Rubys "Shake Shack" opening in Reno

[storewanderer]

There is construction in Reno on North Virginia between the 7-11 and Raising Canes. There is a coming soon Ruby's sign with the logo of the SoCal chain, and a permit that says this will be "Rubys Shake Shack." This is near a bunch of miserably institutional looking student housing. This site will have ZERO customer parking.

I believe we had a Ruby's in the Bowling Stadium in Downtown Reno for the first year or two that the bowling stadium was open but it didn't last since the building is basically closed unless there is a tournament in town which is only every few years.

I am surprised to see this chain expanding, I though they were closing locations.

Looking at pricing like $12.99 for a burger and $6.99 for fries down in SoCal I am not sure how this type of format with this type of pricing makes any sense at/near a college environment. I guess if the student loans are paying for it all, carry on. Maybe if it is a fast food format it will have lower pricing. They need to be competitive with Raising Cane's where you can still get a meal for about $10 with a drink and the Raising Cane's model does not solicit or accept tips.

[ClownLoach]

There is construction in Reno on North Virginia between the 7-11 and Raising Canes. There is a coming soon Ruby's sign with the logo of the SoCal chain, and a permit that says this will be "Rubys Shake Shack." This is near a bunch of miserably institutional looking student housing. This site will have ZERO customer parking.

I believe we had a Ruby's in the Bowling Stadium in Downtown Reno for the first year or two that the bowling stadium was open but it didn't last since the building is basically closed unless there is a tournament in town which is only every few years.

I am surprised to see this chain expanding, I though they were closing locations.

Looking at pricing like $12.99 for a burger and $6.99 for fries down in SoCal I am not sure how this type of format with this type of pricing makes any sense at/near a college environment. I guess if the student loans are paying for it all, carry on. Maybe if it is a fast food format it will have lower pricing. They need to be competitive with Raising Cane's where you can still get a meal for about $10 with a drink and the Raising Cane's model does not solicit or accept tips.

I think it became an available-to-franchise or license brand in their last bankruptcy. They used to franchise to airports and the food made McDonald's look like a gourmet burger. Absolutely disgusting and at Ruth's Chris prices. They obviously survive at the airports on corporate expense cards. I wonder if all the remaining stores are franchises now.

When Islands made their series of critical errors (not including fries and trying to make the food organic but doing so with dry burgers and tasteless sauces/toppings/no salt), I tried a couple of Ruby's and both were awful. Well maintained and attractive interiors that were very clean but it stopped there. Prices were astronomical for tiny dried out burgers and limp fries. Walked by one yesterday in Carlsbad and saw it had two customers at lunchtime in a $$$$ high rent corner of the outlet mall, next to the Flower Fields which is a springtime tourist attraction that brings thousands of people. They were so crowded that they had overflow lots in use, Starbucks had a long queue outside, but basically no business at Ruby's.

[storewanderer]

There was one of these in the Las Vegas airport inside one of the nicer terminals; it used a different logo from the main chain on its signs, but then once you got inside everything had the chain's logo. It was run by HMS Host. You could get out of there at breakfast under $15. "Quality" was on par with a Denny's type place. For the Las Vegas airport it wasn't much more expensive than the fast food places in the Southwest jail style terminals. Not sure if it is still there, last time I was in that terminal was 2021.

Considered eating at that Carlsbad Ruby's a number of years ago but left due to the high prices. It was dead when I was going to go there too.

[ClownLoach]

There was one of these in the Las Vegas airport inside one of the nicer terminals; it used a different logo from the main chain on its signs, but then once you got inside everything had the chain's logo. It was run by HMS Host. You could get out of there at breakfast under $15. "Quality" was on par with a Denny's type place. For the Las Vegas airport it wasn't much more expensive than the fast food places in the Southwest jail style terminals. Not sure if it is still there, last time I was in that terminal was 2021.

Considered eating at that Carlsbad Ruby's a number of years ago but left due to the high prices. It was dead when I was going to go there too.

HMS Host ran one at John Wayne Airport that I would get stuck eating at before business trips to the East Coast. When you're leaving on a Sunday afternoon it was one of the few options for a sit down meal that could be expensed, and if I didn't eat a big lunch then by the time I would land it would be too late and no good options to eat. But it was so overpriced, and such poor quality. I had to practically tell the surly, rude servers what medium rare was as they would automatically cook everything as extra well done, burnt charred crust and so dry it might as well be dehydrated meat. They knew they were there entirely to max out corporate expense accounts which sometimes have arcane rules about things like coffee not being a meal etc. Many HMS and other airport operators can create a quality hamburger at their own random airport bar and grill type places for the same or less, so really no excuse for the Ruby's to be so horrific. Somehow that Ruby's survives, with a 2.5 star rating on Yelp validating that they couldn't care less about making happy, loyal returning customers.

