Ruby Tuesday Ranks Top Healthy Choice in New Casual Dining Survey

Every year, more than 9,200 consumers are polled for the Market Force Information study, which ranks casual dining chains in seven categories: general menu, pizza, Italian, breakfast, buffet, steakhouse and seafood.

This year, Ruby Tuesday received a score of 42 percent in the general menu restaurants category, putting them ahead of restaurants like Chili’s Bar & Grill, Red Robin, Hooters, T.G.I Fridays, Buffalo Wild Rings and Applebee’s. Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen was at the top of the list with a score of 52 percent.

Ruby Tuesday led in the Healthy Choices category with a score of 33 percent, beating out brands like O’Charley’s BJ’s Brewhouse, Cheddar’s, Cracker Barrel, Cheesecake Factory and Applebee’s. The brand also received high scores in the Fast Service, Food Quality, Good Value and Menu Variety Categories.

“Casual dining restaurants face fierce competition from fast casual brands. This research shows that consumers are questioning the value proposition of casual dining because they are not seeing the increase in food quality given the higher price,” said Cheryl Flink, Market Force’s chief strategy officer. “Still, diners are seeking an experience when they go out for a casual dining meal, so that’s an area that these chains can exploit to pull ahead of this new competition.”