To be a great steak house in Calgary – home of world-famous Alberta beef – is no easy feat. Variables such as meat quality, cooking method, side dishes, serving style, restaurant ambiance and wine list can make or break a discerning customer’s experience. To stand out, attention to each of these factors is paramount.
When done right, an exceptional steak dinner is like nothing else – and will keep you coming back for more. Tim Collins, Owner of Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Calgary, knows this all too well. It was an extraordinary experience he and his family, originally from St. Albert, had at a Ruth’s Chris while on vacation in California that hooked them to the restaurant. Collins was 16 years old.
“I remember the first time I tried the lobster bisque soup; the explosion of flavour was like nothing I’d ever experienced before,” Collins marvels from his Ruth’s Chris at the base of the Calgary Tower. “It was incredible. And then I had the tenderloin, and I had never eaten steak that tender and flavorful. And then the creme brûlée was like nothing else. The whole experience was unforgettable.”
After that, Ruth’s Chris became the family’s favourite vacation restaurant, so much so that they would plan future trips around visiting multiple Ruth’s Chris locations.
Eventually, Collins’ father decided he wanted to bring the restaurant to Alberta. With three other lifelong friends who were also Albertans, Collins Sr. requested to open franchises in Edmonton and Calgary. The partners were successful and opened a Ruth’s Chris in Edmonton in 2006 and one in Calgary in 2007 (the Collins family also owns seven Moxie’s Restaurants franchises – four in Edmonton and three in Mississauga).
Five years ago, Collins purchased the shares of a partner who passed away. He operates the business on behalf of the partners, each of whom enjoy dining there regularly.
“We have a great relationship with the franchisor,” Collins says. “They want their standards met, which we have no problem with because we have high standards as well. They want us to follow the system that made Ruth’s Chris successful to begin with. But they’re also very open-minded when we have locally inspired ideas. They’re very flexible.”
The original success of Ruth’s Chris traces back to New Orleans in 1965, and the small-but-mighty entrepreneurial single-mother of two, Ruth Fertel. Highly educated (Fertel graduated high school at 15 and, using her brother’s Word War II GI benefits, attended Louisiana State University from where she graduated at age 19 with honors in chemistry and physics), Fertel had married and divorced and found herself in need of additional income to support her two sons.
With no experience running a restaurant, she nevertheless purchased the 60-seat Chris Steak House which had previously failed and was up for sale. Against the advice of her banker, lawyer and friends, Fertel mortgaged her home for the money.
She personally took a hand in every part of the business, even teaching herself how to butcher steak, and within six months, Fertel had made over double her annual salary at her previous job.
Ten years later, a kitchen fire destroyed Chris Steak House, forcing Fertel to relocate. Though she found a new location, she was prohibited from using the original restaurant name. Short on time and with signage already printed, she improvised, adding her own name to the sign to make it “Ruth’s Chris Steak House.” The legendary albeit puzzling name was born.
“I like to tell the guests that story because it is such an odd name, and Ruth herself admitted it was a bit of marketing nightmare, but it’s what she went with and it obviously ended up working out,” Collins chuckles.
In 1977, the first franchised restaurant opened in Baton Rouge by loyal customer T.J. Moran, who would go on to open several more. Today, there are 158 Ruth’s Chris locations in 21 countries around the world.
“I never met Ruth,” Collins says. “She passed away in 2002 before we became franchise owners. But we know a lot of people who knew her well. I love listening to their stories about her, how she was such unique human being. Her resilience was impressive.”
“The 60th anniversary of the brand happened in May,” Collins continues. “There was a ceremony in New Orleans with many of the original franchisees, who were also friends of Ruth. There’s tremendous history there and it’s such a privilege to be in the room and listen to their banter about the old days. They’ve forgotten more about restaurants than I know, that’s for sure.”
Calgary’s Ruth’s Chris location – at the base of the Calgary Tower – was chosen because it is an iconic location central to downtown. “In 2007 the Alberta economy was at an all-time high,” Collins reminisces of the restaurant’s first year. “There were a lot of promising new businesses and growth around the Tower that was coming. Some of this happened and some did not. Then 2008 and 2009 hit hard, and in 2011 another recession. Then 2014. So it is a really good location but still has some opportunity to be even better.”
