Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Q1 2025 Earnings Report

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.19
• Consensus EPS: -$0.57
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.76
• One Year Ago EPS: -$0.80

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $392.35 million
• Expected Revenue: $388.77 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$3.58 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2025
• Date: 5/29/2025
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, May 29, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 4:30PM ET

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (NASDAQ:RRGB), together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises casual-dining restaurants, in North America and one Canadian province. Its restaurants primarily offer burgers and pizza, appetizers, salads, soups, other entrees, desserts, wings, milkshakes, alcoholic and non-alcoholic specialty drinks, cocktails, wine, and beers. The company was founded in 1969 and is based in Englewood, Colorado.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Strong Q1 results: revenues of $392.4 M (+1.0% YoY) and restaurant-level operating margin rose 30 bps to 14.3% on the back of menu price increases and labor efficiency gains.
• Adjusted EBITDA jumped to $27.9 M in Q1 versus $13.4 M a year ago, driven by cost‐efficiency improvements throughout the P&L and menu pricing actions.
• Guest traffic declined 3.5% in Q1 and management expects roughly a 4% traffic drop for the full year, with Q2 comps down about 3% after lapping loyalty program credits.
• 2025 guidance narrowed to $1.21 B–$1.23 B in revenue with comparable sales flat, restaurant-level profit margin of 12%–13%, and adjusted EBITDA of $60 M–$65 M; no further menu price hikes are planned as tariff costs are absorbed.
• New CEO Dave Face outlines priorities to sustain operational gains, drive sustainable traffic growth via a revamped marketing strategy (with Russ Klein leading), reduce debt and reinvest in restaurants.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Incorporated First Quarter twenty twenty five Earnings Call. This conference is being recorded. During management's presentation and in response to your questions, they will be making forward statements about the company's business outlook and expectations. These forward looking statements and all other statements that are not historical facts reflect management's beliefs and predictions as of today and therefore are subject to risks and uncertainties as described in the company's SEC filings. Management will also discuss non GAAP financial measures as part of today's conference call.

[Operator]

These non GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, but are intended to illustrate alternative measures of the company's operating performance that may be useful. Reconciliations of the non GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in the earnings release. The company has posted its first quarter twenty twenty five earnings release on its website at ir.redrobin.com. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Red Robin's President and Chief Executive Officer, Dave Face.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for your interest in Red Robin. Let me begin by sharing how energized I am to be here as the CEO of Red Robin. Although new to the executive team, I've served as Chairman of the Board since 2019 and have been well versed in our turnaround plan to make this beloved brand relevant again. Under GJ's leadership in its North Star plan, we made critical investments while also taking steps to reduce overall operating costs. The focus on elevating the guest experience while building a winning culture has been integral to establishing a foundation upon which we can grow.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

I intend to continue to build upon this progress, and I'll walk through my initial priorities, and area of focus later in the call. To that end, I want to personally thank GJ for all that he's done for Red Robin during his tenure both as CEO and as a member of the Board. He and I have built a trusted, long standing relationship, and I appreciate his willingness to collaborate during this transitional period to best position the company for its next chapter. With that, G. J.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Will now provide a brief recap of our progress. Todd will then review our first quarter results before I dive into our initial go forward thoughts and priorities for Red Robin.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thank you, Dave, and good afternoon, everyone. I would also like to echo Dave's optimism for the future of Red Robin. I'm very proud of what our team has accomplished over the past two point five years. Through their hard work and dedication, we successfully laid the foundation for our comeback journey. Let me quickly recap some of what we accomplished over the past two point five five years to put the company in a position to drive long term shareholder value and enhance Red Robin's competitive positioning.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

First, we took steps to make Red Robin an operations focused company through our managing partner program, which incentivizes our restaurant leaders to deliver strong and balanced financial results. Second, we elevated the guest experience through investments and upgrades in both food and hospitality. From rolling out flat top grills to delivery thicker, juicier and more flavorful burger to upgrading our bar menu and bringing back industry best practice staffing models. We are seeing tangible proof that our guests have begun to recognize and appreciate our efforts. Third, we optimized guest engagement through our relaunch loyalty program in 2024, allowing our guests to earn a reward much faster and encouraging more frequent visitation to capitalize on their earned rewards.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

