Il Fornaio America Corp

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International Guild of Hospitality & Restaurant Managers

Il Fornaio America Corp. owns and operates 25 full-service, white tablecloth Italian restaurants serving creatively prepared Italian cuisine based on authentic regional recipes. Native-born Italian chefs create all recipes. In addition, Il Fornaio owns three wholesale bakeries. The wholesale bakeries provide fresh breads, pastries and other baked goods to the restaurants, as well as to a variety of quality grocery stores, specialty retailers, hotels and other fine restaurants.

The restaurants' menu features a variety of dishes, including house-made pasta, poultry and game roasted over a wood-fired rotisserie, meat and fresh fish from a charcoal grill, pizza from a wood-burning oven, soups, salads and desserts. The core menu includes several flavorful low-salt and low-fat selections oriented toward health- or diet-conscious guests. The restaurants also offer Italian appetizers, creative desserts prepared on site, full liquor service and an extensive wine list emphasizing Italian and California varietals. The wine list includes an Il Fornaio-brand Chianti Classico from a Tuscan vineyard that was originally planted in the eleventh century and is designated for Il Fornaio's exclusive use.

For two weeks of every month, the restaurants feature the Festa Regionale, menus developed, on a rotating basis, by one of Il Fornaio's Chef-Partners, based on authentic recipes of one of Italy's 20 geographic regions. Each menu is intended to capture both the unique flavors and culinary style that characterize that region's local cuisine and includes menu items based on produce, cheese, meat, poultry and seafood indigenous to the region. Selected wines of the region are also offered to complement menu items. The most popular menu items developed as part of Festa Regionale are frequently added to the core menu.

The Company's average check per guest at its restaurants, including alcoholic beverages, was $22.46 in 2000. Nine of the restaurants also offer breakfast service, which, during 2000, accounted for approximately 2% of restaurant revenues. During the same period, wine sales represented approximately 18% of restaurant revenues, while other alcoholic beverages accounted for approximately 7% of restaurant revenues. Take-out prepared food and retail brand items accounted for approximately 9% of restaurant revenues in 2000.

Il Fornaio's wholesale bakeries supply the restaurants with over 30 varieties of breads and rolls, based on centuries-old, regional Italian recipes. Breads include ciabatta (a long, flat loaf with a porous interior and crunchy crust), panmarino (a dome-shaped loaf infused with rosemary and sprinkled with coarse sea salt), filone (a classic Italian white bread with a light crust and soft interior), pagnotta (a round, rustic loaf with a soft interior), pane all'uva (a rich, moist bread filled with golden raisins), pane alle olive (a soft-textured bread studded with green olives) and foccacia (a flat bread brushed with olive oil and finished with a variety of fresh toppings). Pastries include cornetti (croissants) and cannelle (cinnamon twists).

A freestanding wholesale bakery, located in Burlingame, California, provides freshly baked goods to all Il Fornaio restaurants and wholesale customers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and a wholesale bakery and training facility in Gardena, California, serves its Southern California restaurants and wholesale customers. The Company plans to open a new wholesale bakery, located in Denver, Colorado, in April 2001 to serve its Colorado restaurants and wholesale customers. The Company's wholesale bakeries accounted for approximately 9% of gross revenues during 2000.

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