Rosinter Restaurants Holding's 300th Restaurant Opened in St. Petersburg

MOSCOW, October 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rosinter Restaurants Holding (Rosinter), the leading operator of casual dining chain restaurants in Russia and the CIS (and listed on the RTS and MICEX exchanges under the ticker ROST), announces the opening of its 300th restaurant, 1-2-3 Café, specializing in Russian cuisine. 1-2-3 Café is now opened for business at St. Petersburg's Atlantic City shopping mall, located at 126 Savushkin St. in the northern capital.

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The new restaurant follows the "combo" format, which calls for the housing of two distinct brands under one roof. The company's proprietary 1-2-3 Café brand operates alongside the world-famous T.G.I. Friday's brand which Rosinter develops on franchised base. The area of the restaurant complex, which has seating capacity for 356 customers, totals 557 square meters.

In 2008 Rosinter has increased the presence at St.-Petersburg by half and today it operates 14 casual dining restaurants (9 restaurants by the end of 2007) under the IL Patio, Planet Sushi, 1-2-3 Café, T.G.I Friday's, Siberian Crown and The American Bar and Grill brands.

Lori Daytner, President of Rosinter Restaurants Holding:

"St. Petersburg is one of our most important markets. It is a city with a developed culture of dining outside the home, and one that has its own restaurant traditions. We are happy to be opening our 300th restaurant, 1-2-3 Café, here in St. Petersburg. This year, we completely renovated our first St. Petersburg restaurant, on Nevsky Prospect. It is now a spacious complex with seating for 214 customers, and it houses not only our popular IL Patio Italian restaurant but also one of Rosinter's truly golden brands, the Planet Sushi Japanese restaurant. We hope to expand further in one of the world's most beautiful cities - one that has an enormous tourist flow, for which it is important to have a developed modern infrastructure of public dining. As pioneers of today's restaurant market, we are ready to make our own contribution to St. Petersburg's hospitality industry."

Editorial Information

OJSC Rosinter Restaurants Holding is the leading casual dining restaurant company operates restaurants in Russia, the CIS and Central Europe, including Baltic countries. The Company offers Italian, Japanese, American and Russian cuisine under its proprietary brands IL Patio, Planet Sushi and 1-2-3 Cafe and its licensed brands T.G.I. Friday's and Sibirskaya Corona. Also through a Joint Venture with Whitbread PLC the company is currently developing the Costa Coffee chain in Russia. Rosinter reported consolidated revenues of US$ 268.2 million, in accordance with audited IFRS accounts, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2007; it served approximately 13.6 million customers in 2007. Rosinter Restaurants Holding is listed in RTS (http://www.rts.com) and MICEX (http://www.micex.com) under the stock ticker ROST.

1-2-3 Café is the first chain of restaurants serving Russian cuisine in which traditional dishes are offered in a contemporary manner. The name of the chain recalls the traditional division of a Russian meal into "first," "second," and "third" courses. The interiors of the restaurants are pleasantly decorated with brightly-colored elements of traditional Russian culture, free from the "touristy" tawdriness of the Soviet era. The dominant red motif reflects the restaurant's energy. Customers at 1-2-3 Café are offered their favorite childhood dishes: borshch, shish-kebab, meat dumplings, schnitzel, and Beef Stroganov. For their "third" (dessert) course, diners can order delicious pies, crêpes with berry jam, compotes, and ice cream.

T.G.I. Friday's is a legendary chain of American cuisine restaurants. Thanks to exclusive rights granted by the international company Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, now expanding into 19 nations, Rosinter Restaurants Holding is building the T.G.I. Friday's brand in Russia and the CIS. An atmosphere of carefree fun reigns in T.G.I. Friday's restaurants: waiters joke and chat with the customers, while bartenders demonstrate their skill in preparing world-famous cocktails. An inimitable and easily-recognized style is followed in decorating the restaurants: red-and-white curtains and heavy bentwood furniture; dark wood walls, hung with rare curios associated with famous athletes and pop- and rock-stars. T.G.I. Friday's offers traditional American cooking: salads, sandwiches, the restaurant's own hamburgers, steaks, Southwestern-style dishes, and a wide variety of original cocktails. Huge portions are a distinguishing feature of T.G.I. Friday's.

    Press queries:
    Valeria Silina,
    Director of Public Relations

    Ekaterina Korobkova,
    Press Secretary

    E-mail: 2pr@rosinter.ru
    Telephone: +7-495-788-4488, Extension 2426

    Investors and analysts queries:
    Amin Muci
    Head of Investor Relations

    Alexey Denisov
    Deputy Head of Investor Relations
    e-mail ir@rosinter.ru
    Office +7-495-788-4488 ext. 2108, 2175

SOURCE Rosinter Restaurants Holding