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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Hawaii Ruby Tuesday franchisee goes west
HAWAII restaurateur Ted Davenport is taking his Ruby Tuesday action westward.
He and Kalani High School grad Ron Mullers will build the first Ruby Tuesday on Guam, which Davenport said would be the only one, given the island's size.
"We hope to open in October 2007," and plan to hire more than 80 people, he said.
Ruby Tuesday was attracted by Guam's visitor count.
"Over a million tourists visit Guam every year, so developing a Ruby Tuesday there creates a huge opportunity for exposure of our brand to people from throughout southeast Asia and Japan," said Mark Ingram, president of franchising for Ruby Tuesday, in a statement.
That could open an international gateway to further expansion. Mullers developed Papa Ron's Pizza restaurants and has been a restaurant franchisee in Indonesia for more than 25 years.
Davenport said Mullers is called, "Mr. Franchise of Indonesia," having lived there for more than 30 years -- but he is also a part-time Hawaii resident.
As for Davenport, he apparently needed to fill more time in each day, even though he's the development and expansion partner for Hawaii Ruby Tuesday franchisee RT Hawaii Restaurants Inc.
He, Rick Nakashima and Will Keliinoi plan 10 stores in Hawaii.
The restaurant so far has locations in Mililani, Ala Moana Center, Windward Mall and Moanalua Center.
The trio was awarded in September for having the highest individual restaurant sales in the company's international division, for 2005 sales at its Mililani location.
As of last October, the Windward Mall location was on pace to outpace Mililani -- and Keliinoi projected that the Moanalua location would be "the absolute busiest."
Davenport is also part of a group, with potential NFL Hall of Famer Junior Seau, that bought the rights to develop Ruby Tuesdays in Southern California. The team plans 24 to 40 locations in the region.
Oh, and Davenport also has development rights for Hawaii Subway restaurants and owns three himself.
"The other thing I do is consult for Subway in Asia," he said via e-mail -- from Asia.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com