of the entrées include bottomless milk, juice, lemonade or soda. Bottomless Freckled Lemonade, a signature Red Robin beverage made with strawberries, is an additional $1.19. A bottomless root beer float or strawberry smoothie are each $1.99, and milkshakes are $2.99.

The entrées also come with one of seven bottomless sides: steak fries, apples, a side salad, fruit salad, carrots with ranch dressing, mandarin orange sections or steamed broccoli.

At the table, kids’ placemats are activity sheets that will be refreshed periodically with new games.

The actual menu features American landmarks with silly twists, such as Mount Rushmore with George Washington wearing glasses and Abraham Lincoln wearing a cowboy hat, Seattle’s Space Needle stacked with onion rings, and the Statue of Liberty holding a cheeseburger instead of a torch.

As part of the restaurant’s ongoing remodeling under the moniker of Red Robin Burgers & Brews, the new waiting area has a chalkboard for kids to draw on, and the family-friendly dining rooms, separated from the 21-and-over bar area, is decorated with playful elements such as artwork on the walls and ceilings and Lego sculptures of hamburgers, French fries and milkshakes. Red Robin previously said it would remodel 125 of its more than 500 locations over the course of the year. Remodeling will continue through 2016.

“The new kids’ experiences were designed to spark conversation and creativity at the table, while offering a delicious dinner that delights all the senses,” Denny Marie Post, Red Robin’s executive vice president and chief concept officer, said in a press release.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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