Food
Top 10 Untold Truths of Ruby Tuesday
Ruby Tuesday has been around since 1972 and has its roots in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. The casual dining chain may be known for its attractive salad bars, cheap cocktails and burgers, and the name of the chain might ring some bells regarding a certain song name from a certain band. But regardless of all that, this list is going to cover the top 10 untold truths of Ruby Tuesday. So sit back and get to know about the restaurant a bit more, before you decide on checking it out anytime soon, if you haven’t already.
10. Inspiration from a song
If you thought that the name of the restaurant chain sounds overly familiar, that’s because you might have heard the song ‘Ruby Tuesday,’ penned by Keith Richards, the founder member of Rolling Stones. One would think of the founder as a huge fan of the popular band, but sadly that’s not the case. Sandy Beall wasn’t inspired by the song to use it for his own chain. In fact it was one of his investors, a fraternity brother during his time in the University of Tennessee. In one of his interviews with the New York Times, he revealed that he wasn’t much of a fan and didn’t consider himself ‘hip’ enough. Now that is irony at its finest and even though this revelation won’t piss off the band we hope, we will have to wait and watch as to what the hardcore Rolling Stones fans have to say about this. Will it be torches and pitchforks storming the gates of the chain or will it be another order of burgers and sandwiches? Only time will tell.
9. Controversial conundrums
With great popularity comes a whole lot of controversies. The chain like other popular franchises out there has made sure that they follow that principle when it comes to their work ethics. In 2015, Ruby Tuesday faced civil rights lawsuit for discrimination against male job applicants. The restaurant came under the scanner of the government for not including male employees when it came to applying for profitable work assignments. One would think that the restaurant chain would try to brush this kind of attitude under the rug during the time of accusations, but surprisingly they were pretty open about giving opportunity only to women to apply for positions and earn a quick buck. Because of the way the potential male candidates were treated, the lawsuit demanded an uncertain amount of financial damages for those men affected by the discrimination. Come one Tuesday, now surely you can do better than that and endorse equality and keep our bellies not empty at the same time.
8. Quite the prankster
Ruby Tuesday is not just about drinks and burgers and keeping their customers’ bellies filled and earning popularity and loyalty while they are out serving people. Turns out, the chain is a prankster too and has shown that it too has a funny bone somewhere inside. At the time when the restaurant thought of giving a new look to itself, it decided to play a prank on its customers. To set things in motion and deploy its evil scheme, a video was released of a Ruby Tuesday being demolished, but instead that wasn’t the case as a restaurant next door paid the price through its demolition. The confusion of another building perishing in the process forced them to release a statement, apologizing for the mistake. Well in the grand scheme of things, it was all a prank and was set up on a mini set with some special effects thrown in by a crew. The video of this event is floating about for your entertainment.
Now lets see if they throw in a dead fake rat in their salad for a prank. Wait that did actually happen in 2007, when a teenager came across one at the Spartanburg Ruby Tuesday. Sadly this event wasn’t enacted by the chain and they were actually victims of a hoax themselves and were not involved in the foul play in any way. After a thorough investigation it was found out that the chain wasn’t responsible for the incident and came out clean. Can’t say the same for the rodent in the salad though. Anyways when it comes to pranks, what goes around, comes around. Lets hope if the chain is better prepared next time if anything similar occurs.
7. Birth on a college campus
One would think that Ruby Tuesday would have first started turning its cogs in a fancy setting. But originating on university grounds would not be something one would fathom at first thought. Yes that’s what happened with the chain when it first decided to open its doors. Founder Samuel E. Beall held the finance manager occupation at the University of Tennessee and was also handling Pizza Hut restaurants in the vicinity. His close friend and business partner on this death bed gave Beall $10,000 to start a new restaurant and poof, Ruby Tuesday appeared on the campus scene. Beall decided to give full attention to the place and gave students an opportunity to grab a quick cheap bite and drinks to chug on while hanging out at the place. With a vision of handcrafted food and drinks and a casual and comfortable setting, Ruby Tuesday since then has took off on a long journey. It has made its mark in 43 states and 12 foreign countries and continues to serve with the philosophy of quality food and beverages and the backing of an established brand it has managed to achieve since its beginnings on college grounds.
6. Financial woes
For a long time now, the casual dining scene has been threatened with changing tastes and preferences, especially among the millennial crowd. Some popular chains like TGI Fridays have been trying to update themselves according to changing times and please the new generation with new services and deals and some like Ruby Tuesday are getting the short end of the stick. There are many factors involved which have affected the casual dining landscape. For one with the accessibility of the internet, people prefer to order online and hang out with friends at home. As a result, franchises like Ruby Tuesday bear the brunt of that and even the ones in malls collect dust because of lack of interest among the crowd. Also something important to note is that most of the popular chains which have been established since a long time, have failed to impress the millennials and Tuesday is one of them. You might get the incentive of getting a free burger as one of the restaurants, but that isn’t helping them much. The parents might be in for some burgers at the place, but they are failing when it comes to attracting their children. For all the people who check the number of calories on the menu before ordering anything, some of the burger choices on the menu are not exactly healthy. With more and more people becoming health conscious nowadays, looks like turkey avocado burger has to be wiped out for starters. In a highly competitive market, Ruby Tuesday as to up its game, or the chain will have to scuttle the ship and call it a day.
