<P> In early 1976, shortly after Fertel signed a new ten - year lease on the restaurant, a fire destroyed the building . Fertel had recently acquired a second property nearby to rent out as party space . Within seven days, she had relocated the restaurant to its new location a few blocks away at 711 North Broad Street and re-opened it, expanding to 160 seats in the process . The sales agreement with Matulich prevented her from using the original name at any other address, so she named the new restaurant Ruth's Chris Steak House in order to keep some continuity with the previous location . She admitted later to Fortune Magazine that "I've always hated the name, but we've always managed to work around it ." </P> <P> The first franchised restaurant was opened in 1977 by a loyal customer, Thomas J. "T.J." Moran (c. 1931--2015), in Baton Rouge, who went on to open several more franchised Ruth's Chris locations, TJ Ribs, and Ruffino's restaurants through his company T.J. Moran Associates . Fertel noted, "All our franchisees were people who had eaten at one time or another in one of our restaurants . We never looked for franchisees . They came to us ." The chain expanded rapidly over the next two decades, with 66 locations in the U.S. and overseas by mid-1998, and achieving over $200 million in annual revenues . This success earned Fertel a number of accolades as an entrepreneur, and the epithet The First Lady of American Restaurants or The Empress of Steak . </P> <P> In 1999, Fertel, then 72, developed lung cancer . She sold a 79.3 percent interest in the chain in August 1999 to investment company Madison Dearborn Partners of Chicago, remaining as a shareholder until her death in 2002 . </P> <P> In that period, the chain expanded to 86 restaurants, including 10 overseas locations . Revenues fell to $167.8 million in 2003, before rising again to $192.2 million in 2004 . </P>

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