The Red Robin in Waldorf is getting a new owner, and the Charles County Board of License Commissioners cleared the way at its Oct. 8 meeting by approving the transfer of the restaurant’s liquor license.
The board voted to transfer the Class B beer, wine and liquor on-sale license for Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews at 3072 Waldorf Marketplace to OP Burgers MD LLC, with Samantha R. Burgess and Timothy M. Furr as license holders.
Part of a multistate sale
Furr’s company, Opportunity Restaurant Group, is buying eight Red Robin restaurants in Maryland, including Waldorf, an attorney for the restaurant told the board. The sale cannot close until the license transfers are approved, she said. Furr is the company’s CEO, lives in North Carolina and has more than 28 years in the hospitality industry, the board was told.
The Maryland stores are part of a larger deal. In June, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. announced it would sell 69 restaurants in Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia to OP Burgers LLC, a portfolio company of the private investment firm Alexandrite Management, for $62.5 million. The company said the deal was expected to close in the second half of 2026.
Same staff, same rules
Diners should not notice a change, according to testimony. Burgess, the restaurant’s existing resident license holder, is staying on through the transition, and general manager Mr. Carpenter and his team are staying in place.
The Waldorf restaurant has 48 employees, 20 of whom sell or serve alcohol. All employees go through the company’s alcohol-awareness training, and managers and bartenders hold state-approved alcohol certification, the attorney said. The restaurant cards everyone who orders alcohol and does not accept vertical IDs, the format Maryland issues to drivers under 21.
Asked how often he would be at the Waldorf location, Furr said he plans to visit every month or two. A district manager overseeing only the eight Maryland restaurants will visit weekly, and a director will check in at least monthly, he said.
The motion passed without opposition. The board asked the company to file documentation for OP Burgers as a holder of the license.
The board handled a similar slate of license business at its September meeting.
