"We are on track to mirror the size, depth and complexity of organization that Steve is familiar with," explains Martin Sprock, Founder and Chief, Raving Brands. "He comes to us from a 1,400 store network operating under six different brands, some like-minded and some in different but complementary forms of retail business. As we begin to grow into a national footprint with our exciting brands, Steve will bring great structure, strategy and planning to our brands."

The Raving Brands portfolio currently consists of seven concepts: five fast casual dining and two beverage.

Fast casual concepts include: Moe's Southwest Grill, which is the sixth fastest growing franchise according to Entrepreneur Magazine, Mama Fu's Asian House a 2005 Nation's Restaurant News Fast 50 brand, Doc Green's Gourmet Salads, Planet Smoothie Café and Shane's Rib Shack. PJ's Coffee/ PJ's Coffee and Wine Bar and Planet Smoothie make up the beverage concepts. Raving Brands has one additional concept being rolled out this year - Boneheads Fresh Fish and Piri Piri Chicken.

"Raving Brands is a company unlike anyone in the marketplace from a food, beverage or retail standpoint," says LaMastra, who as an Atlanta resident has been witness to Raving's growth in the last three years. "Martin Sprock has a keen sense of concept development and opportunity. With such a strong portfolio of concepts launched or in development, our path to national dominance in our industry will be paved with long-term planning, focused strategy and operational excellence."

LaMastra joins Raving Brands on the heels of a new Vice President of Marketing, Brian Curin, former head of marketing for Cold Stone Creamery and intends to reorganize the existing management team to maximize their contributions and build a sustainable long-term model for growth.

Prior to joining Raving Brands, LaMastra was a senior vice president of corporate strategy and general counsel for Ritz Camera Centers, a national retail company, based in Washington, D.C. LaMastra was responsible for strategic planning, real estate, store development, acquisitions, legal affairs and related functions. Prior to his time at Ritz Camera, he served as chief corporate officer for Wolf Camera.

According to Daryl Dollinger, Executive Vice President for Raving Brands, "We are at a point where it's smart for us to bring in this caliber of executive to give us that billion dollar operational perspective. It has been an amazing climb for us in the last three years, but we have new concepts and an evolving corporate strategy designed to take us to the next level."

LaMastra began his career with Alston & Bird where he specialized in real estate finance and development. He received an undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University and a law degree from Vanderbilt University. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three children.

About Raving Brands!

Atlanta-based Raving Brands is a leading franchisor of national food and beverage concepts. Its concepts include Moe's Southwest Grill, Mama Fu's Asian House, Planet Smoothie, Planet Smoothie Café, Doc Green's Gourmet Salads, Shane's Rib Shack and PJ's Coffee/PJ's Coffee and Wine Bar. Collectively, the Raving Brands! portfolio expects to have more than 1000 locations open by 2008.

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