RUTH’S CHRIS STEAK HOUSE

Assignment # 04

PERSONALITY
Ruth fertel was born on February 5, 1927; Ruth Fertel grew up to be one of the food world's top
business leaders with her famous Ruth's Chris Steak House chain. This Louisiana native was the
daughter of an insurance salesman and a school teacher. She was a bright child, completing her
college degree when she was only 19 years old. Fertel earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry
from Louisiana State University. After graduating, Fertel taught at John McNeese Junior College
for a time. She married Rodney Fertel and devoted herself to raising her sons Randy and Jerry.
After her divorce from Rodney in 1958, Ruth soon returned to the workforce. She found a job as
a lab technician at Tulane Medical School, but she wondered how she was going to pay for her
sons' college educations on her salary. Fertel saw that a local restaurant was up for sale in a
classified ad in the newspaper. She decided that she wanted to take on the challenge of running a
restaurant, despite having no prior experience in the business. Fertel ended up mortgaging her
house to raise the funds to buy Chris' Steak House from its owner Chris Matulich.

Ruth Fertel, who found a New Orleans restaurant called Chris Steak House in the classified
ads and from it built one of the largest steakhouse chains in the world, died Tuesday in New
Orleans. She was 75.The cause was lung cancer, her company said.Ruth Fertel came to the food
business with no restaurant experience and even less culinary training. She prided herself on
following her instincts with her Ruth's Chris Steak House chain.

She ignored advice from her lawyer and banker when she bought her first restaurant, and she
kept the cumbersome name even as the business grew far beyond New Orleans. Today there are
82 Ruth's Chris Steak Houses in the United States and abroad, with annual sales of $328 million.

Each restaurant varies slightly in décor, depending on the location, but all cook prime steaks at
extremely high heat, in a broiler Ruth Fertel designed that reaches 1,800 degrees. And all serve
the steaks topped with a swath of butter for maximum flavor, as she insisted.

Ruth Fertel (pronounced fer TELL), who was divorced, was working as a lab technician at
Tulane School of Medicine and looking for a way to finance her two sons' college education
when she spotted a restaurant advertised for sale in 1965. In what she described as ''a case of
blind ambition,'' she mortgaged her house for $22,000 to buy the place from Chris Matulich. She
was so naïve, she said, that she asked for a loan only large enough to pay for the space; the bank
insisted that she take out a few thousand dollars more to buy food. She had to teach herself how
to butcher.

Six months after opening, she had taken in more than twice as much as her annual salary at
Tulane.

Ruth Fertel came out of a long and unusual New Orleans tradition: an acceptance of strong
women as restaurateurs, like Ella Brennan of Commander's Palace, Leah Chase of Dooky Chase
and Susan Spicer of Bayona. But Ruth Fertel also catered to the good-old-boy network that
flourishes in Louisiana, and from the beginning her restaurant attracted local politicians as well
as athletes, businessmen and reporters.

Edwin W. Edwards, a former governor of Louisiana, described Ruth Fertel to The Associated
Press as ''someone that every politician in this state knew and respected.''

She also apparently had the characteristic New Orleans attitude toward the rituals of death.
According to The A.P., in 1999 she gave a lavish party to unveil the mausoleum she and a friend
had bought for $500,000 in Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery.

Ruth was born in 1927 to an insurance salesman and a kindergarten teacher. At 19, she earned a
degree in chemistry from Louisiana State University, and she taught briefly at John McNeese
Junior College in Lake Charles, La., before her marriage, which ended after 14 years. She is
survived by her sons, Randy and Jerry, both of New Orleans, and seven grandchildren.

Ruth's Chris began expanding when she granted her first franchise in 1977, in Baton Rouge, the
state capital. The first Ruth's in Manhattan opened in the Theater District in 1993. In 1999,
Madison Dearborn Partners of Chicago acquired a majority interest in the chain.

Ruth Fertel was told she had lung cancer in 2000 but remained involved in the company
until she was hospitalized

Opportunities:

Even without a national football team in Alabama, the Oswalds scored. Birmingham’s
steakhouse, which opened in 1993, was so successful, Fertel later said she wished she’d saved it
for herself; she didn’t realize the sports-loving Alabamans had been road-tripping to New
Orleans for years to watch their beloved college football teams compete in the Sugar Bowl, and
they stopped in at Ruth’s Chris on the way. The hotel niche further complemented Ruth’s Chris,
because, in a smaller market, the steakhouse was pulling in hotel business. Even now in most of
the Oswalds’ locations, it’s the business travelers who dine in on Monday through Thursday,
while local diners patronize on the weekend

They have introduced Ruth’s Hour, their take on half-price happy hour promotions; Sunday
Steak and Frites night for a greatly reduced-price dinner; and a classic prix-fixe dinner.

