Red Robin trims its flock: Burger chain closes another restaurant in shakeup that could see 50 shuttered

The days of polishing off a towering burger with endless steak fries at your neighborhood Red Robin may soon be numbered.Another location has bitten the dust as the 57-year-old burger chain presses ahead with a restructuring plan that could shutter up to 50 locations nationwide, as per TheStreet. Its latest casualty is the longtime Cary, NC, location, which is slated to close in the coming weeks after Red Robin agreed to sell the property for $3.3 million, Triangle Business Journal reported.The move is part of Red Robin’s “First Choice Plan” — a turnaround strategy aimed at cutting debt, trimming costs and selling more restaurants to franchisees.The burger chain initially warned that up to 70 restaurants could close.But a turnaround at struggling locations spared about 20 restaurants from closure.“Going back a ways, we found we’ve made improvements on about 20 restaurants that we had previously identified as potential problems for us or potential closures,” CEO Dave Pace said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.“We’ve moved them off the closure list … and are hopeful that we can get them back to a performance level that equals the rest of the system.”Exactly how many restaurants will still close remains up in the air.“At this time there is no confirmed number for potential closures, as the company is continuing to work on performance and could continue to see that number decrease,” a Red Robin spokesperson told TheStreet.While some locations are disappearing altogether, many others are simply getting new owners.In recent months, Red Robin agreed to sell 86 company-owned restaurants to franchise operators Op Burgers and Kuber for a combined $72.5 million, following an earlier deal that sold another 30 locations to Evergreen Dining.Altogether, the three agreements are worth roughly $96 million — cash Red Robin says will go toward paying down debt and strengthening its turnaround.“Strengthening our financial foundation re...