Mr. Beall was 21 when he and some college friends opened the first Ruby Tuesday in 1972. He did a pretty good job, IMO. The restaurants may not be what they were, but it was a good effort and the company has been good for Maryville and Blount County. Hope this isn't a sign they'll be pulling their headquarters to another location anytime soon.

RT is a sad, sad story.

They lost their way from making great burgers, onion soup, quiche and their salad bar and running a fun neighborhood pub to the corporate grind of focusing on quarterly earnings at the expense of quality and service.

And they haven't even done a very good job of that. Their stock has declined -29.77% in the past 52 weeks. Their earnings per share growth is -64.29% for the previous 12 months as compared to +177.61% for the industry. Their gross margins are 16.44% as compared to 36.81% for the industry.

They have $9 million in cash, $122 million in current liabilities and $293 million in long term debt. Their main value now appears to be about $1 billion in real estate. Maybe someone will buy them out for that.

Don't know if this is true, but it has been said it was Sandy's wife who wanted to upscale Ruby's and that square plated thinking is what killed the brand.

The Ruby's rib place on Lovell was good. The Ruby's fish place is better. What sucks is the original Ruby's. But TGI sucks too. Chili's has gone downhill. A person can get a good burger at Hardees or Back Yard Burgers.

It may be that keeping it simple and cheap and having beer and wine was the best idea after all. If a place like Back Yard Burgers did a Newt's and sold bottled beer and wine it could finish off all the existing Ruby's. People want a quick lunch or dinner and price is what matters. Sandy forget what made Ruby's.

Ran it straight into the ground and ended up closing both locations.

The concept reappeared at Asian Chow in the shopping center where Long's Drug Store is and it is thriving.

Got to be some other issues in the mix that would cause a walk away. Clayton would never walk from CMH and a Haslam would never walk away from Pilot and both of those guys serve on the board of Ruby Tuesday as well.

Sandy had the vision back in the '70s that people would increasingly eat out and would become dependent on it. I remember the studies that predicted that. I had a hard time believing that then, but this man's ambitions have succeeded beyond anyone's expectations. Kudos to him for that.

Somewhere along the way, though, RT just became all about growing the corporation with endless friggin' "concepts," always looking for new gimmicks in which to repackage the same old menu fare. Hide huge portions of sugar/salt/grease behind "new" and "special" seasonings and voila! Just repeat ad nauseam, hoping you can win the corporate sweepstakes against Chili's, O'Charlie's, T.G.I.F., Applebees, et. al. Not my idea of a dining experience, though the Ricky Bobbys of the world apparently love that and there are a lot of them. That could also be called job creation, though that's arguable and a mixed bag given the low wage, low skill, high apathy caliber of those jobs. And these places don't really grow demand. It's either eat there, elsewhere, or put your money to better use by saving it when you eat better at home.

Maybe that whole awning place thing is running its course, given O'Charlie's problems too. Then again there's always something new on that block that people are eager to jump on. Like Cheddar's! Not eager to try that.

Took my Mom out for Mother's Day. We were seated at one for their few large tables for 6. Early on, it was clear we couldn't talk to each other, unable to shout over the excessively loud "mood music".

Normally, this is not a problem. We called over the manager and just asked him to turn it down a bit so we could have a nice conversation.

He said "We can't. Corporat sets the volume levels and we aren't even given a volume knob to adjust it."

That's when I knew RT was royally f******ed. And I have never been back since.

Form 8-K for RUBY TUESDAY INC
7-Jun-2012

Item 5.02.Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers

On June 6, 2012, Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (the "Company") announced that Samuel ("Sandy") E. Beall, III, the Company's Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors, has decided to step down from management and the Board of Directors. Mr. Beall intends to step down when the Company names his successor.

In connection with his departure, the Company has entered into a transition agreement with Mr. Beall (the "Transition Agreement"). In exchange for Mr. Beall's agreement to continue in his role as Chief Executive Officer and assist the Company in its search for his successor, the Company has agreed that Mr. Beall will (i) continue to earn his existing base salary for the remaining period of his employment, (ii) be eligible to receive a pro rated bonus for the fiscal year ending June 4, 2013 based on the date and circumstances of Mr. Beall's departure and (iii) receive the basic severance to which he is eligible under the Company's executive severance plan (i.e., two years' base salary) upon his departure, death or disability. Mr. Beall will not be eligible to receive the severance benefits if he voluntarily departs prior to November 30, 2012 or, if earlier, prior to the appointment of his successor.

The Company does not intend to grant Mr. Beall future equity awards under the Company's plans. The Transition Agreement confirms the Company's obligations with respect to Mr. Beall's existing equity awards, providing that any remaining service-vesting condition of his equity awards has been fully satisfied and the performance-vesting condition applicable to certain of his awards will continue to apply. He will have the remaining term of his stock options during which to exercise such options.

Following his departure, Mr. Beall is prohibited from working for certain competitors of the Company for a period of one year. In addition, Mr. Beall has agreed to covenants relating to confidentiality, trade secrets and non-solicitation as set forth in the Transition Agreement.

Mr. Beall has agreed to enter into a release of claims within 30 days following his departure.

The foregoing summary of the Transition Agreement does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, the full text of the Transition Agreement, which will be attached to the Company's next quarterly report and is incorporated herein by reference.