Ex-Cinnabon head Waldron gears up for Ruby's debut

Nation's Restaurant News, August 21, 2000

REDMOND, WASH. -- Returning to his roots in full-service restaurants, Dennis Waldron, former vice president of Seattle-based Restaurants Unlimited and president of Cinnabon, is gearing up to open his first Ruby's Diner here, Oct. 3, under a 20-store franchise agreement.

"This is really the business I've always been in: full-service restaurants," Waldron said. "Cinnabon was great, but it's fun to get back to this."

Waldron, while at Restaurants Unlimited, helped start up Cinnabon, the bakery-cafe concept known for its oversized cinnamon rolls.

Although the operations of the one-product, takeout-focused concept didn't involve as many of the facets that running a full-service restaurant did, it still posed its own set of challenges.

"Cinnabon has fewer moving parts than a restaurant," Waldron said. "But it was difficult because it mainly was one product, and we were growing very rapidly. That adds its own complexities."

Waldron guided the concept through a 12-year growth spurt to about 350 units before departing in July 1997. Atlanta-based AFC Enterprises Inc. acquired Cinnabon in October 1998.

After a stint as vice president of operations at Muvico, an entertainment company based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Ruby's Diner caught Waldron's eye.

"They're just really fun and popular restaurants," he said. "And for all the right reasons. They're very high quality."

For Waldron, part of the concept's appeal lies in the dinner's ambience, which skips over the tired "50s diner" model to a less heavily evoked pop-culture era in diner decor -- the 1940s.

"It's not the '50s," he said. "You don't see pictures of Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe. It's a '40s diner with big-band swing music.

After meeting several time with Ruby's co-founder Doug Cavanaugh, Waldron signed an agreement in the fall of 1999 to open 20 restaurants in a five-state territory, which comprises Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and Minnesota.

The diner's debut, originally slated to open this summer, was pushed back to October because of delays in acquiring construction permits. As a result, the wait has fueled increased anticipation of the concept's debut in this Seattle suburb.

The town, "tech head" heavy with businesses such as AT&T Wireless and Microsoft, has its share of residents familiar with the concept after relocating from Southern California, where the Newport Beach, Calif.-based 32-unit Ruby's system is concentrated.

"With all of these high-tech businesses here, we get all these e-mails from people because we have a 'Coming Soon' sign up at the store," Waldron said.

The 5,000-square-foot diner will be one of the larger restaurants in the chain, which on average is about 4,000 square feet.

Ruby's, with an $8 check average, features a menu that spans all three dayparts. Items include such classic malt shop staples as burgers, fries and shakes as well as pot roast and fish tacos. Although it doesn't have a bar, Ruby's sells beer and wine. Waldron points out that there aren't many direct competitors in his development territory.

"That's one of the reasons I'm interested in bringing it here because it's so unique," he said. "There's truly nothing like it in the Northwest. The closest thing to it I can think of is Red Robin."