Ruby Tuesday, the restaurant chain best known for its endless salad bar, is shutting down nearly 100 underperforming locations in a hurry.
Read more: Shrinking Macy’s to close 100 additional stores
Ruby Tuesday closing 95 restaurants
Company executives blamed a slowdown in the casual dining industry and increased promotions from competitors.
Here’s what we know about the closings:
- About 95 restaurants will be shut down.
- All locations are considered “underperforming.’
- Restaurants will close by September 2016.
Closing decision ‘difficult’
So it appears Ruby Tuesday is moving quickly to close the 95 restaurants, representing about 15% of the company’s 724 locations nationwide.
Total revenue at the chain fell 5.9% in the latest quarter, Ruby Tuesday said in a news release.
‘The decision to close restaurants is a difficult but necessary step as we take aggressive actions to strengthen our organization. Performance at each of these locations, despite the loyalty of valued guests and the efforts of our dedicated employees, was not meeting expectations.”
Clark.com reached out to Ruby Tuesday for a list of the restaurants that have recently closed or are closing soon, but we have not heard back.
The following locations have already shut their doors, according to local media reports:
- Florence, AL
- Madison, AL
- Prattville, AL
- Bentonville, AR
- Fayetteville, AR
- Fort Collins, CO
- North Columbus, GA
- Bossier City, LA
- Bangor, ME
- Biddeford, ME
- South Portland, ME
- Westland, MI
- Nixa, MO
- Republic, MO
- South Springfield, MO
- Apple Valley, MN
- Bloomington, MN
- Champlin, MN
- Chaska, MN
- Cottage Grove, MN
- Eden Prairie, MN
- Plymouth, MN
- Roxbury, NJ
- Commack, NY
- Farmingdale, NY
- Kingston, NY
- Sayville, NY
- Selden, NY
- Corvallis, OR
- West Manchester, PA
- Hanover, PA
- Greenville, SC
- Greenwood, SC
- Bristol, VA
- Danville, VA
- Norfolk, VA
- Lynchburg, VA
- Norfolk, VA
- Roanoke, VA
- Virginia Beach, VA
'Underperforming' #RubyTuesday location in #BossierCity closes » https://t.co/M79oQbVRpk pic.twitter.com/u9eWdD7z4X
— KSLA News 12 (@KSLA) August 15, 2016
Ruby Tuesday says full-time and part-time employees impacted by these closures may be offered positions in nearby restaurants. It’s not clear how many people will be laid off.
Turnaround plan in place
Going forward, Ruby Tuesday says it plans to improve its menu and service in hopes of attracting more women and young families — as well as keeping current customers.
So expect to see more advertisements targeted toward those groups.
The big picture
The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index declined for the second consecutive month in June, reflecting lower sales and traffic at restaurants across the country.
Bloomberg reports some analysts have even said the restaurant sector could be headed into a recession.
The National Restaurant Association says there are more than 14 million restaurant industry employees nationwide, representing 10% of the overall U.S. workforce.
Read more: These 13 major retailers are each closing at least 100 stores
