The Big News October 2007
(Oct. 01) Craig S. Miller, chairman, president and chief executive of Ruth’s Chris Steak House Inc. and a former chairman of the National Restaurant Association, was once just a typical 13-year-old, in need of some pocket money and looking for an after-school job in central Florida, where his family had just moved.
A neighbor owned a restaurant and hired Miller as a cleaner and dishwasher, he recalls. One day, the “sandwich lady” failed to come in, and the rest, as they say, is history. He got into cooking and, quite simply, fell in love with the industry, quickly developing what he calls a lifelong “passion for building businesses.”
Miller looks back on those early days as good training that taught him a respect for people and an understanding of service. Now, at age 57, with a career spanning more than 40 years, he calls his current post as chairman, president and chief executive of Ruth’s Chris “one of the best jobs in the American foodservice industry today.”
Retirement is hardly a consideration for Miller, who has taken founder Ruth Fertel’s motto, “Do what you love and love what you do,” to heart. He says the “very infectious team spirit of wanting to serve that infuses our industry” keeps him going. “I spend very little time at my desk,” says Miller, who over the next several weeks will fly to San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, D.C., London and Los Angeles. “My family understands that that’s the type of person I am, and my wife comes with me on occasion.”
In the three years since he signed on as Ruth’s Chris president and chief executive, Miller has brought in a new management team and grown the chain by 20 percent, opening 21 new units. He also led the company through an initial public offering. Under his leadership, annual revenue reached $271.5 million in 2006, and average company unit volumes increased 41 percent to $5.7 million.
This year, new “luxury lounges” and increased private dining and function space have enabled the company to weather a difficult macroeconomic climate. In the second quarter ended July 1, revenues from those areas helped to offset slower traffic from ŕ la carte diners, company officials say. The chain also has more aggressively targeted baby boomers, a market now viewed as “graduating” to the high end after years of frequenting casual-dining operations.
Shortly after joining Ruth’s Chris, Miller faced what some analysts view as a defining moment, the unique challenge of stabilizing the chain after Hurricane Katrina and relocating corporate headquarters from its New Orleans birthplace to Heathrow, Fla.
“Two years ago, things were out of our control,” he says. “Now, we are in a major growth mode and dominant in our segment.”