Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
After her marriage ended in 1958, Ruth Fertel supported her two young sons on her own and later spent four years working at Tulane University Medical School, according to the Horatio Alger Association. In 1965, she purchased Chris Steak House, the restaurant that later became Ruth’s Chris Steak House, the Horatio Alger Association noted. On her first day as owner, Fertel reportedly sold 35 steaks at around $5 each, Mashed reported, citing an archived biography. In early 1976, shortly after Ruth Fertel signed a new 10-year lease, a kitchen fire destroyed the original Chris Steak House, forcing her to move to a nearby property on Broad Street. Until then, the restaurant had operated under its original name for 11 years. A businessman working in construction agreed to help her and she moved into a bigger restaurant with 160 seats, up from the original 60. The little 60-seat steakhouse on North Broad Street has since grown into a worldwide name and the brand still carries the name she was forced to add.
The dining room was staffed entirely by hard-working, single mothers who later became known as the “Broads on Broad Street”, according to the official Ruth’s Chris Steak House website. That changed when a loyal customer who had moved to Baton Rouge kept travelling back to New Orleans for dinner, which prompted her to start franchising, according to Encyclopedia.com. Her salary was not enough to send her sons to college, so she began looking for a way to earn more. Then she noticed an advertisement for a restaurant for sale near the racetrack in New Orleans. For many years, it was the only upscale restaurant in New Orleans with an all-female wait staff. Fertel worked hard at her New Orleans restaurant and never thought of taking the business beyond the city limits. The restaurant’s success came from practical decisions, including the loyal staff, consistent service and stubborn determination to start again after the fire.
Despite having no restaurant experience, she mortgaged her home for $22,000, using $18,000 to buy the 60-seat restaurant and the remaining $4,000 for food and supplies, according to Ruth’s Chris Steak House. It could accommodate only 60 customers, had no parking and stood near the Fair Grounds Race Course. Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in September 1965, the same year she bought the restaurant.
She had no restaurant experience and her banker, lawyer, family and friends all advised her not to go ahead, according to the company‘s own history. But she went ahead and bought it, risking her home and turning a little steakhouse on North Broad Street into a household name. The restaurant was small. The area was crowded and the restaurant was struggling even before she took it over.