Red Robin comes back to the University

Connor Grimm/Contributing Writer

Some may believe the key to any successful outdoor celebration is a delicious burger, but Red Robin and the Food Network seem to have placed special emphasis on amazing burgers; a $10,000 emphasis, to be exact.

Partnering with the South Beach Food and Wine Festival, Red Robin and the Food Network have invited FIU students to compete in their annual Golden Robin contest. This competition is open to any student, or team of students, who believe they have the best, unique burger recipe.

“Red Robin has been offering this scholarship opportunity since they started supporting the 2014 Festival” said Christina Jardim, university administrator for the FIU’s SOBWWFF.

Submitting a recipe into the contest is done by filling out an online form at the SOBEWFF website or retrieving a physical form from Graham Center room 1210 at the Modesto A. Maidique campus or Chaplin School of Hospitality and Management room 243 at the Biscayne Bay campus.

Red Robin is on the hunt for an inventive, unforgettable burger entirely created by the students, including the burger name, a description of the recipe, all of the ingredients used and all the steps required to create the burger.

Contestants must conjure up an original recipe and it can not have won awards nor have been used in any professional competition before this contest, and can not rely on the use of name brand products.

“The Red Robin Golden Robin Contest receives upwards of 150 recipe submissions each year, and we expect to far surpass that number this year,” Jardim said.

Jardim doesn’t want the numbers to dissuade contestants, however.

“Submit a recipe, even if you don’t think you’re a cook.  It’s all about getting involved and your shot at $10,000. And if you win, you get a big scholarship and something truly unique to put on your resume.”

The first round of judging will include all submitted recipes, and will be evaluated on their creativity, taste, execution and aesthetic appeal—all of which determined by a panel of FIU faculty members from HM. The top 100 highest scoring burger recipes will be then chosen to proceed to a second round, but the burgers will face the Red Robin Marketing and Food & Beverage Teams.

The second round will employ the same criteria as the first, selecting the highest scoring recipe as the winner. In the unlikely event of a tie, the winning recipe will be determined by a third round of taste judging, which will then produce the victor.

At the SOBEWFFs Heineken Light Burger Bash the winner[s] will serve their winning recipe to more than 3,000 hungry fans during the event, according to Jardim. The winner will also present their burger to the hosts of the event—Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka—and receive free entrance and participation for the entire festival.  Lastly, the winners will receive their $10,000 scholarship at the competition.

The contest will officially disallow further applications by Nov. 16, and the winner will be announced on Dec. 15. To submit a form and review the official information of the contest, visit https://sobewff.org/redrobin/.

Photo courtesy of Mike Mozart on Flickr.