Some of you know that our family has had quite a ride with my daughter Courtney and her winning Red Robin Burger.  Others of you have heard bits and pieces of it and still others have no idea what I’m currently talking about.  I thought this would be a good forum to update this fun personal story: 

In October of 2006, our family went to Red Robin for lunch.  It was a late lunch and the girls were starving and needless to say, not in the best mood. While there, I recalled that it was the last day to enter a contest Red Robin was having where kids were encouraged submit their idea for Red Robin’s next gourmet hamburger – I thought this a good diversion! We brainstormed with my girls and our 8-year old (at the time), Courtney, submitted a hamburger named the “Cactus Jack.”  It features pepper jack cheese, deep fried jalapeños, and prickly pear cactus jelly. We left the restaurant thinking that it was a fun exercise (coming up with a “new” hamburger idea is hard) and maybe that Courtney would be selected as the best for the restaurant. We didn’t think much of it until about a month or so later when we received a call that Courtney did, indeed win the restaurant (& a $50 gift card), as well as making it to the top 50 out of 16000+ entries and would appear in a special cookbook to benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She was also selected as one of 12 national semi-finalists – for that Red Robin flew us to Rancho Cucamonga, CA in November where Courtney created her hamburger at a large regional Red Robin gathering.  She competed against two other children and won!  Thus becoming one of the four national finalists.  This scored her an ipod nano (to be awarded at the finals), more gift cards to Red Robin, and a trip to South Beach, FL to compete in the finals. The finals in South Beach were awesome! It was Red Robin’s yearly convention and they treated us and the kids like royalty. There were large banners with the kids’ pictures all over the resort and the resort staff would approach Courtney and say, “I know you, you’re one of the kids in the contest!” They threw a parade and created a kitchen stadium that seated 800 people right on the beach. The competition was amazing. Though the “Spicy Asian Burger” was the ultimate winner, Courtney did a wonderful job and we all had a blast the entire trip. She literally skipped away from the stadium with her ipod in hand and couldn’t wait to get back to our rooftop pool. She handled the not-winning better than we could have hoped – she was genuinely happy and excited to have gotten as far as she did.  Indeed, being one of the last four from a field of nearly 17,000 is something to be proud of.  Besides, she got her iPod! The more I learn about Red Robin as a company the more impressed I am. I would encourage you all to eat there anytime the desire for a great hamburger strikes (even if you can’t get a Cactus Jack).

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