Red Robin Died by Spreadsheet. Don’t Make the Same Mistake.
Summary
The article argues that Red Robin's 96% stock collapse stemmed from cutting labor costs to boost quarterly results, underscoring the danger of short-term optimization at the expense of customer experience. It contrasts this with Chili's, which invested in operations and customer experience to achieve growth, and uses Jevons paradox to frame AI-age strategy as a move to do more, not less. For AI/no-code/automation audiences, the piece highlights the need to focus on scalable value and long-term customer value when adopting automation.