5. A case of dual identities
If you thought keeping a dual identity a secret and sticking to it was hard for superheroes, think again. Ruby Tuesdays was apparently dealing with an Australian rock band with the same name recently. The Maryville restaurant chain had beef with the band and gave them a notice of infringement according to which they had to hand over their web domain along with compensation of the sales made under imitating the brand. They had to face a $2 million lawsuit. Eventually the band came out with a statement suggesting that they in no way had any intention of cashing in on Ruby Tuesday’s market and that their name like the chain comes from the Rolling Stone song. While the band is busy trying to defend themselves, turns out Australia too is giving them support. Shaun Snider, one of the members of the band told The Morning Herald that the whole thing was ‘silly.’ According to Vice.com there are bands in South Africa, England and United States as well bearing the same name. The Australian band told Vice that Ruby Tuesdays from the UK were also backing them up and gave them an invitation to collaborate with them for a show. Now that proves. Hopefully things get sorted out between the chain and both parties decide to market their products by teaming up with the band. That sounds like a cool idea and would help bury this conflict on a good ‘note.’ What say Ruby Tuesday (chain), surely you can use the idea.
4. The might of the colossal
If you look out for those free burger deals of Ruby Tuesdays or for some reason you cant fathom but a burger for a snack, then the ultimate colossal burger is perfectly tailored to satiate your hunger needs. If the colossal burger, weighing in at 1,697 calories and 96 grams of fat alone sweated you out, the ultimate version is a whole different beast altogether. The two half pound burgers on a triple-decker bun, decorated with American and Monterey Jack cheese would give the colossal a run for its money. It stands in at 1,781 calories with 126 grams of fat. A lot of people have posted videos on the internet doing challenges with both the colossal and the ultimate burgers and they sure have stomachs of steel to accommodate all that food.
For all those who look up the nutritional value of food items at restaurants and want to come out walking on two feet, still feeling good about themselves and not abusing the treadmill the next day, this is not for you. For all those who have what it takes to take on a colossal or the ultimate brother, you know what needs to be done and where. Challenge accepted!
3. Changes galore
For all those who love there salad to death and opt for one instead of fries, Ruby Tuesday is throwing out more options in that department and it happens to be a new strategy to shake things up a bit in the menu and attract more customers. As we all know the casual dining experience has been taking quite the hit in the terms of sales and has been declining over the years either because of lack of creativity to appeal to millennial audience or have been adamant in not revamping their age old formulas which only worked years ago. To stop the decline and try to make things a bit more interesting, Ruby Tuesday under the control of CEO and President James Hyatt sees a potential by catering to women and families. With a complete focus given to the salad bar, it is now called the Garden Bar. According to the former CEO and President Lane Cardwell, it is the “biggest change to the brand since a decade.” In case you were wondering what different things of this feature will coax the guest to drop in and check it out? Well for starters the ingredients have been upgraded to 55, from 36 and they would be available at all locations. For those who love their fruits and greens and want to walk out after devouring on two feat rather than all fours, never fear. Now they have a dozen fruits and vegetables along with premium cheese and toppings. To add cherry to the caketop, now you can experiment with eight new salad dressings, which are made in-house everyday.
All this of course comes with a price as there is no such thing as a free meal. Limitless trips to the bar during lunch would start at $8.99 and if you prefer to give it a try during dinner, it goes up to $9.99, with an addition to the entrée for $3.99. For those who prefer the Garden Bar as a side, bad luck as it comes with a cost of $1.49. Despite making changes to other menu items besides the bar and including traditional American fare like chicken, steaks and seafood, the Garden bar is considered as the most popular item on the menu. Now that sounds like a successful marriage between innovation and positivity.
2. If we don’t change we don’t grow
At least that’s what Ruby Tuesday was aiming for when the chain decided to revamp the brand completely back in 2007. Before, people walking in might have found the interiors as imitation Tiffany lamps and kitschy wall hangings. The restaurant took charge and replaced that for dark wood and leather banquettes. Unlike the Garden Bar and much required updates to the menu recently, the new style did not seem to go well with the customers. The word from the people visiting the restaurants was that the new décor was much of a miss than a hit and that the Tiffany lamps and kitschy wall hangings was far better. The lesson? Seems like sometimes not changing is the way to go than altering entirely. We just have to see if Ruby Tuesday makes the decision of going back to the original design if they took the general consensus of its customers to heart.
1. With luxury comes a whole lot of panache
The year 2018 is flying by pretty fast and Christmas and New Year is right around the corner. One can almost smell the celebration of the New Year, brimming close on the horizon. If you are deciding where to celebrate New Year, an ideal spot in Times Square sounds like the perfect destination and Ruby Tuesday has got you covered. The two level restaurant is not the average Ruby Tuesday you might come across. The place radiates style and luxury and has plenty of things up its sleeve to give the customers the ideal dining experience during the occasion. It comes equipped with a 5 hour premium open bar, complete with a mini nightclub. It doesn’t just end there. The restaurant will be serving appetizers and a live DJ will be providing entertainment by playing the newest beats and you can dance away into the New Year. Reserved private tables will be available as well for all those who are bringing in a special someone to share the moment and rejoice romance while they get engulfed in the ambience. In addition VIP service will be accessible for VIP guests and it too will come with extra bells and whistles, if some people do decide to pay some extra cash for exclusivity purposes.
Also vegetarians don’t have to feel left out as there will be mixed vegetables along with Ranch Dipping Sauce. Where are you heading end of this year? For the love of the Garden Bar if its Ruby Tuesday, then Times Square is the way to go and if you have deep pockets, the sample of the Sampler Trio that comes with VIP service is the answer. Yeah that’s a thing.