Restaurant And Hospitality News – August 1, 2016
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In news this week, Ruby Tuesday loses its largest franchisee; Cicis Pizza is the latest chain to be hit by malware; and TableSafe’s RAIL 2 gains PCI Certification.
Ruby Tuesday’s Largest Franchisee Shuts Down Operations, Closes 11 Locations In Illinois
Ruby Tuesday’s largest franchisee, RT Midwest Holdings, has closed all of its locations in Illinois without warning, eliminating all 11 of the chain’s restaurants in the state, The Nation’s Restaurant News reported. The move came abruptly, and employees were given little notice of the closures. A sign on the front door greeted would-be diners.
A Ruby Tuesday company statement asserted that they attempted to keep the operator afloat, to no avail. “Our Illinois Ruby Tuesday restaurants were owned and operated by an independent franchisee,” the statement read. “As the franchisor of this concept, we went to great lengths in assisting the franchisee to remain open, but he has made the decision to close his restaurants. We appreciate the patronage of the many residents and guests that have dined at the Illinois Ruby Tuesday restaurants over the years, along with the dedicated employees of the franchisee, and will evaluate opportunities to return to the market in the future.”
RT Midwest Holdings filed for bankruptcy in 2012, selling off real estate to help recover, and emerged from the bankruptcy in 2013. Meanwhile, sales at Ruby Tuesday restaurants have been declining for years, and the overall number of units has fallen from 705 to 682 locations in just the past two years.
Cicis Pizza Is Latest Chain Hit By Data Breach Affecting More Than 130 Restaurants In 17 States
Coppell, Texas-based Cicis Pizza has announced that it has discovered a data breach affecting more than 130 restaurants across 17 states, with nearly two-thirds of the compromised units in Texas, according to The Dallas News. The chain has nearly 450 corporate and franchised buffet-style pizza restaurants across 33 states.
The attack hit payment systems “at a limited number of locations,” using malware that potentially exposed guests’ payment card information. The company reported that the malware has been removed and they are conducting an on-going investigation into the matter. The attacks took place earlier this Spring.
“Our guests are our first priority at Cicis, and when we first learned of unusual activity in our system, we took immediate action to investigate, root out and fix the problem, and enact further safety measures,” said Cicis CEO Darin Harris. “We want to reassure our guests that all malware has been removed, and we will continue to monitor and improve our systems to protect their payment card information.”
The announcement also followed closely on the heels of news of a POS breach at Omni Hotels, which affected approximately 50,000 customers at 19 locations. The breach was attributed to sophisticated malware and affected customer credit and debit cards via the POS system at hotel facilities.
TableSafe Pay-at-the-Table Technology Gains PCI Certification
TableSafe Inc. has announced that their RAIL 2 payment system has achieved PCI PTS certification, which validates that the RAIL 2 payment platform complies with the industry's highest standards of security, data integrity and privacy protection for processing electronic payments. The PCI PTS standard includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and hardware manufacturing. The PCI certification means that products conform to payment card theft protections standards as mandated by the PCI Security Standards Council. TableSafe will begin limited distribution of the RAIL 2 system this summer, with a national pilot program in Fall 2016.
“With the surging risk of credit card fraud and the chargebacks many full-service restaurants are looking to provide increased protection for their customers’ card data and their establishment,” explained Steve McKean, president of TableSafe. “The RAIL 2 is one of the elite few restaurant-focused PTS certified payment platforms in the U.S. helping to guard customers and restaurants from consumer fraud.”
Housed inside a patented guest billfold, the RAIL 2 is designed to accept payment methods including Mag stripe, EMV (chip and signature and chip and pin), NFC, QRUPC code, and credit card companies’ mobile payment applications. It allows guests to securely self-insert or self-swipe cards or to pay with their phones, keeping their credit cards and identity secure.