Accelerated Growth Plan Announced by New Sizzler Management Team.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 17, 1999--

Search for a New Restaurant Concept to Supplement

Core Business has Been Initiated;

Internal Growth to Come From Revitalization

of Concept With Focus on U.S., Australia and Asia;

Both Actions to Be Funded by Significant Restructuring

of International Assets

Sizzler International Inc. (NYSE:SZ) announced at its annual meeting of shareholders a multipart, companywide plan that management believes will accelerate financial growth.

The short-term strategy was presented by a new management team headed by Charles L. Boppell, who took over as president and chief executive officer of Sizzler after growing such restaurant systems as La Salsa, Hudson's Grill and Taco Bell.

More Strategic Use of Assets

Boppell said the plan is based on what he called "a more strategic use of our assets." He said: "Sizzler is an excellent platform for growth because we have a proven, profitable operating infrastructure and the ability to get a much higher return from our existing assets.

"Add to that at least one successful new restaurant concept that we will look to acquire and you have an exceptional growth opportunity. What we are announcing today is a plan to capture this opportunity through a more strategic use of our assets."

The plan will be funded in part by more than $40 million raised from the sale and leaseback of company real estate in Australia, primarily the restaurants housing the corporation's KFC franchises in Queensland.

Current cash flow and other financing resources will also be used to fund these growth opportunities, according to Boppell. This real estate transaction should be substantially implemented within the next three months.

"Raising cash by reallocating assets from foreign real estate to domestic investments are not the only ways to make our resources work harder," Boppell said.

"We have great unused capacity in many existing domestic and international restaurants; we have the leading market position in many locations that we can use to introduce other sources of revenue; and we have a great body of expertise to select and roll out new concepts. We expect all of these to make a more powerful contribution in the future."

Four-Part Plan

The new Sizzler plan reorganizes the company into four areas, each of which is expected to produce financial growth:

--   New Concepts: The company has begun investigating a number of
     promising restaurant concepts and will be examining others as
     part of an active new restaurant-concept acquisition program. The
     objective is to acquire and then begin expanding one new
     restaurant concept in the near future.

     To help accomplish this goal, Sizzler has retained the J.H.
     Chapman Co., which has been involved in the identification and
     acquisition of new restaurant concepts for 17 years and
     specializes in transactions in the $10 million to $250 million
     range.

--   Domestic Sizzler restaurants: The company presently owns 66
     Sizzler restaurants, and franchisees operate another 200 in the
     United States. This system is currently profitable and enjoyed a
     same-store sales increase of 4.9 percent for the 12 months ended
     July 25, 1999. Nevertheless, the average Sizzler restaurant in
     the United States still has considerable capacity for growth.

     The plan calls for moving Sizzler toward a quality grill concept
     with an excellent salad bar and away from the buffet-court arena.
     The plan also calls for remodeling and repositioning domestic
     Sizzler restaurants and for beginning to add new franchise
     restaurants in the United States.

--   Australian restaurants: The company presently owns 30 Sizzler
     restaurants and 101 KFC franchises in Australia. The Sizzler
     restaurants in Australia are profitable but also still have
     substantial unused capacity. The KFC franchises are among the
     most financially productive restaurants in the entire KFC system.

     The company seeks to accelerate growth from the KFC restaurants
     by exploring the addition of new brands to the existing KFC sites
     where customer traffic is already very high and yet additional
     kitchen capacity is available. Growth in Sizzler restaurants is
     being stimulated by a remodeling and positioning program similar
     to that in the United States.

--   Asia: Sizzler franchisees operate 51 restaurants in Asia, 23 of
     which are in Japan. Over the past two years, economic weakness in
     these markets reduced the contributions from these restaurants
     and limited the ability to refresh them at the same time as the
     U.S. restaurants. With the improving economic conditions, the
     Asian market has the capacity to substantially increase its
     current contribution to Sizzler earnings.

     The company expects stronger future contributions from these
     restaurants as they undergo renovation and repositioning similar
     to the United States, but tailored to Asian markets. A key to
     optimizing this growth strategy is Sizzler's recent establishment
     of an Asian management team focusing on Japan.

Boppell told shareholders that while the leveraging of foreign assets has begun, it would not be finalized until later this year. As this happens, he plans to consider other capital strategies, such as a share-buyback program, and other asset divestitures. He said further details in these areas would be discussed if and when they are finalized.

Boppell concluded his comments with, "Just as the world approaches the start of a new millennium with new opportunities, Sizzler too starts afresh with a new management team, from the chairman of the board through senior management, and with a new approach, driven by a new strategy for growth."

Sizzler International operates, franchises or joint-ventures 347 Sizzler restaurants worldwide, in addition to the 101 KFC restaurants in Queensland.

For more information on Sizzler International Inc. via facsimile at no cost, call 800/PRO-INFO and dial client code "SZ."

Some matters set forth in this news release are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth herein in the forward-looking statements, including such factors, among others, as significant fluctuations in operating results, market acceptance of the company's food-service offerings, competition, and other risk factors as detailed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including Form 10K.