Even when the economy shrinks, Ruth’s Chris might not be what guests cut out. While the fine-
dining segment lagged from 2008 to 2010, it also rebounded quicker than others post-recession,
posting a 5 percent gain in visits in 2013. “America has a continued love affair with beef,”

The upcoming Ruth’s Chris in Charleston, South Carolina, will be in the French Quarter Inn,
followed by a second Greenville, South Carolina, location in an Embassy Suites downtown.
While the menus are basically identical at each of the Ruth’s Chris locations, the buildings are
dramatically different in décor, guided very much by the space and the locality. In October, for
example, the Oswalds will relocate their Sandy Springs, Georgia, restaurant to nearby
Alpharetta. The 18,248-square-foot restaurant is designed like a traditional vineyard estate,
reflecting Georgia’s recent explosion in vineyard development; more than a dozen wineries have
opened in North Georgia since 2002.

“The constants with the Ruth’s Chris brand,” the food, the service, and the New Orleans-style
hospitality. That’s in any Ruth’s Chris around the country and around the world. So, in order to
complement that, each one of the designs of restaurants is unique. You could walk into a Ruth’s
Chris and if it wasn’t for the signage and the menu, you wouldn’t even know it’s a Ruth’s Chris.
Unlike many other groups of restaurants, where the design is the thing that holds them together,
for us, the designs are all very different and comfortable. And that’s the idea, that you’re going to
be comfortable but you’re also going to know that your needs are going to be taken care of.”

At Sizzling Steak Concepts, Jim Brooks is no longer involved in day-to-day operations, but Phil
Brooks continues to oversee Sizzling Steak’s accounting office in New Orleans. However, all
four partners continue to have board involvement and offer overall franchise guidance.
The Oswalds have struck up a benevolent partnership with Ruth’s Chris corporate. They report
sales and pay the franchise fee, just like any other franchisee, and the corporate executives
support the Oswalds wholly, visiting potential sites and giving feedback, for example.

Mike O’Donnell, president and CEO of Ruth’s Hospitality Group, says the Oswalds have done a
remarkable job upholding Fertel’s core values. “Mark and Nancy are model franchise partners,
and have played an important role in elevating the Ruth’s Chris brand,” he says, adding that he
admires their determination and hard work.

The Oswalds were the first franchisee to open a certified learning center so they can train
employees without sending them to one of the corporate training centers, of which there are
approximately 20 around the U.S. The Oswalds operate their training center out of the Kennesaw
Ruth’s Chris location in the Atlanta suburbs, and training is based on the corporate program,
though Nancy and Mark have adapted it to meet the hotel foodservice needs, as well, since
Ruth’s Chris is traditionally a dinner-only concept.

Nancy says being an independent as well as a piece of the corporate entity creates an attractive
mix; as part of the corporate concept, she says it’s helpful to follow the systems, such as daily
line checks and bar checks, that ensure consistency across all 140 units; on the other hand, the
Oswalds have the liberty to take advantage of both the central buying program that corporate
puts together, as well as the one that franchisees assemble.

“If corporate puts a particular program together and for some reason it’s not as beneficial to us as
a franchise, we don’t have to participate. It’s voluntary,” Mark explains. “That gives you so
much more flexibility, and it’s really the way a franchise should work: You get the benefits of
the big entity, and then you also have the ability to strike your own deals.”

Much of Fertel’s success came from resisting fads and trends, but the Oswalds have naturally
innovated to stay relevant and meet customers’ expectations. As Nancy says, “we’re not living in
a vacuum.”

Like some other Ruth’s Chris franchisees, they offer the wine list on an iPad, using a program
called Tastevin. “It has really improved our beverage program,” says Nancy, adding that it
empowers the guests and aids in custom pairings. It also provides a real-time look into the
inventory by linking with the POS system, so guests don’t order a wine that is out of stock.
“We’re doing things to embrace the new tech-savvy generation of diners,” Nancy says. “We
haven’t changed the concept. We’ve been true to the menu, true to the brand, true to our New
Orleans origins, but we are innovating in places that make sense.”

As the largest, most-tenured franchisee, the Oswalds have become recognizable faces of the
Ruth’s Chris brand. Asked why it is an important achievement, Nancy says, “It’s really more of a
responsibility than an achievement. We had the good fortune to know Ruth. It’s important to
uphold Ruth’s legacy of hospitality and keep her story—and spirit—alive for a new generation of
Ruth’s Chris guests and team members.”