Chain Reaction

By Daniel Kadlec

Sandy Beall eats dinner out five times a week and regularly laments the choices he sees on the menus--unless, that is, he's eating at a Ruby Tuesday, the restaurant chain he founded in 1972 and still runs. It's not that Beall (pronounced Bell) is a culinary snob. Far from it. "I love all kinds of food," he says. But like millions of other Americans--and millions more who should be--he's watching his weight, and he notes the obvious: "It's a real challenge to find good restaurant food that will help you maintain a healthy body."

Beall, whose 684 outlets in 41 states feed some 385,000 people a day, isn't sure when the nutritional shortcomings of casual eateries like, well, his became an important front in America's battle with obesity. But things have clearly reached that point. Some 40% of the calories that Americans consume are ingested outside the home, and as that figure has risen, so has the nation's collective weight problem.

Some fast-food enterprises, including McDonald's, have cut portion sizes in a nod to obesity concerns. Frito-Lay and others have reduced the trans fats that have been linked to heart disease. Coca-Cola is promoting exercise. But no company on the belt-busting end of the food business has taken the fat fight more seriously than Beall's Ruby Tuesday. In his latest assault, Beall in April became the first chain restaurateur to print nutrition facts on the menu plainly, and perhaps painfully, between an item's description and its price. Classic, slow-cooked "hang off the plate" ribs? Yum. Calories: 1,437. Fat: 92 g. Net carbohydrates: 72 g. Yech.

It's not clear that Ruby Tuesday's diners want such stomach-turning information. But Beall, 55, the son of a nuclear engineer and himself a college dropout and restaurant-industry lifer, is giving it to them--and more. In November, Ruby Tuesday became the nation's largest casual-dining chain to start frying foods in canola oil, which is free of trans fats. The company posts nutrition tips on every table. After just a few months of testing, Beall this spring unveiled an expanded "smart eating" menu featuring fish, fresh vegetables and lean proteins such as turkey. He has ambitious plans to turn the website into a clearinghouse of nutritional information--not just on Ruby Tuesday's dishes but on a wide variety of foods. By August, Ruby Tuesday plans to have nothing but smart-eating dishes on its kids' menu and kid-friendly nutrition information in the form of crossword puzzles and other games on place mats.

Nutritionists applaud Beall's efforts--to a point. "This is terrific," says Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "But let's not forget that Ruby Tuesday also sells a colossal burger that is a pound of meat [14 oz. to be precise] with cheese--a real heart stopper. Some of their food is healthier, but this is not health food." Jacobson insists that too many people will look past the calorie, fat, carb and fiber counts on the menu. What's needed, he says, is sanity in portion sizes.

To which Beall answers: "Self-control has to come into play at some point. Everyone wants and needs a different amount of food." He argues that people who eat out only once a month may want to splurge and eat more than usual and that there's no harm in that.

Beall's efforts aren't entirely altruistic. Not even close. The FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION and the Department of Health and Human Services have been pressing for voluntary nutritional labeling on restaurant menus. At least two bills are floating around Washington that would require labeling not only on the menus of restaurants with 20 or more outlets but also on vending machines. There are nutrition-labeling efforts at the state level as well.

By acting now, Ruby Tuesday, which does virtually no advertising and competes against big-spending chains like Applebee's and Chili's, hopes to cement an image as the bar-and-grill chain with the best healthy alternatives. "Over the next decade, if we can maintain a leadership position in this market, it will pay off with more loyal and more frequent guests," says Beall, who believes that restaurantgoers will be looking for healthier menus.

But the gambit is not without risks. Ruby Tuesday, a publicly traded company that must answer to Wall Street, can't afford to let profits wane even temporarily as it stakes out this ground. Posting nutritional information and pushing smart-eating dishes like peppercorn Chilean salmon with mashed cauliflower may scare off core customers who have no interest in going on a diet. It might also shock customers into ordering less food. After all, even Atkins and South Beach fanatics may find a full rack of ribs unappetizing at 72 net carbs. If they opt for the low-carb burger wrap with just 7 carbs instead, Ruby Tuesday will be trading the sale of a $16.99 meal for one that costs the customer $6.99. Ouch.

When he tested the menu, Beall says, "we were worried that we were going to get killed." To his delight, the average check actually rose a few pennies as customers who avoided higher-priced calorie-, carb-and fat-laden items ordered appetizers and other dishes they might otherwise have skipped. With the average check stable, the payoff will be in attracting new customers and enticing regulars back more often, Beall says. Meanwhile, for die-hard overeaters, he still offers that colossal cheeseburger.

Even if the smart-eating movement at Ruby Tuesday is driven in part by business considerations, that doesn't mean it isn't also from the heart. Beall, who at 176 lbs. considers himself "maybe 10 lbs." overweight, has long had an interest in dieting. He got religion on the subject last year after hearing nutritionist Ann Kulze promote her 10-steps-to-a-healthier-life strategy. He promptly asked her to help plan a healthier menu for Ruby Tuesday.

"They actually listened to me," says Kulze, who remains a consultant to the company and is available via e-mail to employees seeking diet information. They may need it. Beall started his campaign last fall by issuing a company-wide challenge for Ruby Tuesday's managers to lose a collective 30,000 lbs. At a meeting back then, Beall ordered his brain trust "to think 50,000 ft. higher." Then he laid out the restaurant chain's strategy: "We're going to own the smart-eating market in casual dining," he told them. "This is going to be huge." Dietitians everywhere hope that he's right.