For 40 years, Ruby Tuesday has served millions of American families as a place to go for a casual and fun dining experience. While dozens of other restaurant chains have opened and closed over the decades, Ruby Tuesday has continued to thrive, changing with the times and maintaining its premium brand and reputation for quality service.
The ability to adapt to change has marked the restaurant chain from its inception, thanks to the culture created by founder, Chairman and CEO Sandy Beall. Before opening the first Ruby Tuesday in 1972, Beall visited neighborhood coffee shops, cafeterias and diners in New York and New Orleans, looking for ideas on how to create a new dining atmosphere that would bridge the gap between fast food and upscale restaurants.
Starting with $20,000 in seed money, including proceeds from the sale of Pizza Hut stock given him by his mentor, Beall has since transformed Ruby Tuesday into a publicly traded global enterprise with
$1.2 billion in revenue and more than 900 restaurants.
Beall makes sure the dining experience at Ruby Tuesday never gets stale by focusing on constant improvement. Menus are continually evolving and he empowers restaurant managers to revamp procedures and service standards to stay ahead of the competition.
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