Close personal and emotional
Friday, September 9, 2005
Since I have very close personal and emotional ties to New Orleans, I will be posting a number of Tips and Ruminations following the Katrina calamity. Here is one. The reference is to the restaurant Ruth’s Chris Steak House which is moving its headquarters to Orlando:
The bigger question facing the company is whether leaving New Orleans at its time of greatest need – something outsiders say that Ruth Fertel, who died in 2002, would have never done – will come back to haunt Ruth’s Chris, particularly when its new headquarters is in Orlando, known for its suburban sprawl and dozens of bland food outlets. “When they give you a start, you kind of owe it to the city,” said Brad Brennan, a member of the family that owns Brennan’s Restaurant and Commander’s Palace, a small New Orleans-based company with restaurants in Las Vegas and Houston, too. Mr. Brennan vows to return as soon as he can. “Payback is staying your ground,” he said, “and employing the people that want to remain there and want to be employed.” (NYTimes Business section)
