NormM wrote:PS I read that the Ruth's Chris Steak house started in NOLa as Chris steak house and after a while Chris rented it to a series of people who all failed until he rented it to Ruth who turned it into a success and as she was getting ready to open another place, the original caught fire and burned. Her contract said that she could not open a restaurant in another location and call it Chris Steak House so she named it Ruth's Chris and the name stuck. She opened several other places around the country by the same name.
Well, the man who last name was Chris SOLD it to Ruth; the deal was, as most sales of that type, he stay with her for a year and help her get up to snuff. She had no restaurant experience and had a masters in chemistry; was working for peanuts at Tulane and needed more $$ once she got divorced as she had two sons to raise. Well, Chris flew the coop and she taught herself and got help from the employees who stayed with the place. She was a very tiny woman and told me she used to cut the meat herself (still used the original supplier) and would lay down on the floor in the office to rest as it was such a chore; then she would get up and continue on the big hunk of beef, as she couldn't do it in one setting.
She didn't have a restriction on opening another one but when the original had a fire, she needed income. She was a remarkable woman (very opinionated, brooked no BS but was very kind at heart -- and a multi-multi millionaire when she sold it) and she opened another restaurant FOUR BLOCKS away within a week. She was pretty sick of people calling her Chris but his steakhouse had a super reputation (quite an old dump but the meat was divine, as was the service, with all waitress service from a bunch of older, hard-working women who NEEDED their jobs so they were loyal as Labradors!). So she didn't want to give up the name Chris (trust me, it was YEARS until people called it Ruth's Chris; I didn't until RCSH became one of my clients; only people new to N.O. like Brian called it RC) so she named it Ruth's Chris Steak House. She eventually re-opened the other restaurant so for years, she had two places only four blocks apart.
She was a very, very smart woman. Studies showed people who visited here usually wanted "familiar" food on their third day in N.O., probably getting burned out on the spices or the sheer richness of our food. So what does everyone know remains the same (other than meat quality, of course) but steak?! For years and years, she would give every single cab driver a dollar bill for every carload they taxied to her restaurants. She didn't even have a hostess for years, just a hostess stand. Whichever waitress was free at the time walked up to show you to a table, and to piece off the cabbie! So the cab drivers started telling EVERYONE they picked up at the airport to make sure to try a Ruth's Chris steak before leaving town and would give them his card, too, of course. A marvelous marketing gimmick that paid off for years!
The places were not upscale at all. In fact, when I started with Duke, the agency who had her account, we were trying to get her to renovate the two restaurants here, one in N.O. (the second one) and one in Metairie. She never knew it but I was the person who was the "mystery shopper" our agency supposedly hired to critique the Metairie restaurant and do a report on it. The food was fantastic but it was expensive; though Brian and I dined out a lot in those days, if we were going to spend that kind of money, we went to a nice place with nicer ambiance. I'd just started working for Duke so no one recognized me and Brian. Oooh, Ruth was FURIOUS when she read the report. On the second floor, there were big old nasty credenzas in the huge room with dishwasher racks stacked about three feet high. Brian used the men's room and there was a leak in the floor that he had to straddle to use the urinal. The female bartender and staff kibitzed with one another more than the bartender did with the people at the bar. I really trashed what needed trashing and she was LIVID! She demanded Lana Duke tell her who did the report and I was petrified Lana would give in. She just told her she hired a service who did it and the individual wasn't identified by name. The part that made me nervous was that we used Lana Duke's credit card to pay for the meal. I knew the waitress saw that as all of a sudden, we got all kind of attention prior to leaving. You'd laugh, but it was YEARS before I set foot in the Metairie shop, and THAT one was upscale compared to the one on Broad Street in N.O.! Renovations were begun within 6 months though, and now both places are quite elegant and steakhouse looking.
She liked me a lot as I was the only one besides Lana she'd let accompany her to the studio to make radio commercials. She hated it and was quite stiff in the beginning but she got better and better. I'd pick her up in my car, we'd go to the studio and I'd drive her home. If she offered me a steak and I wasn't due back really soon, I'd definitely accept. She liked Brian, too, once she met him. One time we went without reservations and they were full. She cleared a table in her messier-than-messy office and insisted we stay and eat in the office; she sat with us while we did. I always insisted on paying for the meal, though, unless I was with her and we were working.
I lost touch with her once I left Duke Unlimited (Lana Duke OWNED me when I worked there and it was either be all alone in my personal life one day or quit my job at the agency -- I worked probably 60 hours a week AND traveled -- so I gave notice and quit; Lana was furious, Brian was THRILLED.
I cried my eyes out when she passed away. Lung cancer. Took her a couple of years to die. She lent Lana the money ($1 million for a franchise at the time) to open a RCSH franchise in San Antonio; I think Lana has three or four franchises now, one in Toronto where she was from originally (she still has the ad agency as well). When I gave notice, we were just beginning to get Ruth to operate the franchises in a more organized fashion than she did; I was scheduled to go to Reno the next day for the first ever RCSH franchise meeting. I planned the entire thing: all meals, events, meetings and what would be served, little gifts like they give players at the super bowl runup, even arranged for credit lines at Caesar's (where it was being held) for any attendee who wanted me to do so and). Brian didn't want me to go and I told him I HAD to go, as it was all my baby. Well, I gave notice the day before we left for Reno and Lana was furious. I told her I would go, stay two weeks total in N.O. and would write the vital report on the meeting prior to leaving. She kept at me and at me and at me all day long. Finally, we got into it. She said, "I think it would be a good idea if you didn't go to Reno tomorrow," to which I replied, "I couldn't agree more." She then was STUNNED when I turned to leave her office, shouting where are you going? I said I was going to pack up my desk. She said she didn't expect me to leave but just not go to Reno. Told her it was too late and the cord had been cut. She actually moved her chair to a place in her office to watch me pack up my things. My poor secretary was falling apart like a cheap suitcase, standing against an opposite wall while she asked me what happened so Lana couldn't see her. I was very proud of myself, as I didn't burst into tears until I got halfway home. Brian was ecstatic that I didn't go to Reno. So ended my by then vice presidency at Duke Unlimited. I hated the name and actually ADDED a line to my resume saying "Not affiliated with David Duke" (the racist/white supremacist) as I was asked that so often by agencies or potential employers over the years. THEN it got laughs!
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