Seattle-based Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (RRGB) recently announced that it will open its first restaurant inside the Westfield Citrus Park shopping center at Tampa Bay area in Florida, in late August.  The company is also planning a restaurant for The Shops at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel.
 
The new 7,203-square-foot Tampa restaurant will seat 243 guests. The opening of this restaurant will create more than 100 new jobs in the area.
 
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers already operates four restaurants in Florida, namely in Fort Myers, Panama City Beach, Pensacola and Port Orange and has long been eyeing the Bay area for its expansion.  
 
The openings in the offing are in keeping with Red Robin Gourmet Burgers’ plans to open eleven company-owned restaurants and four to five franchised restaurants in fiscal 2010. Red Robin Gourmet Burgers currently owns and operates around 306 restaurants in 31 states and franchises 133 restaurants in 21 states and two Canadian provinces.
 
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has dramatically slowed down its unit expansion in response to dipping restaurant operating margins as well as same-store sales with 15 company-owned restaurants opened in fiscal 2009 as against 31 opened in fiscal 2008.
 
At the start of this month, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers also announced that it would open one restaurant in California on August 23. This 6,079-square-foot restaurant has a capacity of 215 seats. 
  
We believe that the opening of new restaurants in fiscal 2010 is a part of the company’s effort to gain market share in the gradually improving restaurant industry, which was badly hit by the economic downturn that resulted in weak labor, tight credit markets and lower discretionary spending.
 
Most of the company’s peers like BJ’s Restaurants Inc. (BJRI), California Pizza Kitchen Inc. (CPKI) and Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD) have been on a modest expansion mode in fiscal 2010. We believe going forward, this will intensify competition for Red Robin.
 
BJ’S RESTAURANT (BJRI): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
BUFFALO WLD WNG (BWLD): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
CALIF PIZZA KIT (CPKI): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
RED ROBIN GOURM (RRGB): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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