[0] Information Resources Sets Strategic Alliance with Gazelle Systems to Provide Market Research and Analytics to Beverage Manufacturers.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2000

Alliance Expands IRI's Capabilities in $376 Billion Restaurant

Industry

Information Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRIC) announced today that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Gazelle Systems, Inc. to provide beverage manufacturers with beverage tracking, consumer insights, and analytical services in the restaurant and hospitality channels.

Gazelle Systems provides state-of-the-art customer relationship management (CRM) solutions to the hospitality industry. Headquartered near Boston, Mass., Gazelle has revolutionized the hospitality industry by bringing restaurant owners and hospitality professionals the information and tools to improve the way they manage and understand their customers.

IRI, the leading information provider to beverage manufacturers in the U.S., is releasing this proprietary new beverage tracking service to provide beverage manufacturers with insights into beverage consumption away from the home. For the first time, manufacturers will know the types of beverages consumers are drinking, the brands they are requesting, and the foods they are consuming with these beverages in the hospitality channel. With this service, manufacturers will be able to measure basic sales and shares of their brands as well as understand the dynamics behind the numbers with analytical tools such as brand switching, price elasticity and promotion evaluation.

"By leveraging Gazelle's restaurant and hospitality information with our leading edge analytic and tracking capabilities, IRI will be able to provide beverage manufacturers with intelligence they have long been lacking about this high profile segment," said Kim Feil, president of worldwide innovation at IRI. "This alliance builds on IRI's leading position with the beverage manufacturers and Gazelle's strong relationships in the restaurant and hospitality industry to give IRI the opportunity to expand in this exciting and growing market."

"Our premium CRM service helps our customers--restaurant and hospitality companies--to create new ideas to serve consumers," said Charlotte Bogardus, founder and chairman of Gazelle Systems, the worldwide leader in CRM for the restaurant and hospitality industry. "This alliance will allow Gazelle to add even more value to our clients by providing them tools and insights to work in partnership with their beverage suppliers."

By the end of the year, IRI will provide beverage manufacturers with chain-level insights. The service will expand to provide complete tracking and consumer information services beyond restaurants into other hospitality channels such as stadiums and amusement parks.

"The ultimate vision of this service is to provide our clients with industry leading insights such as the link between on-premise and off-premise beverage consumption behavior, to give them an advantage in today's competitive environment," added IRI's Kim Feil.

Information Resources, Inc. is a leading provider of UPC scanner-based business solutions to the consumer packaged goods industry, offering services in the U.S., Europe and other international markets. The Company supplies CPG manufacturers, retailers and brokers with information and analysis critical to their sales, marketing and supply chain operations. IRI provides services designed to deliver value through an enhanced understanding of the consumer to a majority of the Fortune 500 companies in the CPG industry.

Gazelle Systems (www.gaz.com) is the leading provider of software and Web-based CRM solutions for the restaurant and hospitality industry. Gazelle's fast-growing client list includes major domestic and multinational full-service restaurant and hospitality chains. Gazelle has also entered into strategic alliances with data processors, IT consulting organizations, data warehousing and management providers, and food-related e-commerce companies.