Ruby Tuesday Scrubs Famous Low-Carb Cheesecake From Their Menu

Ruby Tuesday has decided to drop its popular low-carb cheesecake

Continuing the recent trend of dwindling low-carb favorites, the restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday has now decided to stop carrying its famous and delicious 1g net carb low-carb cheesecake from its menu.

After bragging about how good their cheesecake is both in my book and at my blog, it seems the restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday has fallen prey to the lie that low-carb no longer exists and that nobody wants a good sugar-free, low-carb dessert anymore.

WHAT ARE THESE RESTAURANT CHAIN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PEOPLE THINKING?!

Ruby Tuesday was the last bastion of hope for people who are diabetic or livin' la vida low-carb and desiring a dessert they can enjoy when dining out. But now their cheesecake has already been scrubbed from their dessert menu on their web site and they will be letting their existing stock run out.

I'm pretty miffed about this right now because I have been purchasing a whole cheesecake from my local Ruby Tuesday every single month since I began my low-carb lifestyle in January 2004. Although it was quite expensive at $5 per slice at the restaurant or $30 for a whole cheesecake, man this dessert was so worth it! The taste, texture, and everything about the Ruby Tuesday cheesecake was absolutely fantastic. In fact, it was such a popular menu item for them that they replaced their sugary cheesecake in favor of this low-carb one and nobody even noticed.

So now what do you do if you want to enjoy dessert at a restaurant? The answer is you are just plain out of luck. And that's not right. It's time we as consumers stand up and demand restaurants give us a healthier sugar-free, low-carb dessert option. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but even ONE obligatory menu item to show they care enough to reach out to a growing population of people wanting better dessert choices.

I'll tell you what, if a restaurant catered to me with a dessert that I could enjoy after a nice low-carb meal, then I would gladly give that company more business.

Which restaurant chain is going to step up to the plate and make this happen? Anyone? We'll be watching and waiting.

I will promise you this: the business that does this will see their overall sales skyrocket like never before and I'll even give a free plug to that business at my blog. We low-carbers are loyal to companies that take care of our product needs. If you build up the genuinely low-carb menu options (and make it stuff we actually WANT to order), then we will come.

Who wants our business?

5-4-06 UPDATE: One of my readers wrote in the comments section that you can order the same cheesecake that was sold at Ruby Tuesday directly from the manufacturer. However, as you will see from the comment below from the VP of Sales & Marketing for that company, they will most likely be discontinuing the low-carb cheesecake line very soon because "the Atkins diet [is] in decline." Oh well!

We currently do manufacture a few low carbohydrate cheesecakes and they can be purchased from our web site located at atkins-intl-foods.com. These products can be shipped direct to a home address anywhere in the continental United States. The product is shipped in a Styrofoam container with dry ice, the product should be removed from the container upon receipt and placed in the freezer or refrigerator depending on when it will be used.

Ruby Tuesday's was our largest customer on the products and with the Atkins diet in decline I am not sure how long we will continue to produce this series of products. As with any manufactured products we must have a certain quantity to produce economically. The balance of our product line is not low carbohydrate or anything related to diet products. We do manufacture a Sugar Free cheesecake that is outstanding in taste and quality for our customers who are looking to control sugar intake.

You are welcome to recommend any of our products or our web site at your discretion.

Mr. Cecil LaFaive
Vice President Sales and Marketing

While the sugar-free version sounds good, it looks like us low-carbers are out of luck with this particular vendor. This again begs the question: WHO WANTS OUR BUSINESS?!

5-4-06 UPDATE: Here was the response I received today from a Ruby Tuesday representative regarding my disappointment over their removal of their low-carb cheesecake.

Jimmy,

Thank you for writing and for your patronage of Ruby Tuesday. I apologize for your disappointment with the removal of the low carb cheesecake. These were made for us by Atkins Gourmet Desserts. They can be reached at 800-887-8808. I hope this information is helpful.

Thanks again for writing. Should you have further questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Thank you,
Cynthia Ackerman
Ruby Tuesday Culinary Support

I wrote her back explaining Atkins Gourmet is discontinuing the cheesecakes BECAUSE of Ruby Tuesday's decision to stop carrying it. This is all such a shame. Doesn't anyone at these restaurant companies CARE about meeting a REAL need for people on low-carb, low-sugar, or diabetic lifestyles?