Ruth’s Chris will Relocate from Ridgeway Loop Area to Regalia

By Jody Callahan
– The Commercial Appeal –

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse is moving into the former Cooker site at 6120 Poplar in Regalia Shopping Center.

General manager, Frank Suchara said the move to Poplar – the restaurant is currently in the Ridgeway Loop area near the Malco theater – will bring added visibility.

“We think the exposure of that corner will give us tremendous location,” he said.

Suchara added that the Cooker site is a little smaller than the current restaurant, but a rearranged floor plan will allow the eatery to add more tables.

“Even though the square footage is a little less than our current property, we will pick up 10 to 12 more tables. We will gain efficiency from the floor plan,” Suchara said. “We have outgrown this facility.”

Suchara said officials hope to be open in the new location by this fall.

“It all depends on construction and any bottlenecks,” he said. “We were hoping to get in there in early September, but with building permits, etc., it’s probably going to be mid to late September. It could go into October.”

The upscale steak eatery first opened in Memphis at 5856 Ridgeway Center Parkway in 1989. The franchise, founded in New Orleans in 1965, also has a Nashville location.

After a 12-year run, the Cooker closed in June 2001, the victim of that company’s bankruptcy declaration.