The revamped Red Robin Royalty program has continued to spur membership growth with approximately 15,300,000 members at the end of the first quarter. And lastly, we drove growth in comparable restaurant revenue and unit level profitability in both the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four and the first quarter of twenty twenty five. On our last call in February, I shared that in 2025, we expect to become meaningfully more efficient and productive with our labor costs. Todd will expand on this in a moment, but I'm proud of the work the team accomplished to deliver on this goal in the first quarter, and I'm confident it will continue from here. In closing, it has truly been a privilege to lead such an iconic brand over the past two point five years.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

With key elements of our plan now in place and we have delivered strong financial results in the first quarter, we have reached a natural transition point in Red Robin's transformation, and I am confident the company is in great hands with Dave to lead the next phase of this journey. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Todd to walk you through the financial performance.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thank you, G. K, and good afternoon, everyone. In the first quarter, total revenues were $392,400,000 versus $388,500,000 in the first quarter of fiscal twenty twenty four.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

The increase is due primarily to a comparable restaurant revenue increase of 3.1%, led by a 6.8% increase in net menu price, outweighing a 3.5 decline in guest traffic. Restaurant level operating profit as a percentage of restaurant revenue was 14.3%, an increase of three thirty basis points compared to the first quarter of twenty twenty four. If you recall, one of our focus areas for 2025 is to become meaningfully more efficient with our labor costs. We're pleased with our results in the first quarter as our operators delivered traction faster than we expected. Congratulations to our operations team on this progress, and thank you for all of the hard work that goes into delivering these gains.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

General and administrative costs were $27,000,000 as compared to $25,800,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Selling expenses were $9,400,000 a decrease as compared to $13,500,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. The decrease results primarily from a reduction in media in the quarter, overlapping a marketing test last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $27,900,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty five, an increase of $14,500,000 versus the first quarter of twenty twenty four. Adjusted EBITDA increased due to cost efficiency gains throughout the P and L and particularly in labor, and the benefit of menu price increases.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

We ended the first quarter with $24,200,000 of cash and cash equivalents, dollars 9,100,000.0 of restricted cash and $35,000,000 available borrowing capacity under our revolving line of credit. As I shared on our last call, one of our financial priorities in 2025 is to position the company to refinance the term loan that matures in the first quarter of twenty twenty seven. During the first quarter, we used free cash flow we generated, coupled with approximately $5,800,000 of gross proceeds from monetizing three owned properties to repay approximately $17,800,000 of debt. This resulted in an outstanding principal balance under the credit agreement at quarter end of $171,700,000 Turning to our outlook, we will now provide the following guidance for 2025. First, total revenue of between $1,210,000,000 to $1,230,000,000 as compared to our prior guidance of $1,225,000,000 to $1,250,000,000 This incorporates expectations that annual comparable restaurant sales will be generally unchanged at approximately 0%, and we will end 2025 with three ninety three company owned restaurants in operation.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Second, restaurant level operating profit of 12% to 13%, in line with our prior guidance. Third, adjusted EBITDA of $60,000,000 to $65,000,000 also in line with our prior guidance. And finally, capital expenditures of approximately $30,000,000 as compared to twenty five million dollars to $30,000,000 previously. While our first quarter results exceeded our expectations, we have pared back our outlook for the remainder of the year due to the broader macro and consumer environment. Our guidance includes an expectation that guest traffic trends from the past few months continue for the remainder of the year.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

We've also included a cost headwind based on current tariff policies. I would note, we are not planning any menu price increases in the remainder of 2025. We anticipate absorbing the current expected impact of tariffs as we prioritize maintaining value for our guests. The great work of our operators to capture cost savings greater than we initially planned supports this approach. For the second quarter, I'd like to remind everyone that with the launch of our new loyalty program last year, we received a two twenty basis point benefit to our reported comparable restaurant sales in the second quarter of twenty twenty four from changes in loyalty revenue.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

