We wondered like many of you have wondered why Ruby Tuesday has been releasing its coupons less frequently this year than in years past.  So we started doing some digging and found the answer in the Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2012 Earnings Conference Call Ruby Tuesday held in early January, 2012.   Here are some comments made by Ruby Tuesday’s executive chairman and Chief Executive Officer that are reported in the transcript of the call:

As we and other industry peers have noted, the promotional environment continues to be very aggressive with heavy advertising levels within the casual dining and bar grill segment. The promotional programs we’ve historically utilized, coupons, don’t compete as well versus the high-value heavy TV advertisements in this type of environment. So we’re changing. We’re testing some, and so far it’s looking pretty good.

We’re testing various value-oriented offerings such as our free Garden Bar promotion in several of our markets, many of which supported by TV. We’re also reducing our coupon expense going forward to help fund these efforts. We believe our fresh Garden Bar is a huge point of depreciation as I said a second ago. It can’t be duplicated really or not very easily, and the value that we bring to the consumer through this offering, free Garden Bar, along with our free fresh-baked bread, et cetera, is pretty powerful and we plan on increasing our TV locations from approximately 20% today to 50% of the system in the fourth quarter. So we’re excited about that.

We identified at least $15 million to $20 million, hopefully more, through our cost savings initiatives to fund additional marketing dollars. And again, key there we hope to get more. Whatever we get, we plan on putting into advertising for fourth quarter and next year. While only a small portion of these savings will be recognized this year, it should position us very well, provide additional support as we execute our marketing strategy for fiscal ’13.

Here is a link to that transcript

BUT GET A FREE SALAD BAR WITH ENTREE

On the bright side, if you have seen the most recent Ruby Tuesday television commercial it reveals that right now with over 30 chef-inspired entrées (starting at $9.99), you can get the Ruby Tuesday Fresh Garden Bar as a FREE add-on. The deal is good for dine-in only.

In other news, Ruby Tuesday recently bought a Miami chain, Lime Fresh Mexican Grill for $24 million.  Lime currently has 16 stores, including nine in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Ruby Tuesday has opened Lime’s first stores non-Florida, expanding the chain to Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Alabama .  Wonder if they will offer coupons?

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