In the late 90s and early 2000s Ruby's was a first class operation with quality diner food. Delicious hamburgers that were thick and juicy, maybe ground sirloin. They killed the business with over-expansion into top tier rent locations, and bad decisions like the infamous Laguna Hills Mall relocation where they moved from the wrong side of the dying mall to a brand new building that was still on the wrong side of the mall, invisible to street traffic. And then they tried some other odd moves, such as changing from a familiar 1950s era design and logo to a jarring, garish orange and pink "Endless Summer" design out of the 60s/70s. There is still one of these that I am aware of in San Clemente and it has been redecorated to drastically tone down the obnoxious color scheme but it still seems very out of place in the chain (it's now a mid century modern revival design which diners aren't really known for). Ultimately nostalgia restaurants like Ruby's are a destination for most consumers and not necessarily part of their everyday routine so the over expansion attempts to plaster them everywhere diluted sales and bankrupted the company. Somewhere in the downfall it is obvious decisions were made to reduce food quality, thus removing yet another reason to go there as now their food is comparable to Denny's but with higher prices and less of a breakfast emphasis.

Ruby's as a concept was not bad originally, probably one of the best retro diner chains when compared to Johnny Rocket's and others. Their quality and service seemed to be intentionally a "step up" in presentation and menu creativity before the collapse. New ownership and proper investment into menu and real estate could still resurrect the brand. Unfortunately it seems more like it is just going to become a generic licensed chain with inconsistent operations, pricing, and questionable quality that will dwindle away like Fuddruckers. Back in the day when Fuddruckers was fresh grinding meat in each restaurant every hour, then grilling with a perfect flat top brown sear on a thick patty, that was just the most fantastic hamburger. I miss it so much, but in the final years it appeared to suffer the same fate as all the quality went right out the window. Unfortunately when you go to Ruby's you expect similar quality to that Fuddruckers of the 80s/90s but you get McDonald's quality for 50% more than Islands or Red Robin.

[bryceleinan]

There is construction in Reno on North Virginia between the 7-11 and Raising Canes. There is a coming soon Ruby's sign with the logo of the SoCal chain, and a permit that says this will be "Rubys Shake Shack." This is near a bunch of miserably institutional looking student housing. This site will have ZERO customer parking.

I believe we had a Ruby's in the Bowling Stadium in Downtown Reno for the first year or two that the bowling stadium was open but it didn't last since the building is basically closed unless there is a tournament in town which is only every few years.

I am surprised to see this chain expanding, I though they were closing locations.

Looking at pricing like $12.99 for a burger and $6.99 for fries down in SoCal I am not sure how this type of format with this type of pricing makes any sense at/near a college environment. I guess if the student loans are paying for it all, carry on. Maybe if it is a fast food format it will have lower pricing. They need to be competitive with Raising Cane's where you can still get a meal for about $10 with a drink and the Raising Cane's model does not solicit or accept tips.

I’m picturing the site… and it isn’t good. Between Archie’s and the Wal, I can’t see that place surviving long.

[storewanderer]

The developer is the former Raising Canes franchisee who developed out all of Nevada and Arizona for Raising Canes. These guys are very strong operators and their ability to build those two states out for Raising Canes, become the largest franchisee, then sell the u units all to corporate was quite impressive. I guess they know something.

I just don't see it as a good site.

Or the right concept for the site.

I guess we will see.

[bryceleinan]

The developer is the former Raising Canes franchisee who developed out all of Nevada and Arizona for Raising Canes. These guys are very strong operators and their ability to build those two states out for Raising Canes, become the largest franchisee, then sell the u units all to corporate was quite impressive. I guess they know something.

I just don't see it as a good site.

Or the right concept for the site.

I guess we will see.

We shall see for sure. However, as an alum of UNR, I can say that they’re going up against stiff competition.

[storewanderer]

The developer is the former Raising Canes franchisee who developed out all of Nevada and Arizona for Raising Canes. These guys are very strong operators and their ability to build those two states out for Raising Canes, become the largest franchisee, then sell the u units all to corporate was quite impressive. I guess they know something.

I just don't see it as a good site.

Or the right concept for the site.

I guess we will see.

We shall see for sure. However, as an alum of UNR, I can say that they’re going up against stiff competition.

I agree. This seems like a bad idea to me. There used to be a house on this site. It was a two story house.

I am curious how this place will be. I am wondering if it will follow the design/layout of the Raising Cane's on the Las Vegas strip. That unit you order on the ground level but then the dining room/main restrooms are upstairs (I think there is one downstairs too). There is a self serve beverage station on both levels.