Ruby Tuesday to Blow Up One of its Restaurants
The Ruby Tuesday casual dining chain, known for its tchotchke-filled walls and flair-decked servers, has announced a plan to blow up one of its restaurants tomorrow and to broadcast the demolition live over its Web site.
For a year, the chain has been renovating its 950 eateries in 45 states, updating menus and décor to stress that “It’s a brand-new Tuesday.” To mark that transformation, Ruby Tuesday will light the fuse on its last unrenovated outlet in an undisclosed location at 3 p.m. ET.
Print, TV and banner ads began promoting the event yesterday, and the main Web site, www.rubytuesday.com, shows a countdown clock to the live demolition and a sign-up page for an e-mail event reminder.
TV spots promoting the blast on national cable show a restaurant executive demolishing a Tiffany lamp with a sledgehammer. “Imagine that… times a zillion,” he says.
The demolition event and ad campaign were created by agency BooneOakley.
Founded in 1972 in Knoxville, TN, by five University of Tennessee grads, Ruby Tuesday began a three-year rebranding effort last year, introducing a new “fresh” menu and replacing the memorabilia-filled walls with a sleeker modern look that reflects the chain’s new slogan: “Simple fresh American dining.”
The campaign was meant to reposition the chain and to differentiate it more distinctly from “bar and grill” casual dining rivals, including Applebee’s, Chili’s and TGI Friday’s. But the casual-dining segment has become even more competitive in the current climate of economic uncertainty and squeezed family budgets.
Last week, Metromedia Restaurant Group said it was shuttering the 300 company-owned restaurants in the Bennigan’s and Steak and Ale chains and filing for bankruptcy protection.
