Ruby Tuesday Implements MICROS Table Management Solution

RUBY TUESDAY IMPLEMENTS MICROS TABLE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION THROUGHOUT ENTERPRISE TO ENHANCE GUEST EXPERIENCE

RUBY TUESDAY IMPLEMENTS MICROS TABLE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION THROUGHOUT ENTERPRISE TO ENHANCE GUEST EXPERIENCE

Leading casual dining chain selects fully-integrated solution to improve overall customer dining experience

Columbia, MD – March 20, 2012—MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS), a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, is pleased to announce that Ruby Tuesday, Inc. has implemented the MICROS Table Management System (TMS), across 750+ locations.  A fully-integrated component of the MICROS Restaurant Enterprise Solution (RES) point-of-sale software solution, MICROS TMS provides visibility to all aspects of the guest dining experience allowing  Ruby Tuesday complete control from the moment the first guest is greeted until the last diner is seated.

The MICROS TMS delivers a user-friendly way of managing reservations, customer preferences, seating capacity, wait list management, and special requests, all while easing tedious restaurant management tasks, thus allowing more time to focus on the guest.  As guests arrive, the host at Ruby Tuesday is able to immediately increase guest satisfaction by providing accurate and consistent wait times.  The MICROS TMS allows Ruby Tuesday to increase its control of the guest experience by automatically opening a guest check once the table is seated.  An additional feature designed to improve diner satisfaction is an alert system that notifies managers when critical service points are not met, such as a table that is not greeted or a food and beverage order that is not delivered in a timely manner.  With more efficient table utilization and dining room capacity management, Ruby Tuesday is also able to increase revenue with additional table turns. 

“Our goal is to provide the best casual dining experience possible and adding the MICROS TMS to our technology solution set has given us the necessary tools to improve our operations and customer service,” stated Nick Ibrahim, SVP and CTO, Ruby Tuesday, Inc.  “An essential component that we sought was the ability to have our team members manage the guest’s dining experience.  We are pleased to have a completely-integrated solution that allows a guest check to open automatically once a table is seated.”

“The MICROS TMS is 100 percent integrated with the MICROS POS, making it easier to use and available for rapid deployment, and provides additional tools for operators to manage and enhance the overall guest experience,” noted Jeff Pinc, Vice President of MICROS Major Accounts Restaurants.  “We are excited that Ruby Tuesday has implemented the MICROS TMS, making it the largest United States-based chain to fully utilize the solution.”

About Ruby Tuesday, Inc.
Ruby Tuesday, Inc. has Company-owned and/or franchise Ruby Tuesday brand restaurants in 45 states, the District of Columbia, 14 foreign countries, and Guam.  As of November 29, 2011, the company owned and operated 742 Ruby Tuesday restaurants, while domestic and international franchisees (including Hawaii and Guam) operated 43 and 44 Ruby Tuesday restaurants, respectively.  Ruby Tuesday, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (Symbol: RT).

About MICROS Systems, Inc.
MICROS Systems, Inc. provides enterprise applications for the hospitality and retail industries worldwide. Over 330,000 MICROS systems are currently installed in table and quick service restaurants, hotels, motels, casinos, leisure and entertainment, and retail operations in more than 180 countries, and on all seven continents. In addition, MICROS provides property management systems, central reservation and customer information solutions under the brand MICROS-Fidelio for more than 26,000 hotels worldwide, as well as point-of-sale, loss prevention, and cross-channel functionality through its MICROS-Retail division for more than 100,000 retail stores worldwide. MICROS stock is traded through NASDAQ under the symbol MCRS.

For more information on MICROS and its advanced information technology solutions for the hospitality industry, please contact Louise Casamento, Vice President of Marketing at (443) 285-8144 or (866) 287-4736. You can also visit the MICROS website atwww.micros.com or send an email to info@micros.com.

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Younger Shoppers Using Technology

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Younger Shoppers Using Technology, Not Salespeople

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

When Nadia Karim goes shopping, she doesn’t wait around for salespeople. She saves items from apps and Web sites on her cellphone as a shopping list. And as she browses one store — recently trying on Sam Edelman flats at Nordstrom — she uses the phone to check out styles at competitors like Macy’s.

“In all honesty, because I shop so much, I feel sometimes I know the brands better than some of the associates,” said Ms. Karim, 26, an analyst at Intel in Phoenix.

For a generation of shoppers raised on Google and e-commerce, the answer to “Can I help you?” is increasingly a firm “no,” even at retailers like Nordstrom that have built their reputations around customer service.

But instead of getting defensive, some stores and brands are embracing the change by creating new personal touches that feature gadgets rather than a doting sales staff. Bobbi Brown has touch-screen televisions to demonstrate the perfect smoky eye, something that was once the exclusive domain of makeup artists. The basketball star LeBron James’s shoe store in Miami has 50 iPads to describe its merchandise. Macy’s is testing cosmetics stations where tablets offer reviews and tips. And at C. Wonder, shoppers use a touchpad to personalize the lighting and music in dressing rooms (there is also a button in case, olden-days style, they need to call for help).

The self-service theme, which started years ago with checkout at groceries, has progressed to the point where shoppers can navigate entire stores without once having to say, “Just looking, thanks.”

Companies are adding the technology now because it has gotten cheap enough to make it feasible and because Apple and other tablet and touch-screen makers are increasing their sales efforts. Stores also don’t want to risk losing those customers who are not content shopping from home but nonetheless prefer Pinterest recommendations, Zappos reviews and Fashism feedback to interacting with someone behind the counter.