Today, the restaurant is doing very well, evidenced by the fact that last year it was named one of the Top 100 restaurants in Canada by OpenTable. Collins notes this list is based on actual customer reviews, which are highly credible: “We earned that from legitimate guests. People cannot randomly leave reviews on Open Table unless they actually dined at the restaurant. This brings credibility to the platform and the results. Other platforms are less credible because anyone can leave a review, even if they haven’t been to your restaurant.”
Like all businesses in Calgary, Ruth’s Chris depends on the health of the local economy. “Alberta is sort of a separate economy from the rest of Canada,” Collins notes. “So even if there’s chaos going on in the rest of the country, Alberta is usually doing better. We’re seeing that a little bit right now. I know people are concerned but I think Alberta is stronger than it has been in the past few years, and we see that reflected in our business.”
Of course great steak is the key to Ruth’s Chris success, including here in Calgary. “We never offer anything but the best that we can buy,” Collins explains. “You simply cannot buy the beef that we serve in the restaurant. You cannot buy it at your local butcher or grocery stores. It doesn’t make it to retail store shelves because it’s in high demand and there is so little of it. We provide an experience you can’t provide for yourself at home.”
As proud Albertan owners, the priority is to serve the best Alberta beef available.
The second key aspect to Ruth’s Chris success is the experience. “It’s an elevated experience in the way our team expertly handles your dining experience: from the front door to the table service to how the food comes out,” he says. “One of the things we’re best known for is the sizzle.”
If your mouth isn’t watering yet, it soon will be: “We use 500-degree plates to plate your steak. We put some butter on it that melts on the plate, and as we’re running it out to you, it’s sizzling. We have all these awesome senses as humans – seeing, smelling, hearing. And that sizzle encompasses all of that. When your food comes out, you feel special. That’s the feeling we try to provide for our customers.”
Ruth’s Chris uses an 1,800-degree broiler called an overfired-underfired broiler. While standard in most fine dining steak houses today, it was a technology pioneered by Fertel herself. “The grills that we use fire at 900 degrees from below and 900 degrees from above,” Collins explains. “So it’s 1,800 degrees. That’s why we’re able to cook steaks very quickly. But it also sears in all of the juices and protects the quality of the meat.”
Ruth’s Chris core menu – steaks – doesn’t vary much, but new features and seasonal items do get added. Special occasion menus, wine dinners that feature Canadian wineries, date night and a primetime menu round out the offering.
“We offer our primetime menu every day until 6:30, and all night on Sundays,” Collins says. “We acknowledge it’s expensive to eat at Ruth’s Chris, but we want our guests to be so wowed by the food, drink and hospitality they receive that they say: ‘That was worth it!’ Our primetime menu offers guests the opportunity to experience Ruth’s Chris at a more affordable entry point. We offer a two-course dinner for $65 and a three-course dinner for $77.”
Perhaps unbeknownst to many, Ruth’s Chris has several private dining rooms that can accommodate between 12 and 135 seated guests. “We can do a nice birthday dinner, an anniversary, even wedding parties,” Collins says. “We did my mom and dad’s 50th wedding anniversary dinner a few years ago and had 50 people in the room, it was a fantastic night. We’re also a great venue for family dinners of any size and business functions/events.”
The roughly 40 employees are proud to work at Ruth’s Chris. Several have been with the restaurant for years, including Chef Trevor Grandan, who started as a line cook more than 16 years ago. “That’s unheard of in our business,” Collins notes. “It’s a pretty nice environment to work in. Everybody is proud of the quality we get to serve every day, and we get to serve fantastic guests as well. That’s a big factor. There’s a lot of great people we get to take care of.”
Summer (apart from the tourism bump that accompanies Stampede) isn’t the busiest time for Ruth’s Chris given the penchant for the backyard barbecue during this time, but the rest of the year is pretty consistent: “And of course the eight weeks around Christmas and New Year’s are very successful for us.”
A proud Albertan, Collins reiterates that Ruth’s Chris is a local business: “Yes, the brand is international, just like a lot of restaurants and places you dine at or visit. But we’re owned by four Albertans. We are about as local as you get for a brand because everything stays here. We support local everywhere we can.”
So the next time you want a great steak dinner, or are celebrating a birthday or anniversary, or are planning a private event, consider Ruth’s Chris Steak House. The combination of history, quality and expertise means you can’t go wrong.
