OAKVILLE, Ontario (April 23, 2004) – Tim Hortons (New England), Inc., a subsidiary of Wendy's International, Inc., has tentatively won a bid for certain real and personal property assets of Bess Eaton Donut Flour Co., Inc. and Louis A. Gencarelli, Sr. The assets are related to 42 Bess Eaton coffee and donut restaurants throughout Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
There is an automatic 10-day appeal period before closing can commence.
"We are extremely pleased with the court's decision today," said Paul House, President and Chief Operating Officer of Tim Hortons. "We are thrilled for the more than 600 employees of Bess Eaton who have been facing uncertainty for some time pending the court's ruling. As previously stated, we are committed to offering jobs to all current Bess Eaton store level employees. We look forward to operating Tim Hortons restaurants in the New England market."
The purchase price for the restaurants and other assets is $41.6 million US.
"This acquisition provides Tim Hortons with an excellent opportunity to continue growing our business in the United States," said House. "We've produced outstanding same-store sales growth in our U.S. business and customer reception of the brand has been excellent.
"We will wait until the end of the 10-day appeal period before discussing our specific plans, but we are excited that we may soon be able to start introducing the Tim Hortons Always Fresh concept to additional states in New England ."
Tim Hortons has 184 restaurants in the U.S. – western New York, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Maine – and 2,358 restaurants in Canada.
Wendy's International, Inc. overview
Wendy's International, Inc. is one of the world's largest restaurant operating and franchising companies with quality brands – Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers®, Tim Hortons and Baja Fresh Mexican Grill. The Company invested in two additional quality brands during 2002 – Cafe Express™ and Pasta Pomodoro®. More information about the Company is available at www.wendys-invest.com.
Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers was founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas and is the third largest quick-service hamburger restaurant chain in the world, with 6,500 restaurants in the United States, Canada and international markets. More information about Wendy's is available at www.wendys.com.
Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 by Tim Horton and Ron Joyce and is the largest coffee and fresh baked goods restaurant chain in Canada. There are 2,358 Tim Hortons restaurants in Canada and 184 in the U.S. More information about Tim Hortons is available at www.timhortons.com.
Baja Fresh Mexican Grill was founded in 1990 by Jim and Linda Magglos and is the leader in quality, fast-casual Mexican food. The chain has 294 restaurants in the United States. More information about Baja Fresh is available at www.bajafresh.com.
Cafe Express was founded in 1984 by Robert Del Grande and Lonnie Schiller. The fast-casual, bistro-style restaurant chain has 18 units in Texas. Wendy's International, Inc. owns 70% of Cafe Express and chain's results were consolidated beginning in February 2004. More information about Cafe Express is available at www.cafe-express.com.
Pasta Pomodoro was founded in 1994 by Adriano Paganini and operates 36 fast-casual, fresh Italian style restaurants in California and Arizona. Wendy's International, Inc. owns 25% (fully diluted) of Pasta Pomodoro. More information about Pasta Pomodoro is available at www.pastapomodoro.com.
Safe Harbor statement
Certain information in this news release, particularly information regarding future economic performance and finances, and plans, expectations and objectives of management, is forward looking. Factors set forth in our Safe Harbor under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, in addition to other possible factors not listed, could affect the Company's actual results and cause such results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements. Please review the Company's Safe Harbor statement at http://www.wendys-invest.com/safeharbor.
Cafe Express is a trademark of Cafe Express, LLC
Pasta Pomodoro is a registered trademark of Pasta Pomodoro, Inc.
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