We expect this not to recur in 2025, representing an approximate two forty basis point headwind for our second quarter of twenty twenty five comparable restaurant sales. For modeling purposes, we expect comparable restaurant sales in the second quarter, inclusive of this headwind, and with less benefit from menu price increase in the second quarter than the first, will decline approximately 3%. We do not expect loyalty revenue will have a meaningful impact on comparable restaurant sales in the third or fourth quarter. Before I turn the call back to Dave, on behalf of over 20,000 Red Robin team members across the country, I would like to extend a very heartfelt thank you to GJ. In senior leadership positions, we are stewards of the business for as long as we have the privilege to lead.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

I am certain the Red Robin business and our people are better for you having led this company. For me personally, it's been an honor to be your partner. Thank you. Dave, I'll turn the call back to you.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thanks, Todd. While we're pleased with the headlines of our first quarter financial results, we're far from claiming victory and there's still more work to be done as we continue the comeback journey of Red Robin. I've spent my initial four weeks meeting with the team, speaking with franchisees, visiting our restaurants and digging into every aspect of our business. I'm confident our team is energized by the changes we've implemented in the last two years, and they look forward to continuing the progress in the next chapter of transformation at Red Robin. Overall, our operational foundation is much stronger, led by the improvements the company has made in food quality and hospitality.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Importantly, our overall guest satisfaction scores showcase that our guests are recognizing these improvements. That said, as I've come up to speed over the past month, I still see room for improvement in certain areas of the guest experience, and we'll work to address those quickly. Our opportunity as we move ahead is to maintain the improvements we've made in the guest experience while putting strategies in place to drive sustainable growth in restaurant traffic and corresponding gains in profitability. To that end, I'd like to provide you with my initial high level priorities for Red Robin in 2025 and beyond. First, it's imperative that we retain and extend the progress that's been made in our operational execution, delivering a high quality guest experience while also improving our operating efficiency.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Second, it's critically important that we return Red Robin to sustainable traffic growth, and this begins with how we engage with the guest. We must creatively cut through the noise in today's marketplace and be bold when we see opportunities. In the near term, I'm working to ensure that we have the right marketing leader and strategy in place to restore Red Robin as the first choice option for consumers. Recently, Russ Klein has joined our team for a one year term to help us build our marketing foundation and strategy. Russ brings us a widely recognized track record of success in effectively reconnecting well known brands with their customer bases, and we're happy to have him.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Third, we must work to strengthen our financial position by reducing debt and increasing free cash flow generation. This will allow us greater flexibility to take advantage of the investment opportunities to drive sustainable top line growth. Fourth, we must reinvest back in our restaurants, so the restaurant facilities and atmosphere upgrades we've made to food quality and hospitality. To generate the resources required for these efforts, we have many levers available. I'm encouraged by the team's demonstrated success removing costs throughout the P and L.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

We continue to see opportunity there, and I'm confident we'll capture additional benefits through their focused actions. In addition, part of my initial onboarding effort has been to work with the team to evaluate even further opportunities. Underlying all of this is an understanding that Red Robin's core equity is providing everyday value and great food in a family friendly atmosphere. I've shared initial thoughts here, but it's still too early for me to share full details after only four weeks of the job. The team and I have already made great progress, and I look forward to sharing additional details in the coming months.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

I truly believe that at its core, the Red Robin brand is full of opportunity. Through focused efforts on our key priorities, I'm confident it will deliver significant value to both our guests and our shareholders. With that, we're now happy to take questions. Operator, please open the lines. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press 2 to remove yourself from the queue.

[Operator]

For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from the line of Todd Brooks with The Benchmark Company. Please proceed with your question.

[Todd Brooks, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company LLC]

Hey, thanks for taking my question. GJ, thanks for all you've done for the brand. And Dave, glad to get to know you as the baton gets passed for the next leg of the journey here.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thank you, Todd.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thanks, Todd.

[Todd Brooks, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company LLC]

Yes. I just wanted to lead off, and it's a question about the profitability that you guys were able to generate in Q1. I know, Todd, you talked about some anticipated pressure from eating tariffs versus pricing for them on the menu. That's in the 12% to 13% guidance range for restaurant level margin. But obviously, that's a very fluid situation as well.

[Todd Brooks, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company LLC]

So just wanted to understand the efficiency that you generated in the first quarter, but kind of maintaining that full year guidance in the 12% to 13% range. Is that purely the tariff pressure? Is there something else there as well?

