Ruth Chris: The High Steaks of International Expansion 1. Give a small introduction and present a situational analysis and overview of the case. Introduction Ruth Fertel, the founder of Ruth Chris, was born in New Orleans in 1927. She took her graduation degree from Louisiana State University. Then Fertel taught for two semesters in McNeese State University. Ruth Fertel also had the trainer’s license and was the first female horse trainer. In 1965, Ruth Fertel mortgaged her home for US $ 22,000 to purchase Chris Steak House, which was a 60 seat restaurant. But in September 1965, when the city of New Orleans was devastated by the hurricane, Ruth cooked whatever was present in her restaurant and brought to her brother, to help in the relief campaign. In 1976, the thriving restaurant was destroyed by the kitchen fire. After that Fertel brought a property on the Broad Street and opened the restaurant with the name of “Ruth Chris Steak House”. In 1976, a first ever franchise of Ruth Chris was opened by Tom Morgan on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge. After that Ruth continued to awarding more and more franchisees and the business continued to expand.
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Ruth Chris: The High Steaks of International Expansion
1. Give a small introduction and present a situational analysis and overview of
the case.
Introduction
Ruth Fertel, the founder of Ruth Chris, was born in New Orleans in 1927. She took her
graduation degree from Louisiana State University. Then Fertel taught for two semesters in
McNeese State University. Ruth Fertel also had the trainer’s license and was the first female
horse trainer. In 1965, Ruth Fertel mortgaged her home for US $ 22,000 to purchase Chris Steak
House, which was a 60 seat restaurant. But in September 1965, when the city of New Orleans
was devastated by the hurricane, Ruth cooked whatever was present in her restaurant and
brought to her brother, to help in the relief campaign.
In 1976, the thriving restaurant was destroyed by the kitchen fire. After that Fertel brought a
property on the Broad Street and opened the restaurant with the name of “Ruth Chris Steak
House”. In 1976, a first ever franchise of Ruth Chris was opened by Tom Morgan on Airline
Highway in Baton Rouge. After that Ruth continued to awarding more and more franchisees
and the business continued to expand.
Dan Hannah was the vice president for the business development since 2004. Hannah was also
concerned with the strategy development by focusing the growth of franchise and company
operated restaurants.
Overview
Ruth Chris Steak House became the largest fine dining steak house in the US. Their commitment
was to provide customer satisfaction which became one of their success factors. Their steaks
were also USDA Prime graded. And their menu contained steak and sea food combinations and
vegetable platter also. The company occasionally introduced new items as specials that allowed
the restaurant to offer its guests additional choices.
Initial Public Offering
In 2005, Ruth Chris went public by offering its initial public offering and raised more than US
$154 million in equity capital. The sales grew from 82 locations in the United States and 10
international locations including Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Taiwan. As of December
2005, 41 of the restaurants were company owned and 51 were franchisee owned.
Franchise agreement
The franchisee agreement that Ruth Chris used to give was for 10 years, with three 10 year
renewal options. The agreement also provided territorial protection and there were terminal
clauses included as well which could be used in the event of non performance.
Ansoff’s Product/Market Matrix
As a part of the international market selection process, Hannah considered for models,
Restaurant Brands
Existing New
Existing Penetration
(more restaurants)
Same Market
Same Product
Product Development
(new brands)
Same Market
New Product
Market
New Market Development
(new markets)
New Market
Same Product
Diversification
(new brands for new market)
New Product
New Market
The product development model was never seriously considered by Ruth Chris, because they
didn’t find value in diversifying the new kind of restaurants.
The diversification model was also not seriously considered by Ruth because they knew that
their restaurants work only without the risk of brand dilution or brand confusion, which might
occur in case of pursuing the diversification model.
The penetration model was used by the Ruth Chris in the small way, but there was a limiting
factor in that model as well, that the establishments would not become as ubiquitous as the
quick service restaurants.
The market development model was the most common model used by the Ruth Chris for
generating revenue. Franchisees in Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico and Taiwan were successful by
using this model.
Situational Analysis
Currently the biggest challenge for Hannah was to decide which location to choose for the
international expansion to proceed further. Ruth Chris used to receive inquires by the would be
franchisees from all over the world, but because of the strict criteria, many potential countries
got excluded from the list. The criteria included – liquid net worth of at least US $ 1 million,
experience within the hospitality industry, ability to develop multiple locations, cost of a
franchise US $ 100,000 per restaurant franchise fee, five % of gross sales royalty fee and two %
of gross sales fee as a contribution to the national advertising campaign. Because of all these
strict criteria, many potential countries were eliminated from the list of would be franchisees.
