Cosi Announces The Addition Of Two Executives To Management Team.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 2003

New York-based restaurant company, Cosi, Inc. (NASDAQ: COSI), today announced the hiring of Paul Seidman to the position of Vice President of Food & Beverage, and David Winkel to the position of Vice President of Marketing.

"This is another step forward in building a leadership team that has strong industry experience with a focus on performance improvement," commented Bill Forrest, Executive Chairman. "These two executives add depth to our team offering notable backgrounds and achievements. We look forward to the contributions Paul and David will bring to our business."

Paul Seidman joins Cosi as Vice President of Food & Beverage bringing over 20 years of experience in the foodservice industry. Most recently, Mr. Seidman was the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Development of Bertucci's Corporation, where he was employed since April 2001. Seidman was responsible for the menu engineering efforts at Bertucci's that aided in food cost reduction while broadening menu appeal. Prior to this role, he served since 1996 as the Senior Vice President of Food & Beverage and Procurement at the New England Restaurant Company, Brinker International's largest franchisee. Since 1982, Mr. Seidman held similar positions at the Bayport Restaurant Group, La Madeleine and the Club Corporation of America.

David Winkel has been appointed Vice President of Marketing. Mr. Winkel's 20 years of experience in the food service and consumer goods industry include his most recent role as the Vice President of Foodservice Solutions at Synovate Research. Synovate acquired Marketing Strategy & Planning Inc, in January 2003, where Winkel was the Executive Vice President of Business Development focusing on strategic marketing and consumer research consulting for clients. Mr. Winkel's accomplishments include the development of the nutrition strategy at Subway and the customer satisfaction strategies at Ruby Tuesday's. Mr. Winkel was also instrumental in the approach for the value turnaround at Long John Silver's. Previously, Mr. Winkel has served as Senior Vice President of Strategy Planning at Hardee's Food Systems, Inc, where he spent 7 years, as well as in marketing roles at Imperial Tobacco Ltd, where he began his career.

Kevin Armstrong, President and CEO of Cosi, commented, "Paul and David bring restaurant and business experience that will help position the company to increase shareholder value. Paul's track record in supply chain management and product development along with David's background in branding strategies will contribute to the overall enhancement of our brand and support improvements in operating performance. Paul and David will be instrumental in positioning Cosi as the best in taste - in both food and attitude."

About Cosi

Cosi restaurants are all-day cafes that feature signature bread and coffee products in a unique environment that changes throughout the day. Cosi offers breakfast, lunch, afternoon coffee, dinner and dessert menus full of creative, cravable foods and beverages. Cosi has developed featured foods that are built around a secret, generations-old recipe for crackly crust flatbread. These products are freshly baked in front of customers throughout the day in open flame stone hearth ovens prominently located in each of the restaurants. There are 94 Cosi locations in eleven states and the District of Columbia.

"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995. This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements under the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements about future events and expectations and not statements of historical fact. The words "believe," "may," "will," "should," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "objective," "seek," "plan," " strive," or similar words, or negatives of these words, identify forward-looking statements. We qualify any forward-looking statements entirely by these cautionary factors. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future economic performance, taking into account the information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results, performance or financial condition to differ materially from the expectations of future results, performance or financial condition we express or imply in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to: the cost of our principal food products; fluctuations in our quarterly results; labor shortages or increased labor costs; the rate of our internal growth, and our ability to generate increased revenue from existing restaurants; our ability to effectively manage our business with a reduced general and administrative staff; our ability to incorporate a franchising and area developer model into our strategy; the availability and cost of additional financing, both to fund our existing operations and to grow and open new restaurants; our ability to generate positive cash flow from operations; increased government regulation; changes in consumer preferences and demographic trends; supply and delivery shortages or interruptions; increasing competition in the fast casual dining segment of the restaurant industry; market saturation due to new restaurant openings; expansion into new markets; inadequate protection of our intellectual property; adverse weather conditions which impact customer traffic at our restaurants; and adverse economic conditions. Further information regarding factors that could affect our results and the statements made herein are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.