(ABC News)--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."
Copyright 2013 by ABC News
