CONTACT: |
Richard
Bagge
Interim Chief Financial Officer |
(857-415-5020)
InvestorRelations@getcosi.com
Così, Inc. Hires Miguel Rossy-Donovan as New Chief Financial
Officer
Richard Bagge,
Interim CFO, to Assume Role of Vice President Development
Boston, MA -
March 31, 2015 - Cosi, Inc. (NASDAQ: COSI), the
fast-casual restaurant company, today announced that it has hired
Miguel Rossy-Donovan as Chief Financial Officer.
Rossy, 47, joins Cosi from Teach
For America, where he has served as Chief Finance &
Administration Officer since 2005. At Teach For America,
Rossy defined the vision and built from the ground up the
financial, accounting, technology, and administration
infrastructure required to support and accelerate the
organization's aggressive 10 year growth plan from $50 million and
9 regions in late 2005 to over $350 million and 50 regions in
2015.
In total, Rossy has 15 years of
finance, accounting and operational experience in the private
sector, including 10 years in publicly-traded companies in the
restaurant industry.
"We are pleased to have someone
with Miguel's experience join the Cosi senior leadership team,"
said RJ Dourney, Cosi CEO and President. "Miguel brings with
him outstanding leadership and financial expertise along with years
of restaurant industry experience."
"Cosi is an outstanding brand with
excellent food and people, and I am thrilled to have this
opportunity," said Rossy. "When RJ Dourney laid out for me
the vision for Cosi, I was very compelled by the brand's potential,
the clarity of its strategy, and the strength of its leadership
team - I want to be a part of the journey."
Rossy will replace Richard Bagge,
Cosi's interim CFO. As previously announced, Bagge will move
into the role of Vice President of Development, with the
appointment of Rossy as CFO. "Rich has been a valuable
partner through the transition, and we are pleased that Rich will
remain with Cosi in the role of Vice President of Development,"
said Dourney. "The Board would like to thank Rich for his
service as Interim CFO," added David Lloyd, Chairman of the Audit
Committee. "He provided invaluable support and leadership
through the transition."
Prior to joining Teach for
America, Rossy spent 8 years on the finance and strategy teams at
Brinker International, at the time a $3.9 billion, 1,588 unit
publicly traded casual dining restaurant company, including
Divisional CFO at Chili's Grill & Bar, Director of Business
Analysis at On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, Vice
President of Strategic Planning for the Company, and Vice President
Finance & Business Operations. Prior to joining Brinker, Rossy
spent 2 years at Darden as a Senior Financial Analyst at Red
Lobster and 4 years at Bankers Trust (now Deutsche Bank) as
Assistant Treasurer at The Private Banking division. He received a
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Marquette
University in 1989, and a Masters of Business Administration from
Columbia Business School in 1995.
Rossy will join the Cosi team in
mid-May, in its Boston headquarters.
About Così,
Inc.
Così®
(http://www.getcosi.com) is an upscale national fast casual
restaurant company. At the heart of every restaurant is
a hearth where the Così® signature
flatbread is made from scratch throughout the day. The
flatbread is made from a generations-old recipe and is part of many
Così®
favorites. Così® was founded
on the idea that good for you food should be
delicious. Menu items are made using fresh ingredients
and distinctive sauces and spreads to create edgy
flavors. The menu features made-to-order sandwiches,
tossed salads, bowls, breakfast wraps, melts, all natural soups,
signature Squagels®, artisan
flatbread pizzas, S`mores, snacks and desserts. Guests
can also enjoy handcrafted beverages and a variety of coffee-based
and specialty beverages.
Così® employees
create a welcoming environment where guests are invited to relax
and enjoy great food. In many cases, Così®
is the cornerstone of the communities that they are in and take
pride in supporting community organizations and local charities.
There are currently 63 Company-owned and 49 franchise restaurants
operating in sixteen states, the District of Columbia, Costa Rica
and the United Arab Emirates.
"COSÌ," and related marks are
registered trademarks of Così, Inc. in the U.S.A. and certain other
countries. Copyright © 2015 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.
This
announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on
behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: Così, Inc via Globenewswire
HUG#1907721