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yes, Todd. Hey, Todd Wilson here. Good to talk to you. Yes, a few things I think I'd call out thereof. One, we were really encouraged in Q1 and that's part of the way that we beat it.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Frankly, the primary way that we beat our profit expectation in Q1. Our team really got after labor quickly and we saw a lot of fast progress there, faster than we expected. So that's been really encouraging. I would call out as well, we've watched guest satisfaction scores to make sure we're not giving up anything there and our overall satisfaction scores continue very strong. That's very encouraging.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

To your question though, as we thought about the balance of the year, traffic, you may have seen in the press release, traffic in the first quarter was down 3.5 points. We talked about it last time, the front half of Q1 was stronger. We anticipated that. We saw that kind of normalize in the back half of Q1. And so we've kind of carried forward a down four traffic rate through the balance of the year.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

That's haircut to what we had in our original expectations. And so that's what's that plus the tariffs, which you alluded to, but it's really just a I think a prudent haircut on the top line that's what's driving us to hold the guidance for the year. The other piece as well is we're still early in the year, right? We've got a long way to go here. It's important to us that when we put out a number, we're confident we're going to deliver it.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

And so you'll see us be prudent there. But those are really the moving parts of traffic and the tariffs.

[Todd Brooks, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company LLC]

Okay, great. Another one for Todd, if I can. Can you walk through you talked about menu price contribution, water falling as the year goes on. Can you walk through how that proceeds for Q2, Q3 and Q4?

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yes, Todd, we have talked about this before. And as you really kind of look at that progression through the year, we were almost seven points of contribution in Q1 and we do expect that that will wind down through the year. As we said on the call, we don't anticipate taking any further pricing action this year. When you look at the quarterly sequencing, I'll talk in terms of just total check growth. When you put price, mix, discounts altogether, we're looking for about 4% check growth in Q2, '4 percent in Q3, and then as pricing falls off, it'll be about 2% in Q4 is our expectation.

[Todd Brooks, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company LLC]

Okay, thanks. And then one more strategic question, and I'll hop back in queue. If we're getting close to being a year into the changes in the loyalty program, if you guys look at the results so far, it seemed like really kind of encouraging results out of the gate and we've still seen growth in the program. But have the unlocks around frequency played out the way you expected or either GJ on the way out or Dave on the way in? How much more opportunity is there to lever RevRob and royalty more effectively in 2025? Thanks.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yes. Hey, Todd. Yes, I would tell you that we are seeing the same kind of increase that we talked about last quarter. And I'll also tell you that some of these numbers, like 22% of our visits are from lapsed users. That's a really good number in terms of our visits overall.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

And we're holding fairly close to new guests being 20% of our visits. So this program is really working, and I think as we dial this thing up further, there's further opportunity here. But I'll let Dave.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yes, let me just piggyback on agree with him. I think there's still significant opportunity in the program, the strength of it to grow it and also to how we use it. I think there's an opportunity for us to be smarter about how we implement and use pieces of program, not that we've been bad at it, think we're just learning and we're getting better as we go. I think there's still significant upside there.

[Todd Brooks, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company LLC]

Okay, great. Thank you all.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thanks, Todd.

[Operator]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from the line of Jeremy Hamblin with Craig Hallum Capital Group. Please proceed with your question.

[Will Forsberg, Associate Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC]

Hey, guys. This is Will on for Jeremy. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess I wanted to go back to the comp trends. So Q1, stronger first half, little weaker second half.

[Will Forsberg, Associate Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC]

I guess, how should we think about quarter to date traffic and check? And then to follow-up, I'm just curious on the Hot Honey LTO and how that's kind of stacked up to your guys' expectations in testing?

