Ruby Tuesday files for bankruptcy, after closing dozens of locations in 2020

• After closing dozens of restaurants in 2020, casual dining chain Ruby Tuesday has filed for bankruptcy.
• Business Insider previously reported that the chain stopped paying pensions for at least 112 retirees on July 21, months before declaring insolvency on September 2.
• Several restaurant chains have filed for bankruptcy in the wake of the pandemic including other casual dining chains like Sizzler and California Pizza Kitchen.

Ruby Tuesday has filed for bankruptcy, after closing dozens of locations in 2020.

The casual dining chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Ruby Tuesday had already closed one-third of its locations in 2020, out its roughly 450 global restaurants, Business Insider's Irene Jiang reported in August.

Ruby Tuesday said it planned to keep restaurants opening and operating "business as usual" through the reorganization process. But in the court filings, the company said it did not intend to reopen 185 of their restaurants that were closed during the pandemic and that more closures could be coming as the company "assess the impact of new regulations."

"This announcement does not mean 'Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday,'" Shawn Lederman, Ruby Tuesday's CEO, said in a statement. "Today's actions will allow us an opportunity to reposition the company for long-term stability as we recover from the unprecedented impact of COVID-19."

Ruby Tuesday stopped paying pensions for at least 112 retirees on July 21, months before declaring insolvency on September 2, Business Insider reported in late September.

While the chain received millions in small-business loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, workers told Business Insider that the Ruby Tuesday restaurants where they were employed were abruptly closing — without giving employees any warning.

Ruby Tuesday is far from the only restaurant to struggle due to the coronavirus pandemic and casual dining chains, which have been struggling for years, have been hit especially hard by restrictions in dining room capacities. As the company noted in its bankruptcy filing, it "was not immune from the overall shift in customer spending from casual dining to fast-food and fast-casual restaurant concepts."

At least nine other restaurant chains have filed for bankruptcy in the wake of the pandemic including other casual dining chains like Sizzler, California Pizza Kitchen, and the parent company of the Brio Italian Mediterranean and Bravo Fresh Italian.