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Cosi, Inc. Appoints Two New Members to the Board of Directors

DEERFIELD, Ill., November 21, 2013 -- Cosi, Inc. (Nasdaq:COSI), the fast casual restaurant company, today announced the appointment of Jean M. Birch and Michael Collins to the company's Board of Directors on November 12, 2013.    

"We are very excited to have Jean and Michael join us," said Mark S. Demilio, Chairman of the Board of Cosi, Inc.  "Jean's breadth of background in the restaurant industry and demonstrated ability to achieve exceptional results will be valuable as we continue to improve on the operational and guest experience aspects of our business.  Michael's combination of strategic consulting and strong financial acumen with his background in the retail and consumer products industry will be equally valuable as we execute our strategy to become a successful national fast casual brand."

Ms. Birch is currently CEO and President of Birch Company, LLC, a specialized strategy and leadership consulting firm focused on the hospitality industry.    From 2009 to 2012, she served as President of IHOP Restaurants.   Prior to that time, Ms. Birch spent four years with Brinker International first as President of Corner Bakery Café and then as President of Romano's Macaroni Grill.  Ms. Birch also was Vice President of Operations for Taco Bell and prior to that spent ten years with Pizza Hut Corporation.   She currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and the California Council for Economic Education. Ms. Birch holds an Executive MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Mr. Collins is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Bain & Company, Inc.  Mr. Collins also serves as a member of the firm's Strategy, Retail and Consumer Products Practices as well as a member of the Board of Directors, the Global Operating Committee, Compensation Committee and Investment Committee.  Prior to his current roles, Collins held various leadership positions with Bain & Company, LLC since joining the organization in 1992.  From 1985 to 1991, Mr. Collins held various positions with KPMG Peat Marwick.  He currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the Civic Consulting Alliance and A Better Chicago.  Mr. Collins holds a B.B.A. degree in Accounting from Loyola University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.  

About Così, Inc.
Così^® (http://www.getcosi.com) is a national fast casual restaurant chain that has developed featured foods 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. Così's warm and urbane atmosphere is geared towards its sophisticated, upscale, urban and suburban guests. There are currently 71 Company-owned and 52 franchise restaurants operating in sixteen states, the District of Columbia, the United Arab Emirates, and Costa Rica. The Così^® vision is to become America's favorite fast casual restaurant by providing customers authentic, innovative, savory food while remaining an affordable luxury.

The Così^® menu features Così^® sandwiches, freshly-tossed salads, bowls, breakfast wraps, melts, soups, Così^® Squagels^®, flatbread pizzas, S'mores, snacks and other desserts, and a wide range of coffee and coffee-based drinks and other specialty beverages. Così^® restaurants are designed to be welcoming and comfortable with an eclectic environment. Così's sights, sounds, and spaces create a tasteful, relaxed ambience that provides a fresh and new dining experience.

"Così," "(Sun & Moon Design)" and related marks are registered trademarks of Così, Inc. in the U.S.A. and certain other countries. Copyright © 2013 Così, Inc. All rights reserved.

"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 and supply and delivery shortages and interruptions; labor shortages or increased labor costs; changes in demographic trends and consumer tastes and preferences, including changes resulting from concerns over nutritional or safety aspects of beef, poultry, produce, or other foods or the effects of food-borne illnesses, such as E. coli, "mad cow disease" and avian influenza or "bird flu"; competition in our markets, both in our business and in locating suitable restaurant sites; our operation and execution in new and existing markets; expansion into new markets including foreign markets; our ability to attract and retain qualified franchisees and our franchisees' ability to open restaurants on a timely basis; our ability to locate suitable restaurant sites in new and existing markets and negotiate acceptable lease terms; the rate of our internal growth and our ability to generate increased revenue from our existing restaurants; our ability to generate positive cash flow from existing and new restaurants; fluctuations in our quarterly results due to seasonality; increased government regulation and our ability to secure required government approvals and permits; our ability to create customer awareness of our restaurants in new markets; the reliability of our customer and market studies; cost effective and timely planning, design and build out of restaurants; our ability to recruit, train and retain qualified corporate and restaurant personnel and management; market saturation due to new restaurant openings; inadequate protection of our intellectual property; our ability to obtain additional capital and financing; 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.

Additional information is available on Così's website at
http://www.getcosi.com in the investor relations section.