Centerplate Joins With Leading Restaurateurs to Enhance Its Restaurant Portfolio

"This joint venture is a continuing step in our strategy to expand our entertainment services and continually raise the bar on the culinary offerings for our clients and guests," remarked Steinmayer. "Centerplate currently operates over 20 restaurants throughout our portfolio in various sports, convention and entertainment venues. In addition, we recently opened the Limelight restaurant in Denver with Chef Kevin Taylor representing our first free-standing restaurant. We believe restaurants like Harry's Tap Room and other novel concepts -- which we will develop through this venture and other avenues -- will enhance our competitive position and enable us to extend our reach into the traditional restaurant sector where appropriate."

Industry veterans Kaufman and Sternberg will serve in the newly-formed venture as Co-Presidents. In addition, they will assist Centerplate in growing its core business through advice and consultation.

Michael Kaufman is deeply knowledgeable regarding restaurant strategy and branding. For over a decade, Kaufman served as President of the Metromedia Restaurant Group, which owns four major casual and family restaurant chains with aggregate annual system sales in excess of $1 billion. Kaufman is currently the Vice-Chairman of the Board of the National Restaurant Association and serves as a trustee of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation and The Culinary Institute of America.

Michael Sternberg is one of the most respected independent restaurateurs in the country. He began his career opening the second Morton's Steakhouse and went on to master the art of fine dining with the opening of his highly successful Washington, D.C. institutions, Sam and Harry's and the Caucus Room. Sternberg is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Restaurant Association.

Harry's Tap Room features a seasonal contemporary American menu, utilizing organic and natural ingredients. The food quality, plate presentation and guest service at Harry's Tap Room are typically found only in fine-dining restaurants, yet its prices position it between traditional fast, casual and 'special occasion' establishments. The most recent Zagat Survey describes Harry's flagship in Northern Virginia as a "modern, handsome...'hot spot'... [which] draws a sophisticated clientele of...couples and singles in their 20s, 30s and 40s for excellent mussels, twin petite filets, well-thought out wines by the glass...and has an amazing Sunday brunch..."

"We are excited about forming this innovative joint venture with Centerplate," said Kaufman. "They have a vision for the future of culinary entertainment that we share."

"In addition to driving the success of Harry's Tap Room, we look forward to enhancing and expanding Centerplate's portfolio of innovative restaurant concepts, both within their current scope of operations and beyond," notes Sternberg.

As a result of the transaction, the joint venture will operate the Harry's Tap Room restaurant in The Market Common Clarendon, Arlington, Virginia and will license two locations in Dulles Airport. A fourth location in the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City in Arlington, Virginia, will be owned and operated by the joint venture and is currently under development.

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