Opening Of New Florida Drive-in Takes A&w® Back To Its Roots

Flagship Restaurant Brings "Hometown Food Made Fun®" to Clermont

CLERMONT, FL (Monday, November 29, 2004) - Central Florida A&W® drive-in fans, your wait is over. More than 85 years after the first A&W® Root Beer stand debuted, A&W® Restaurants, Inc., is opening a flagship drive-in restaurant at 2620 East Highway 50 in Clermont, Fla. The restaurant will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday, Dec. 7, at 9 a.m., and will open for business at 10 a.m.

The Clermont location – the first company-owned drive-in restaurant opened by A&W® in several decades – brings to life the brand position of "Hometown Food Made Fun®."

"A&W® is America's original favorite hometown drive-in, and we know our new restaurant will quickly take its place as central Florida's favorite drive-in," said Mike Tattersfield, President of A&W® Restaurants, Inc. "This is the perfect community in which to celebrate our first company-owned drive-in opening in decades. From our first visit, the residents of Clermont have made us feel like this is our hometown too."

Although the opening of the new A&W® is a tribute to the brand's history as a drive-in chain, this restaurant is more about A&W®'s future than its past. From the new menu and the distinctive look of the building to community activities and innovative marketing, the Clermont drive-in is clearly the chain's flagship restaurant.

"Longtime fans of A&W® will probably feel a little nostalgic when they visit the Clermont drive-in," said Ken Thewes, Director of Marketing for A&W® Restaurants, Inc. "The restaurant will have the ‘feel' of the A&W® drive-ins many of us grew up with, but it will also feature the latest and greatest that our brand has to offer."

In addition to the A&W® Root Beer Floats, Coney Dogs and Onion Rings that made A&W® famous, Clermont residents will be among the first customers in America to enjoy these new additions to the menu:

The return of A&W®'s "Papa-Style Burger" line – the single-, double- and triple-decker burgers that were a classic A&W® menu item for decades, as well as the "Mama's Recipe Chicken" line of sandwiches.
A line of "Signature Shakes" in mouth-watering flavors such as Chocolate Cherry Jubilee, Peanut Butter Sensation, Spotted Bear and Chocolate Covered Oreo.
Delicious "Fruit Beer Floats" in flavors including Raspberry Bliss, Orange Quake, Grape Ape, Cherry Bop, and Apple Schmapple.

Grand opening week at A&W® will kick off with a series of "muggings," but they won't cause an increase in Clermont crime. In the days leading up to the restaurant's opening, A&W® personnel will be "mugging" local residents by delivering plastic A&W® mugs, complete with free food coupons inside. While hundreds of winners will enjoy free food offers from A&W®, one lucky grand prize "muggee" will win a free A&W® Root Beer Float each week for a year.

"The frosty A&W® Root Beer Mug is an icon of A&W® restaurants," said Thewes. "We'll be ‘mugging' folks all over town in the days before our restaurant opens. We'll also be serving free A&W® Root Beer samples to Clermont residents using our portable Root Beer jet pack. Folks who haven't enjoyed real draft A&W® Root Beer in a while are in for a treat."

Since Clermont is now the hometown of A&W®'s newest drive-in, the brand has big plans to be involved in the community. Grand opening festivities on Dec. 7 will include a donation of A&W® Great Root Bear® stuffed animals to the local police and fire department. The bears will be given by emergency personnel to children who are in need of a "bear hug" following an accident, fire or emergency call.

For the first four weeks the restaurant is open, customers will enjoy great freebies from A&W®. In week one, everyone who visits will receive an A&W® Root Beer Coin which can be redeemed for a free A&W® Root Beer on a future visit. In week two, the restaurant team will hand out frequency cards, which can be redeemed for a free Great Root Bear t-shirt after 10 combo meals are ordered. In week three, customers will receive cards redeemable for free ice cream cones. In the fourth week, Root Beer Coins will again be the giveaway item of choice.

And the fun-loving families who visit the restaurant will also have a shot at becoming local celebrities. A&W® will feature customers in its "Our Newest Mugs" advertising campaign in Clermont. A photo of a local family will grace advertisements in local media, and new families will be featured periodically throughout the year.

A&W® Restaurants, Inc. (www.awrestaurants.com), the longest running quick service franchise chain in America, is celebrating its 85th anniversary in 2004. Since 1919, A&W® All American Food® has been serving a signature frosty mug root beer float and All American pure-beef hamburgers and hot dogs. There are nearly 700 A&W® All American Food® outlets in 15 countries and territories around the world, and more than 545 additional points of distribution at Yum! Brands multibrand restaurants. A&W® Restaurants, Inc. is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., (NYSE: YUM), the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system units with more than 33,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries and territories.

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