| Type | Public (NYSE: RT) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Founder(s) | Samuel E. Beall III |
| Headquarters | 150 W. Church Ave. Maryville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Key people | Samuel E. Beall III (CEO) Marguerite Naman (Margie) Duffy (SVP/CFO) Robert F. (Rob) LeBoeuf (SVP HR) |
| Products | Burgers, salads, steaks, chicken and seafood |
| Revenue | $1.195 billion (USD) (2010) |
| Operating income | $57.758 million (USD) (2010) |
| Net income | $45.344 million (USD) (2010) |
| Employees | 35,200 (2010) |
| Website | rubytuesday.com |
Ruby Tuesday is an American casual dining restaurant chain named after the Rolling Stones' song of the same name.[1][2]
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The first restaurant was founded in 1972 by five University of Tennessee students,[3] and is now headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee.[4] The first location was adjacent to UT's Knoxville campus[5] on Twentieth Avenue near Cumberland Avenue. The building still stands, but it is now occupied by a bar called the Roaming Gnome, next door to Stefano's Pizza, on the corner of Cumberland, both of which are local institutions in their own right.
In April 1982, Ruby Tuesday became part of the Specialty Restaurant Division of Morrison, Inc. The merger provided the chain with additional financial support to continue its growth.
In March 1996, the shareholders of Morrison's approved a distribution and divided Morrison Restaurants, Inc. into three separate companies: Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (RTI); Morrison Health Care, Inc., (subsequently purchased by Compass Group); and Morrison's Fresh Cooking, Inc., (now owned by Piccadilly). Ruby Tuesday, Inc., therefore, is the successor of Morrison Restaurants, Inc.[6] and is now one of America's largest casual dining companies. At the time of the distribution, Ruby Tuesday, Inc. operated many other restaurant brands in addition to their flagship Ruby Tuesday brand, including L&N Seafood Grill, Silver Spoon Cafe, Mozzarella's Cafe, The American Cafe, and Tia's Tex-Mex.
In the summer of 1998, Ruby Tuesday relocated its Restaurant Support Center from Mobile, Alabama to Maryville, Tennessee, where the company built an on-site training facility, WOW-U, in addition to a lodging and dining facility, RT Lodge. These facilities are used daily as a training and development center for the Company's restaurant managers.
In November 2000, Ruby Tuesday completed the sale of The American Cafe, Silver Spoon, L&N Seafood, and Tia's Tex-Mex restaurants to Specialty Restaurant Group, LLC. This divestiture allowed Ruby Tuesday to concentrate exclusively on the growth and development of its flagship brand.
Many of the locations in the Midwestern and Northern US can be found in mall locations, while many of the Southern stores, such as those in Kentucky and Tennessee, are stand-alone stores.
On April 12, 2007, the Ruby Tuesday, Inc. changed its NYSE ticker symbol from RI to RT.
In August 2007, Ruby Tuesday acquired[7] a local self-serve Fresh Asian Dining Restaurant, Wok Hay.[8] In October 2008, a second location was opened in a recently converted Ruby Tuesday restaurant building.[9]
In September 2010, Ruby Tuesday Inc. continued its venture into other concepts with an agreement to license the Lime Fresh Mexican Grill brand. Earlier in the year, Ruby Tuesday also acquired the development rights to Truffles Café and Jim ‘N Nicks Bar-B-Q.[10]
Currently, Ruby Tuesday, Inc. has Company-owned and/or franchise Ruby Tuesday brand restaurants in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and 13 foreign countries. As of 5 June 2007, the Company owned and operated 680 Ruby Tuesday restaurants, while domestic and international franchisees (including Saudi Arabia, Hawaii, Mexico and India) operated 199 and 54 restaurants, respectively.[11] In February 2008, the 1st branch in the Philippines opened in TriNoma. Ruby Tuesday, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (Symbol: RT).[12]
Ruby Tuesday opened its first British restaurant in Cardiff on August 4th 2010. A further four openings are in the planning stages.
In 2007, the Company began re-branding itself, moving out of the "bar-and-grill" segment of the industry, with changes including higher-quality menu items and handcrafted beverages.[13][14]
As a part of re-branding, the company began remodeling its restaurants as a part of "a three-year plan to reposition, reinvent and reinvigorate the Ruby Tuesday brand". Ruby Tuesday CEO and Chairman Sandy Beall explains the re-branding in his letter to shareholders, found in the company's FY2007 Annual Report:
Elevating Ruby Tuesday above the crowd to a memorable, high-quality dining experience is critical to our growth and success. ... We began by bringing our guests fresh, exciting new menu choices, then raised our standards of service, and are now creating an innovative new look and style for each and every restaurant. This revitalization will appeal to our loyal core guests while attracting a new generation of consumers.
In August 2008, Ruby Tuesday created a campaign to show how radical these changes would be. On August 5, over "live" streaming internet video, a demolition crew was supposed to implode the final "old Ruby Tuesday" in where they said was Mount Holly, Ohio but was actually in Harriman, Tennessee, to show their commitment of change in front of a small crowd. However, to the crowd's shock, the restaurant next door called "Cheeky's Bar and Grill" (which looked like a typical casual dining chain) was imploded. After the events, the senior VP of marketing for Ruby Tuesday (in actuality, an actor) posted a formal apology and a video of said apology on the Ruby Tuesday website and on TV. The idea was merely an elaborate marketing ploy to raise attention to the newly remodeled restaurants. In actuality, the implosion was a miniature done by a Hollywood special effects crew, then edited into the footage of the pre-recorded webcast to make it look like an accident.[15]