Award-Winning chef Des Jardins Joins Restaurant Efficiencies Board.

Business Editors/Food & Beverage Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2000

Restaurant Efficiencies, Inc., developers of OrderSmart.com(TM), a comprehensive purchasing, inventory, and cost control management tool for restaurants, is pleased to announce that acclaimed chef Traci Des Jardins has joined its board of directors.

Des Jardins, Executive Chef/Partner of Jardiniere Restaurant and one of San Francisco's most respected chefs, was recently nominated for "Best California Chef" award by the prestigious James Beard Foundation. Her star rose early in the culinary world. In 1995, she was voted "Rising Star Chef of the Year" by the Beard Foundation, and in the same year was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's "Best New Chefs." In 1997, the Beard Foundation chose Jardiniere as one of five national contenders for "Best New Restaurant of the Year."

"We're thrilled to have Traci join our board. She's an outstanding and dedicated chef, the kind of food professional OrderSmart was designed for," says Jon Cronander, CEO of Restaurant Efficiencies, Inc. "Her real-world restaurant experience complements Mark Goines high-tech background to give our board breadth. Since she's been using OrderSmart for nine months now at Jardiniere, she can provide us with valuable insight into the day-to-day needs of the restaurant."

Des Jardins' career in the kitchen began at 7th Street Bistro in Los Angeles where head chef Joachim Splichal encouraged her to hone her skills working in the great restaurants of France. She did just that, working under Michel and Pierre Troisgros at Troisgros, Alain Ducasse at the Louis XV, and Alain Sendersens at Lucas Carton. When she returned to the U.S., she settled in San Francisco where she helped open Aqua with George Morrone and then Elka with Elka Gilmore. She was the executive chef of Rubicon when restaurateur Pat Kuleto offered her the chance to head her own kitchen. She became executive chef and partner Jardiniere in San Francisco in 1997.

"My decision to join the board at Restaurant Efficiencies stems from my positive experience with OrderSmart at Jardiniere. Instead of offering a simple ordering system, OrderSmart offers a well-thought out, mature approach to running a restaurant. It's an important development for restaurants and I wanted to be part of the team that took the company to the next logical step."

Restaurant Efficiencies, Inc. is a privately held, leading provider of business-to-business, e-Procurement, eMarketplace, and back office application services to independent and small to medium chain restaurants and their suppliers. Since the company was founded in June 1998, its online ordering system, OrderSmart has proven to be the industry leader for independent and small chain e-commerce. In addition to Des Jardins, Restaurant Efficiencies Board of Directors also includes Mark Goines, Senior Vice President at Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) in charge of consumer products.

OrderSmart is presently up and running in more than a dozen restaurants in the Bay Area, that number will grow to 20 by the end of April. During its 9 months of commercial use, more than $15 million in annualized purchasing has been ordered through the system. Unlike FoodGalaxy, a subsidiary of Cornerstone Internet Solutions (NASDAQ: CNRS), OrderSmart offers restaurants unlimited choice of vendors and maintains all buyer data. The company also provides a suite of online tools that can dramatically improve profitability, save time, and increase job satisfaction.