Atlanta, Ga.- Brian Curin, former head of marketing for Cold Stone Creamery, an Entrepreneur Magazine "Top 100 franchise," joins Raving Brands as Vice President of Marketing overseeing Moe's Southwest Grill, Mama Fu's Asian House and newly opened Doc Green's Gourmet Salads. 

Moe's Southwest Grill, which is the category's third largest and fastest growing with 205 stores and counting and another 100 scheduled to open in 2005, is no secret to Entrepreneur Magazine, showing up in the January 2005 issue ranked number six among the "Top 20 New Franchises." Curin's timing is ideal considering Mama Fu's is about to hit its two-year anniversary, a sign of its readying maturity to become a national brand.  And Doc Green's made its debut in March in Atlanta and expects to open no less than 10 in 2005.

"Raving Brands owns a dynamic portfolio of concepts with boundless potential," explains Brian Curin, Vice President of Marketing for Raving Brands.  "Moe's, Mama Fu's and Doc Green's are all at various stages of brand maturation, all still young but with a growing community of franchisees eager to open more than 800 in the next few years.  In my restaurant and franchise experience, I haven't seen that kind of franchise or consumer interest."

Curin is brought on to oversee three brands while working closely with a complementary marketing arm managing the growth of sister brands, Planet Smoothie, PJ's Coffee, Shane's Rib Shack and a new concept on the horizon.  Curin's background is deeply rooted in franchising, start-ups and entrepreneurship, having founded a retail business he took national and then public. 

For Cold Stone, Curin oversaw marketing in its early stages and through its major growth period before becoming the area developer and multi-unit franchisee for Cold Stone throughout the Caribbean.  He eventually built up the market for Cold Stone before returning to the United States.  Today, Cold Stone is the 12th fastest growing franchise in the country according to Entrepreneur Magazine.

"Brian not only has the type of fast-growing brand marketing experience that is important to our portfolio, but he gets the fact that each of our brands differentiates itself around its customer experience.  That's what Cold Stone is about," explains Darin Kraetsch, Executive Vice President for Raving Brands and former Cold Stone executive. 

According to Matt Andrew, Executive Vice President for Raving Brands, "Brian's role is a newly created position and it's a sign of Moe's maturity and our goal in securing the category's leading position ahead of Chipotle and Baja Fresh." 

Originally from Chicago, Brian, his wife, twin three-year-old daughters and five-month old daughter, recently relocated from South Florida to Atlanta.    

About Raving Brands

Atlanta-based Raving Brands! features a franchisee-centric portfolio of fun, healthy and fresh restaurant concepts.  It includes Moe's Southwest Grill, Mama Fu's Asian House, Planet Smoothie, Doc Green's Gourmet Salads, Shane's Rib Shack and PJ's Coffee and Wine Bar.  Collectively, the Raving Brands portfolio expects to have more than 1000 restaurants open by 2008

Source:Raving Brands