Now that Ruth Chris wanted to grow its international business, the most important question
ahead of it was to decide what countries would be best suited for the fine dining that made
Ruth Chris famous. The Ruth Chris was deciding to select the market, for that they created a
certain criteria. They defined certain success factors:
Beef Eaters – As Ruth Chris was the steak House, and most of its items were beef and
meat related, they conducted an analysis in 17 countries to find out the annual beef
consumption.
Legal to import US beef – As the Ruth Chris used only USDA Prime beef, thus they had to
analyze whether the target country is able to import the USDA Prime beef or not.
Population/High Urbanization – The target market also need to be in highly urbanized
and densely populated areas.
High disposable income – The target market should have the people who have high
disposable income.
Do people go out to eat? The target market should have the customers who would be
willing to go out to eat.
Affinity for US brands – As the name Ruth Chris was uniquely American so there could
be certain countries which are anti US. So the target market should be in such a country
which is not anti US.
What should be done next?
The most important issues were to decide about the market entry. Ruth Chris was also
considering whether to continue franchising, or they might look for other opportunities in joint
venture or company owned stores. They also wanted to find the opportunity to find a global
partner/brand.
2. What did Hannah do to make the first cut in the list of potential countries?
How did he get from 200 to less the 35 potential markets? Which variables
seamed more important in his decision making? Which unused variables might
have been useful?
When deciding about where to go next in international expansion, Hannah made a certain strict
criteria which the potential country should meet, if they want to have a franchise agreement.
That criterion was quite strict, and it caused many potential countries to be dropped out from
the list, and the list got from 200 to less than 35 potential markets. The following variables were
considered in the criteria:
Liquid net worth of at least 1 million $ - A net worth of this huge amount was
necessary for the potential country to have, in order to get the franchise agreement.
This excluded many potential countries of the third world that could not have this
amount of capital to start up.
Experience within the hospitality industry – Hospitality industry is related to the
restaurants, cafes and hotels etc. So the potential country must have some experience
in this industry. Now this variable excluded those countries who do not have experience
in the hospitality industry but would be willing to start the franchising and may possess
the other required capabilities.
Ability and Desire to make multiple locations – This was another variable which
eliminated many of the potential countries, because if a country may want to restrict
the business to specified location, it cannot get the franchise agreement from Ruth
Chris, because they want that the country is able to develop and expand the franchises
to multiple locations.
Cost of the franchise – The cost of the franchise was 100,000 $ per restaurant
franchise fee. This cost cannot be afforded by certain third world countries, which
cannot pay this amount for the fee. So, many potential third world countries got
excluded from the list.
Royalty fee – Royalty fee was five percent of the gross sales which has to be paid
monthly, is needed to be paid to Ruth Chris. This was also one of the strict criteria that
excluded many potential countries.
Contribution for the national advertising campaign – It was also compulsory
for the host country to contribute two percent of the gross sales fee for the national
advertising campaign. This advertising fee was also paid monthly. So, the countries that
would not be willing to contribute this amount for the advertising campaign were
eliminated from the list of prospects.
Variables that are important in the decision making
All the variables that Hannah considered were although important, but most important
variables in the criteria were
Initial Capital, because the host country must possess the required capital in order to
make their franchising successful. They must have access to adequate capital to develop
the entire development schedule.
Experience, this is also important variable for Ruth Chris to be considered. The potential
country must have proven hospitality experience (food service, including casual dining
or hotel preferred)
Ability and Desire to make multiple locations, this is also important variable that the
host country must have the ability to make multiple restaurants; they should have made
a development plan for the multiple locations.
Unused Variables for Ruth Chris that might have been useful
Although Hannah considered many important variables that were useful while making a
potential list for the countries to whom the franchise agreement could be given, but there are
other unused variables which could also prove out to be useful in determining the criteria,
these variables are as follows:
The franchisee should comply with the standards – The host country which is
going to take the franchise agreement, must comply with the standards of the operation
which Ruth Chris will define.
Territory – Ruth Chris might also define the specific territories for the host countries,
where they can operate. Because the success of restaurant also depends on such factors
like urbanization, high disposable income etc. This variable can help Ruth Chris increase
its probability of success by defining to work in the urban areas.
Operations Manual – The franchisee must be legally obliged to follow the rules and
regulations of the operations of the business, because if they don’t follow, it could bring
a bad image to the brand of Ruth Chris.
Competency in the Technical Area – Ruth Chris could also verify if the potential
countries are competent enough in the technical area. If they are not, they could also
provide training in the start.
Flexibility – The host company which is going to take the franchise agreement should
be flexible enough to face any change. In case the parent company is sold, they could