As countless restaurants in the Boston area and elsewhere in New England have temporarily shut down as the Coronavirus crisis continues, more and more dining spots are now announcing permanent closures in the region and across the country, including four Northern New England locations of a national restaurant chain.
According to an article from the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, locations of Ruby Tuesday in Auburn, Augusta, Topsham, and Westbrook in Maine have shuttered this week, with assistant manager Katie Mae of the Auburn location saying that the restaurants "couldn't take the financial hit of doing to-go orders and not dine-in." This comes on the heels of a ruling last week shutting down all restaurants and bars in Maine except for takeout/delivery, a mandate that all other New England states have instituted as well; the shutdown of dining areas was too much for the four outlets of the chain according to Mae, who said that "Our location in Auburn is about 97 percent dine-in...We tried to do to-go only, but it wasn't going to be feasible."
The Tennessee-based Ruby Tuesday first started out in 1972 and today has nearly 500 locations across the country, including outlets locally in Wrentham and Taunton. The website for the chain can be found at http://www.rubytuesday.com/
by Marc Hurwitz (Also follow us on Twitter at @hiddenboston)
[A related post from our sister site (Boston's Hidden Restaurants): List of Restaurant Closings and Openings in the Boston Area]
