Red Robin customers fume as website crashes during bottomless burger pass sale

Yahoo

18-04-2025

Red Robin customers have expressed their frustrations about the company's website crashing when its latest promotion was up for grabs.
On Thursday, Red Robin launched the $20 Bottomless Burger Pass, which allows customers to order one gourmet burger with a bottomless side of their choice for each day in the month of May. The pass, which went up for sale on Red Robin's website on Thursday morning, can be used at any of the brand's restaurants in the U.S.
However, many customers said they tried and failed to buy the black and gold pass, with Red Robin's website not loading for them.
'I spent literally an hour refreshing for the burger pass, what incredible incompetence,' one person wrote in a Reddit post. 'I finally get the cashstar page to load after 50 minutes of CONSTANT refreshing (after setting an alarm to be up for this), enter my address, and BOOM it's all sold out.'
'Was the whole thing a marketing stunt? Did anyone actually get through? We got to enter our info, but no way to complete the transaction,' another asked in the comments.
A third Reddit user said that when they got the pass, after three failed attempts, it cost $682 and not $20. However, they said they were later refunded the money.
On X, multiple people reiterated how difficult it was to get the Red Robin pass.
'I only woke up this early to try and score a free month burger pass at red robin only for the site to not load,' one wrote.
'The Red Robin burger pass got bought out by bots, and everyone else who managed to get through gets met with this stupid scam,' another wrote with a screenshot of their online checkout with the pass, which was $682. 'Literally a captcha would have worked. anything. @redrobinburgers this is so unfair.'
A third person quipped about Red Robin's website receiving more traction than ever because of the deal.
'Red Robin has probably never had more than four users on their site at the same time, then they announce their burger pass and told their one I.T. guy to be ready,' the X user joked.
Following the controversy, Red Robin issued an apology for its website crashing.
'We did everything we could to anticipate interest in the Bottomless Burger Pass, including working with our web and gift card partners to prepare for the influx of traffic, but due to overwhelming excitement in the pass — 12 million visits in the matter of seconds — our website and supporting systems crashed,' a representative said in a statement to The Independent. 'We're sorry that this happened to our loyal guests. All passes have been sold.
Red Robin Royalty members have the chance to win free burgers for a year. Members automatically get an opportunity to win the prize when they buy both a burger and a beverage through their account anytime between May 1 and May 31. Customers who sign up for Red Robin Royalty during May 2025 can also participate.
Red Robin's new offers come after the fast-casual franchise reported a decrease in its 2024 fiscal fourth quarter total revenues compared to 2023.
'Total revenues are $285.2 million, a decrease of $23.8 million primarily due to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 including 12 operating weeks compared to 13 operating weeks in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023,' the company's report reads, noting that the net loss was $39.7 million in this period, up from $13.7 million in 2023.
In another effort to up its foot traffic, Red Robin will soon be debuting a new 'sizzling summer menu' with five fresh items, including a Backyard BBQ Pork Burger, Backyard BBQ Pork Nachos, Peach-Berry Freckled Lemonade, Spiked Peach-Berry Freckled Lemonade, Non-Alcoholic Peach-Berry Freckled Lemonade, and a Peaches & Cream Milkshake. The new menu picks will be available from April 28 through the summer.