A&W Launches New Restaurant Concept for Urban Diners

A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund (TSX: AW.UN)

VANCOUVER, Aug. 13 /CNW/ - A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. launches a new national concept for urban areas with the opening of its restaurant at 778 Robson Street in Vancouver at 3pm PT today.

Since its founding as Canada's first drive-in chain in Winnipeg in 1956, A&W has continually re-invented itself. Today there are over 713 locations located in shopping malls or as free standing restaurants with drive-thru service. With more and more Canadians living and working in Canada's growing urban centres, this new "urban A&W concept", brings the iconic burger family and frosty mugs of legendary A&W Root Beer(TM) to a new group of customers.

Today's grand opening in Vancouver will be followed over the next few months with several downtown locations in Toronto and Montreal, and more in Vancouver.

"We are excited about this new A&W restaurant concept for our urban customers," said A&W President and CEO Paul Hollands. "We are committed to providing A&W's great taste, quality and service to a new generation of busy, fun-loving customers who appreciate Teen burgers, ice cold A&W Root Beer(TM) and fresh hand-made onion rings.

Working with one of the most experienced design firms in North America, FRCH from Cincinnati, A&W has created an urban restaurant that is current and relevant for today, a new variation of the classic and popular A&W designed to appeal to urbanites living or working near the new restaurants. At the same time the heritage and the history of A&W comes through.

In addition to The Burger Family, A&W's urban restaurants will offer a selection of salads and several new chicken sandwiches, one being a Spicy Chipotle Chicken sandwich; free wi-fi; self-serve ordering kiosks and a significant waste-reduction initiative.

A&W is the first quick service restaurant chain in Canada to offer customers the convenience of self-order kiosks, which were initially introduced on a trial basis at Vancouver's busy airport earlier this year. Located at the front of each restaurant, the kiosks will allow customers to use their debit or credit cards to quickly and efficiently place their orders. The new design will also see the menu boards removed from the back wall, and will be placed on the counter with bold photos to facilitate easy ordering for multilingual customers.

As part of a strategic commitment to reduce waste, the new restaurants will feature environmentally conscious packaging such as reusable French fry baskets and smaller food wrappers, reusable frosted mugs, china plates and stainless steel cutlery instead of paper or plastic and complementary energy conservation measures. As a result, the average urban restaurant will reduce its consumer paper waste by over 5,000 lbs per year. Advanced exhaust equipment will reduce power and gas usage by 30% and new Energy Star fryers will provide an additional 45% reduction.

A&W is focused on rapid restaurant expansion plan for the urban concept, with 5 more locations opening between Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal by year end.

"We are really excited about our next generation restaurant. Urban consumers have told us they want the great taste of A&W Teen Burgers(TM) and we are delivering. We are scouting for great, convenient locations in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto," said Rob Fussey, Director Urban Concept Development.

A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. is 100 per cent Canadian owned and is one of the strongest brand names in the Canadian foodservice industry. A&W is the nation's second largest hamburger chain with more than 713 locations coast-to-coast. A&W Restaurants feature famous trade-marked menu items such as The Burger Family(R), Teen Burger(R) Chubby Chicken(R), and A&W Root Beer(R). For more information, please visit www.aw.ca.

For further information: Alex Chapple, 604-739-7500 or C: 604-512-6095, [email protected]; Or Karen Cook, 604-739-7500 or C: 604-551-9074, [email protected]