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Hey, Will. Todd here. I'll start and then these guys will add in, I'm sure. As you think about the second quarter, I just kind of talked through the check side to Todd Brooks' question. The traffic side, we really we're thinking about the balance of the year on the traffic side and kind of a down four range.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

And that's consistent with what we saw to end Q1 as well as what we've seen to start the quarter here. So if you think about Q2, you've got that from traffic, generally check will offset that. And then I did call out on the prepared remarks, the headwind from lapping some of the credits that we saw last year from the loyalty launch, right? So that's a key call out in Q2. It's more about what happened last year, but you'll see it in our reported Q2 number.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

So I'd say quarter to date trends are very consistent with that, and that's really what we based our guidance on is just kind of the real fact pattern that we're seeing right now. I'll jump in, in terms of the Hot Honey promotion. We're very happy with that promotion. It exceeded our expectations and feel great about it.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yeah, I'll just add to that. I think we feel good about the Hot Honey promotion, as G. J. Said. That being said, I think we need to figure out ways to bend the curve on traffic.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

We know that, which is why we're focused on it, why it's one of the priorities that I mentioned in my remarks. So, good work on it, but at the end of the day, we've gotta bend that curve, and we know that we're focused on how we do that.

[Will Forsberg, Associate Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC]

Got it. I appreciate the color there. And then as far as closures, it sounds like you're still expecting 10 to 15 for the year, maybe closer to that higher side of the range. But guess how can we think about timing for the balance of the year?

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Will, Todd here again. I think you heard that right. I called out the three ninety three restaurants in the prepared remarks that we expect to end the year with. That would have us down 14 on the year in total. Yeah, the way we're thinking about it right now, we do see those relatively evenly spread through the remainder of the year.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

If we were to see a change there, I think it would certainly be for the better that we're able to accelerate some of these. We've had some good luck in discussions with landlords and a few cases at least that may give us an opportunity to move a little bit quicker there where it makes sense. But at this point, I'd say we think that that's spread throughout the remainder of the year pretty evenly.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Let me add to Todd's point, separate from this on the 70 restaurant closures. The success that our operations team that we saw in the broad footprint of the business extended to those restaurants. And so, we've made significant progress in improving the performance of many of the restaurants on that list. It's too soon to kind of say which ones are on or off, but we're encouraged by the progress that's been made and the improvement in performance of quite a number of restaurants on that list that we've got. So I just want to make sure we point that out.

[Will Forsberg, Associate Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC]

Understood. Thank you, guys.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thanks, Will.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Alex Slagle with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.

[Alexander Slagle, Stock Analyst at Jefferies LLC]

All right, thanks. I'd like to extend my thanks to GJ as well and Dave, welcome to the call.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thanks Alex.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thanks Alex, appreciate you man.

[Alexander Slagle, Stock Analyst at Jefferies LLC]

What do you guys think? High level, we think about the handoff in leadership, leveraging each of your unique skill sets. We've seen a great foundation put in place over the last couple of years, the North Star plan. As we transition, Dave, to your leadership, what really changes or anything we should think about from this perspective going forward?

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yeah, I mean, I'll start off and I'll let G. J. Jump in. We're both smiling because we have a pretty close philosophy on how we think about restaurants. And so this has been a pretty smooth transition all the way around.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Want to say again, thanks to G. J. For the collaboration and the work we've done together on this. I think it's tonality. I think it's focus.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

I mean, GJ came in and did the right things that this business required when he came in. It needed a reset on labor and operations focus, and he did that. He needed a reset on food, and he did that. And he needed a reset on culture, and he did that. He put all those things in place that anyone coming in would love to have as a foundation to build on, and I think that's how I look at it.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

In terms of my areas of focus, it's the things we talked about. And I don't think they're dramatically different from where G. J. Was going, right? We're to figure out how to bend the curve on traffic.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

We're going to hold serve on operations. We're going to look to be the first choice for consumers when they want to go out and have a burger. We're going to give ourselves some financial flexibility on the balance sheet, and then we're going to use some funds to fix the restaurants. And I think those are not a lot different than what you would have seen from GJ, and I think we can continue that ball forward and keep moving this business back. But I think those are the important points and the way we got after them I think are the right sequence.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yeah, and I would just say, Alex, that Dave's been chair. He and I came on this board the very same day and he's been along this ride in putting this North Star plan and certainly been in dialogue with him every week throughout my tenure here. So, as Dave said, I think we're not dramatically changing anything here. There's some additional focuses that he's going to have, but I think it's a great place and I think this transition is a pretty special one and it's worked out really, really well.

[Alexander Slagle, Stock Analyst at Jefferies LLC]

Great, that's helpful. So what are your operator partners asking for lately? Just sort of what's the next big thing or big change they 'd like to see sort of top of their list?

