News

Cosi signs on industry veteran as consultant

February 9, 2012

Cosi Inc. has entered into an agreement with Brad Blum, owner of BLUM Growth Fund, to provide consulting services related to branding, product development, merchandising and marketing to maximize long-term shareholder value. This comes on the heels of Carin Stutz's appointment as the new president and CEO of Cosi, and is part of her aggressive plan to drive sales and profitability.

"We are pleased to have Brad join us as we accelerate our work already underway to build momentum and turn this strong brand into a profitable business," Stutz said. "His broad knowledge and extensive experience in the restaurant industry, combined with his turnaround expertise and strong results in developing distinctive brands, will be invaluable as we execute our strategy to make Cosi a leading national fast casual brand."

Blum has a long history with the Cosi brand. In October, he calledfor Cosi's Board of Directors to step aside and allow new leadership to take the helm and achieve positive results.

He also spent several months offering specific strategies for the struggling chain to take its place with other well-performing concepts in the fast casual segment. At the time, Blum offered to serve as CEO for the brand at a salary of $1 for the first year, with the stated goal of recouping the value of shareholder investments that Cosi's position and potential have shown.

To date, Blum has posted a change in his Cosi shareholder status from activist shareholder to passive shareholder. BLUM Growth Fund holds 3.5 million shares of Cosi stock, currently representing a 6.8 percent ownership in the company.

In addition to founding BLUM Growth Fund and having consulted for other major restaurant companies, Blum previously served as chief executive of Olive Garden for eight years until 2003, and more recently served as chief executive officer at both Burger King and Romano's Macaroni Grill.

"Carin is moving quickly to utilize every resource available to the company to quickly turn Cosi into a profitable business," said Stephen Edwards, Cosi's executive chairman. "I welcome the involvement of Mr. Blum as part of Carin's strategy."