Lenny's Sells the Dallas/Fort Worth Market

In another landmark deal, Lenny's Franchisor, LLC, franchisor of Lenny's Sub Shops, today announced an agreement for 100 restaurants in the Dallas/Fort Worth market. Texas Sandwich Investors, LLC, a group of prominent investors from the Memphis area, purchased the exclusive rights to open 98 restaurants in 11 Texas counties, including Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Grayson, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwell and Tarrant. In addition, they purchased two operating restaurants in the Dallas market - Lenny's #64 at 1300 Jackson Street in downtown Dallas and Lenny's #69 at 111 East University Drive in Denton. Texas Sandwich Investors plan to open their first five restaurants in North Dallas along the I-75 corridor in 2006.

Len and Sheila Moore opened the original Lenny's Sub Shop, a genuine Philadelphia-style sub shop with fresh baked bread and the finest quality deli meat and cheese, in a Memphis suburb in 1998. Lenny's Franchisor Chief Executive Officer George Alvord and private investors acquired ownership of the company from Len Moore in 2004. Since that time, Lenny's has granted more than 600 franchises in 17 states from California to Virginia.

Texas Sandwich Investors, including Managing Director Steve Durst, became involved with Lenny's because they love the concept - great food, fair prices, and great service - and consider Lenny's a step above the competition. In addition, Durst, who will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of all DFW restaurants, has over 23 years of quick-service restaurant management experience including significant experience operating sandwich shops in large metropolitan markets.

"Texas Sandwich Investors is Lenny's ideal franchise group because their investors are well-capitalized and they have a managing director in Steve Durst who has been in the quick-service business for many years and knows what it takes to be successful in a large market," said Alvord. "With an aggressive growth plan, Texas Sandwich Investors will open quickly and expects to perform at record levels in this market."

The Dallas/Fort Worth area was ideal for the group because of the size of the market and the success that current Lenny's franchisees have had in the state. In 2005, founder Len Moore signed on to open 80 Lenny's Sub Shops in Houston. He has already opened 9 successful restaurants in this market and has established Lenny's as a favorite in Houston. Durst and his team plan to duplicate that success in the nearby Dallas/Fort Worth market.

"Texas is perfect for Lenny's. Our cheesesteaks and hand-sliced Italian subs are already a favorite in Texas," said Durst. "Len Moore is very successful in Houston with the concept. It is already proven that the citizens of Texas love the quality and service of Lenny's."

In addition to the already proven success of Lenny's in Texas, DFW is home to over five million people and is the largest metropolitan area in the state of Texas. Furthermore, 22 Fortune 500 headquarters and over 128,000 businesses called DFW home in 2006. The DFW area was also ranked third in terms of employment growth in major U.S. cities over the last year.

"People dine out more often in Dallas/Fort Worth than any major market in the country, so the opportunities are endless," said Durst. "We will be successful because this is the right place and right time with the right concept for this area."

Recently, Lenny's has opened several restaurants in new markets, including Las Vegas, San Antonio, and Charlotte. In addition they have sold multi-restaurant packages in several states, including Nevada, California, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan and Kansas. Lenny's is scheduled to open hundreds of restaurants in the next few years.



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