- Kenneth Hein

On Tuesday August 5th, Ruby Tuesday will blow up its last old-style restaurant live on the Internet. (Editor's note: The chain instead pretended to detonate a neighboring building.) Investors in the struggling chain may get a perverse pleasure out of watching as Ruby Tuesday's performance has been among the poorest in the casual dining category.

The sit-down segment as a whole is reeling because of the economy and oversaturation of locations. Yesterday, Bennigan's and sibling Steak Ale restaurants filed for bankruptcy, putting the thousands who worked at 200 locations out of work.

Ruby Tuesday will look to shake off double-digit same-store sales decreases with its symbolic new campaign. The publicity stunt kicks off the "It's a brand new Tuesday" ad campaign.

Marketing will tout a menu overhaul from "bar & grill" to "simple, fresh, American dining." Plus the fact that décor for the 948-location chain has shifted from "Tiffany lamps and tchotchkes" to "simple and modern."

"They have redone everything. They have gotten rid of all the bicycles hanging from the recycles, the surfboards and old movie posters to point where there wasn't an inch of space," said David Oakley, creative director at Ruby Tuesday's agency BooneOakley, Charlotte, N.C. A company rep confirmed the stunt.

Teaser ads for detonation day include a sledgehammer wielding marketing executive who smashes a hanging lamp that would have been found in an "old" Ruby Tuesday's. Full-page newspaper ads show the brand's "manifesto" with copy shaped like a bomb.

Following the stunt at Rubytuesday.com, new ads will feature spokescharacter Johnny K who will guide viewers through the new look of the chain and explain all of the changes that have happened. Ruby Tuesday, Maryville, Tenn., spent $58.3 million on media in 2007, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Ruby Tuesday is attempting to recover from a misguided foray into upscale dining, said Ron Paul, president of Technomic, Chicago, which tracks the restaurant industry. "They took their eye off of their core customer and tried to go upscale . . . they didn't attract enough new customers and turned off existing ones. They have been significantly damaged."

Earlier this month, the chain released its annual fiscal 2008 report, which saw revenue decline 3.5%. Fourth-quarter same-store restaurant sales fell 10.3% and 7.2% at company-owned and domestic franchise respectively. For Ruby Tuesday's fiscal 2009, it is projecting a decline of low to mid-single digits for the year with next quarter's sales to be down 8-9%.

"Capacity is hurting the whole of casual dinging," said Paul. The top-20 chains in the varied menu bar and grill category increased their number of store locations by 45% between 2002-2007. Overall, about 7,000 new Applebee's, Bennigan's, T.G.I. Friday's and the like opened their doors. "I expect to see more closures," said Paul.

Ruby Tuesday expects to close approximately 15 stores during its next fiscal year and open about 20 new ones.