Ruby Tuesday Inc. is an American multinational foodservice retailer that owns, operates, and franchises Ruby Tuesday restaurants. The concept was started in 1972 by Samuel E. (Sandy) Beall III. The corporation was formed in 1996 as a reincorporation of Morrison Restaurants Inc. It is headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee, and has 209 locations worldwide, with some temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its flagship brand is an American cuisine casual dining restaurant chain with locations throughout the United States aside from the Pacific Coast states. Its greatest density of locations is along the eastern coast of the United States (aside from Boston) as it closed a number of locations in the Great Basin and Great Plains regions, including Chicago, in recent years. In 2016, Ruby Tuesday sold the rights to the Lime Fresh Mexican Grill to an undisclosed buyer in an attempt to refocus on the main Ruby Tuesday brand. The company has closed all locations of Wok Hay and Marlin and Ray's. Additionally, it holds development rights to Truffles Grill. On June 6, 2012, founder and CEO Sandy Beall announced he would be leaving the company. In October 2017, it announced that NRD Capital Management would be taking the company private through a $146 million deal in early 2018. Ruby Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on Wednesday October 7, 2020, stating it will permanently close 185 restaurants that had been shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the closures, the company would have 236 company-owned and operated locations, as well as an undisclosed number of locations run by 10 franchisee groups. Ruby Tuesday emerged from bankruptcy on February 24, 2021, with 209 restaurants, having closed more restaurants than initially planned. History Ruby Tuesday was born out of a $10,000 endowment Sandy Beall had received from a friend and operator of several Pizza Huts to open his own restaurant. Beall took the name from The Rolling Stones song "Ruby Tuesday", after a suggestion by one of several fraternity brothers who were co-investors. With that money, and another $10,000 put together with four of his University of Tennessee fraternity brothers, the first Ruby Tuesday restaurant was opened in 1972. The location was adjacent to the university's Knoxville campus, and although the building still stands, the restaurant has since closed. Over the next decade, a new location opened about every nine months. In April 1982, Sandy sold the expanded 16-unit