Seattle's Best Coffee(R) Launches New Cafe Design

SEATTLE/PRNewswire/ -- Seattle's Best Coffee(R), a subsidiary of AFC Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: AFCE) is debuting an entirely redesigned cafe, which will serve as the prototype for future company-owned and franchise locations.

The Seattle's Best Coffee "Cafe of the Future," opened on October 3, at Second Avenue and Cherry, in the downtown financial district in Seattle.

The cafe will offer customers an expanded menu, a new interior look, and an unprecedented level of guest service that delights and entertains. "Seattle's Best Coffee is defining the American coffee house experience," says Sheri Miksa, chief operating officer of Seattle's Best Coffee.

"The new look and expanded menu offerings will offer guests a lot more variety." As part of its menu expansion, Seattle's Best Coffee will now offer the SBC Branded Smashers(TM), grilled pastries filled with hot breakfast or lunch fare like bacon and eggs or turkey and artichoke.

By offering meal items like the Smashers, Seattle's Best Coffee offers a comfortable place for daylong dining. In addition to the Smasher, Seattle's Best Coffee will also expand its menu to include Cinnabon(R) brand Minibon(R) cinnamon rolls.

Guests know both Cinnabon and Seattle's Best Coffee as great brands for delivering quality products and outstanding service.

The cafes will also add fresh baked cookies like the Javanilla Chunk, and other signature pastries and desserts. The new interior will capture the cozy, casual atmosphere of the classic American coffee house.

The redesigned cafe will feature enhanced in-store graphics depicting Seattle's Best Coffee heritage. The redesigned interior will also include a tasting table where guests can taste the distinguishable varieties of coffee available at the cafe.

"We are very excited about bringing people like Jim Stewart, founder of Seattle's Best Coffee, to the cafe's tasting table to conduct celebrity tastings," Miksa said. The new design will emphasize the "Theatre of Coffee," featuring an interactive mocha bar where specialty coffee beverages will be handcrafted by specially trained baristas.

The baristas will be both knowledgeable and entertaining, treating guests to a show with their cup as their ticket and the menu as their playbill.

The cafe also includes a newly designed condiment bar where guests can customize their beverages with a selection of toppings. The Seattle's Best Coffee Cafe of the Future's expanded breakfast and lunch menu, new interior design and interactive preparation area will all serve to strengthen the company's focus on customer service.

"We want our guests to feel comfortable and at home here," says Steve Schickler, president of Seattle Coffee Company, parent company of Seattle's Best Coffee. "It's really their coffee house."

Founded in 1971, Seattle Coffee Company franchises and operates 136 Seattle's Best Coffee (http://www.seattlesbest.com ) and 19 Torrefazione Italia(R) (http://www.titalia.com ) cafes in eight countries.

The company has more than 6,700 wholesale points of distribution, including restaurants, foodservice, airlines, and hotels. All of the company's coffee beans are roasted at facilities on Vashon Island, Wash. Seattle's Best Coffee offers a wide selection of coffee blends including a full line of organic coffee. The company supports Fair Trade Certified(R) coffee efforts and offers an organic coffee certified by TransFair USA, a non-profit monitoring agency.

Part of the Seattle's Best Coffee mission includes paying a premium above the market rate for coffee beans to fund local concerns in education, housing and community projects within coffee growing regions in Central America.

Seattle's Best Coffee is a subsidiary of AFC Enterprises, Inc. (http://www.afce.com ), which is the franchisor and operator of more than 3,690 restaurants, bakeries and cafes in 33 countries.

AFC 's primary objective is to be the Franchiser of Choice(R) the recognized leader in offering quality investment opportunities in highly recognized brands and exceptional franchisee support systems and services.

AFC had system-wide sales of approximately $2.4 billion in 2000 and the company's web site can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.afce.com .

Forward-Looking Statement: Certain statements in this release, and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of AFC or its brands are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements regarding future events and developments and our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, plans, estimates or projections relating to the future, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of these laws.

These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are the cost and availability of our principal food products, labor shortages or increased labor costs, our ability to franchise new units and expand our brands, our and our franchisees' ability to successfully operate existing units and open new units, changes in consumer preferences and demographic trends, competition, general economic, political and regulatory conditions and the risk factors detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and the other documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, since those statements speak only as of the date they are made.

SOURCE: Seattle Coffee Company
CONTACT: Lauren Formicola of Seattle Coffee Company, +1-206-264-2361, or lformicola@afce.com