Following the double-whammy of the "Dot-Com Crash" and 9/11 Attacks, travel in the US fell precipitously. As a pioneer in high-end steak houses, after its founding by Ruth Fertel in New Orleans in 1965, Ruth's Chris depended on the travel market, especially expense-account business travel, for over one-third of its sales. Fortunately, the emergence of new digital businesses provided a catalyst for turnaround. As Chief Marketing Officer, I noted with interest the expansion of a West Coast startup called Open Table, an application for making digital reservations and table management. Some were cynical that the over-50 demographic that favored Ruth's Chris would adopt this new digital behavior. An initial wave of market tests confirmed that they would adopt this new technology. A new Ruth's Chris Website was designed that offered customers a much easier way to make reservations and order gift cards. Within eighteen months, online reservations made via the Website accounted for a staggering 40% of all reservations, and Ruth's Chris became a Top 10 Open Table destination. Some saw this a key factor in Ruth's Chris highly successful IPO in 2005, sponsored by its private equity owner, Madison Dearborn.
