This Iconic Chain Will Dish Out A Free Burger For Your Birthday (But There's A Catch)

Customers' birthdays are a popular occasion for restaurants to make guests feel special with offers of free or discounted food. But the well-known burger chain Red Robin will give you one entire free burger any time during your birthday month. It's a good offer, but of course, it comes with some conditions attached.

Red Robin's FAQ page states that in order to claim a free birthday burger, you must be a member of Red Robin Royalty, the chain's loyalty program, and you must provide your email address and verify your phone number. Prerequisites further include signing up for promotional marketing via text or email.

With all of these boxes checked, Red Robin has yet more conditions before you can claim a free birthday burger. Although the burger is free, your meal is not. Redeeming the offer requires a minimum spend of $4.99. And you can't have your birthday burger delivered, either — the offer is only good for customers who dine inside the restaurant.

Among the restaurants that offer free food for customers' birthdays, Red Robin is relative unique for offering an entire burger for free, as opposed to just dessert items like rival chain Applebee's. But there's another birthday-related secret you might not know about Red Robin: It used to have its own, original birthday songs.

Until 2016, the well-known "Happy Birthday" song was under copyright, meaning chain restaurants couldn't legally sing it without paying royalties. Instead, many restaurants like Red Robin came up with songs that were free to sing. According to LAist, Red Robin used at least two distinct birthday songs, one notably based on "Alouette," a French-Canadian folk song in the public domain.

But burger fans intrigued by this birthday offer may want to act fast: Red Robin is considering closing dozens of restaurants nationwide, after roughly 70 underperforming stores dragged the entire company's profits down.