Mr. Bader will be responsible for selecting franchisees and area developers, negotiating and implementing franchising and area development agreements, real estate, franchisee training, and ongoing relations with the Company's franchisees.
 

Cosi forecasts developing approximately 485 new Cosi restaurants between 2005 and year-end 2009, consisting of approximately 101 Company-owned locations and approximately 384 franchised locations. Depending upon decisions regarding further development of Cosi restaurants within Federated Department Stores locations, which Cosi expects to announce during the current quarter, these forecasts could increase materially.

Cosi's five-year restaurant development plans assume that existing restaurants continue to meet management's expectations and that capital planning for such development is successfully completed.

Mr. Bader comes to Cosi with more than thirty years experience in franchise sales, and franchise relations and development. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Franchise Development at Atlanta Bread Company, where he launched the franchise sales department and secured area franchise development agreements in New England, Virginia, and Florida.

Mr. Bader previously created the franchise sales departments at Applebee's International Inc., where between 1990 and 1999 he qualified and granted rights to 40 experienced franchisees, who ultimately opened 680 restaurants, and then at Garfield's Restaurant and Pub. Mr. Bader's earlier experience includes five years as a franchisee of Pizzeria Uno.

Kevin Armstrong, Cosi's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We believe Cosi serves the most attractive and fastest growing dining trend and customer demographic in the restaurant industry -- upscale suburbanites and metro elites demanding fresh, sophisticated and distinct flavors in a tasteful setting, without sacrificing speed of service.

 Our franchise sales program is a key component -- along with Company-owned and partnership restaurants -- in our plan to capture this market opportunity, and we are very pleased that Larry will join our management team in Deerfield to oversee and accelerate the growth of our franchise sales program. His talent, experience, and management skills are directly applicable to Cosi's plans, and will be a tremendous asset to Cosi and our business partners," Mr. Armstrong concluded.

Cosi's Growth Plans

Cosi has a three-part growth strategy -- consisting of Company-owned, franchised and partnership locations -- designed for each component to be both independently successful and reinforcing of the other components. As of fiscal year-end 2004, Cosi operated more than 90 Company-owned stores and had in place agreements with four area developers for 24 franchised locations in New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida.

The Company's plans call for adding approximately 11 Company-owned restaurants and approximately 10 franchised restaurants in 2005, with the first franchise locations to open during the first half of the year. Cosi's five-year growth plan forecasts development of approximately 485 new Cosi restaurants between 2005 and year-end 2009, consisting of approximately 101 Company-owned locations and approximately 384 franchised locations.

About Cosi, Inc.

Cosi is the premium, convenience restaurant that offers breakfast, lunch, afternoon coffee, dinner and dessert menus full of creative, fresh, flavorful foods and beverages. Cosi has developed featured foods that are built around a secret, generations-old recipe for crackly crust flatbread. This artisan bread is freshly baked in front of customers throughout the day in open flame stone hearth ovens prominently located in each of the restaurants.

The Cosi menu features, Cosi sandwiches, freshly tossed salads, Cosi Melts, soups, Cosi bagels, pizzas, S'mores and other desserts, and a wide range of coffee beverages. Cosi restaurants are designed to be welcoming and comfortable with an eclectic environment. Cosi's sights, sounds, and spaces create a tasteful, relaxed place that always provides a fresh and new dining experience.

The Cosi vision is to become America's favorite quality, convenience restaurant by providing customers authentic, innovative, savory food while remaining an affordable luxury.

There are more than 90 Cosi locations in sixteen states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Washington, California, and the District of Columbia.

"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995. This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements under the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements about future events and expectations and not statements of historical fact. The words "believe," "may," "will," "should," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "objective," "seek," "plan," "strive," or similar words, or negatives of these words, identify forward- looking statements. We qualify any forward-looking statements entirely by these cautionary factors. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future economic performance, taking into account the information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results, performance or financial condition to differ materially from the expectations of future results, performance or financial condition we express or imply in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to: the cost of our principal food products; fluctuations in our quarterly results; labor shortages or increased labor costs; the rate of our internal growth, and our ability to generate increased revenue from existing restaurants; our ability to effectively manage our business with a reduced general and administrative staff; our ability to incorporate a franchising and area developer model into our strategy; the availability and cost of additional financing, both to fund our existing operations and to grow and open new restaurants; our ability to generate positive cash flow from operations; increased government regulation; changes in consumer preferences and demographic trends; supply and delivery shortages or interruptions; increasing competition in the fast casual dining segment of the restaurant industry; market saturation due to new restaurant openings; expansion into new markets; inadequate protection of our intellectual property; adverse weather conditions which impact customer traffic at our restaurants; and adverse economic conditions. Further information regarding factors that could affect our results and the statements made herein are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source:cosi,inc