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

I'll take a shot at that first since I just finished the tour not long ago. I think it's just continued investment in our facilities, which we continue to work on and as we generate free cash flow, that's certainly a priority. And the second one is just continued investment in technology. As you know, we've been continually replacing and updating technology and probably the one thing that they've asked for the most that we need to focus on, which is next on our priority list, which is server handhelds. And that's the one area that I think would be most helpful to them, to our servers, as well as to the company in total.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yeah, I would echo that. Also spent some time in restaurants in the first few weeks, and those are some of the things that I heard operators want. Give them the tools to be successful. The tools to be successful included the things that they've been given, which are getting the labor and the hospitality right and getting the food right, giving me the technology that I need to run my restaurants, give me a good looking restaurant that I'm proud to bring people into, and figure out how to connect with our consumers with compelling messaging and offers that drive traffic. That's what operators want.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

They want to be successful. And I think the other thing on that is to build on that is I think the output of the partner program that was put in place is that they'll be rewarded for that. They'll get the benefit of success if we give them the tools to be successful.

[Alexander Slagle, Stock Analyst at Jefferies LLC]

That's great. Thanks for the color.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thanks Alex.

[Operator]

You. Our next question comes from the line of Mark Smith with Lake Street Capital. Please proceed with your question.

[Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC]

Hi, guys. First off, any outlook on selling expenses and kind of your expected media spend through the rest of the year?

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yes. Hey, Mark. Todd here. I'll take that. Yes, I'd say our original guidance for the year was $30,000,000 in selling or included $30,000,000 in selling.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

And I would tell you that's generally unchanged. With the Dave commented on it in his prepared remarks with Russ coming in to lead the team. As we think about the balance of the year, there's, I'd say, a little bit of a breath to take, so to speak, to let him get in, understand the opportunities in our business, and really kind of reassess the marketing plan. But as we've modeled it, we think it's pretty consistent quarter to quarter from here. There may be some ebb and flow as kind of naturally happens in that line item, but we see getting to roughly that $30,000,000 on the year pretty consistently through from Q2 through Q4 from here.

[Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC]

Okay. And then can you just remind us just what we have left as far as potential restaurant sales? How many that you guys own out there? And in that same vein, just kind of your confidence in refinancing that debt and kind of maybe an outlook or timeline around when you think that could happen?

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Yes, Mark. We still own four properties. Properties. And so we monetized a large chunk of that with the sale leasebacks over the last couple of years and then we called it out. We did sell three properties in Q1.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

So I'd say we're always looking at opportunities there, right? Paying down debt as Dave alluded to is one of our key priorities. And so there's still some monetization opportunity there, but I would tell you nothing imminent. If opportunities arise, we'll capitalize on, but I would tell you nothing imminent. In terms of the ability to refinance the loan, quite plainly, would tell you, I believe that on the back of a really strong quarter like we just printed for Q1, GJ and I have had varying conversations with lenders over the past several months.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

And I'm optimistic that as I go revisit those conversations on the heels of these results, we'll see some traction there. I don't know that I want to put a timeline to the refinance. But at this point, think I've made it clear in the last couple of quarters. It's certainly top of mind for us and me specifically. And so we'll continue to give updates there. And we'll balance speed with getting the attractive terms that we think are warranted for this business.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

But I expect we'll be talking about it on each call until we get across the finish line.

[Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC]

Perfect. Thank you.

[Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thank you.

[G.J. Hart, Former CEO at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Thanks, Mark.

[Operator]

Thank you. And we have reached the end of the question and answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to CEO Dave Pace for closing remarks.

[David Pace, President, CEO & Director at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers]

Okay, folks. Look, thanks for jumping on the call. We appreciate the opportunity to share our results, and we look forward to talking to you more in the next couple of months. So thank you, we'll talk to you soon.

[Operator]

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation. Have a great day.

Participants

Executives

• David Pace, President, CEO & Director
• G.J. Hart, Former CEO
• Todd Wilson, Executive VP & CFO

Analysts

• Todd Brooks, Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company LLC
• Will Forsberg, Associate Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC
• Alexander Slagle, Stock Analyst at Jefferies LLC
• Mark Smith, Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC