Red Robin Announces Retirement of President and CEO Denny Marie Post

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., a full-service restaurant chain, announced that following discussions with the Board of Directors, Denny Marie Post has chosen to retire as President and CEO on April 3, 2019. The Board of Directors has formed a search committee to identify her successor and also appointed Pattye Moore, Board Chair, as Interim CEO.

Ms. Moore has been a director of Red Robin since 2007 and Board Chair since 2010. She previously served as a Board Member and President at Sonic Corp. among other executive positions during her 12 years with the brand.

"We want to recognize Denny for her leadership, commitment to and passion for the Red Robin brand over the last seven years in her roles as CMO, President and CEO. On behalf of the board, I want to thank Denny for her contributions and wish her well in retirement," said Pattye Moore, Board Chair and Interim CEO.

“The board intends to move quickly on the search process as the Company continues to execute our turnaround plan in this challenging and rapidly evolving casual dining landscape. Our search effort will focus on identifying an external candidate who recognizes the urgency of strengthening and stabilizing our dine-in business as well as the importance of continuing our evolution to an omni-channel brand that can provide customers with exceptional experiences and our craveable food where, when and how they want it,” added Pattye Moore, Board Chair and Interim CEO.

“My years at Red Robin have been by far the most satisfying of my career. We made great strides evolving the brand and have a strategy in place which will ensure Red Robin serves generations of families for years to come. I am confident the team will continue to realize that vision,” said Denny Marie Post.

Ms. Post will serve as an advisor as the search committee identifies a new CEO.

Pattye Moore, Board Chair and Interim CEO, concluded, “Through the first three periods of the fiscal first quarter ending March 24, 2019, comparable restaurant revenue, using constant currency rates, has decreased 3.6%. This reflects, in part, the challenging weather that affected several regions of the US. The weather impact for these periods, estimated to be 100 to 150 basis points, primarily drove sales performance below our expectations.”