Nation’s Restaurant News: Ruby Tuesday Names Permanent CEO Ahead of Schedule

This week NRD Capital secured a new CEO for Ruby Tuesday. Replacing interim CEO Aziz Hashim is Ray Blanchette, according to a recent Nation’s Restaurant News article. Blanchette recently led Au Bon Pain through its acquisition by Panera and had perviously served as CEO and president of Ignite Restaurant Group for eight years.

“As the NRD team conducted its search for a permanent CEO, we sought out an executive with a proven track record of successful restaurant management, combined with innovative thinking, extraordinary team-building skills and a shared philosophy on the importance of strong unit level performance. Ray Blanchette checks all those boxes,” said Hashim.

Since Ruby Tuesday has had recent struggles with declining traffic and sales, Blanchette knows there’s a number of changes that need to be made to compete. These initiatives will include menu improvement, quality of operations, the overall restaurant experience and getting the right people in the correct roles. Luckily, he will have help from the experienced NRD Capital team.

Click here to read the full article.