Naples, FL, February 11, 2010 – Naples Tomato Franchising, LLC today announced that it has awarded its first restaurant franchise license to EWINE, LLC of Southington, Connecticut, for the Stamford/Greenwich, Connecticut area. Naples Tomato is an award-winning restaurant concept that originated in Naples, Florida. Naples Tomato offers a uniquely American approach to Mediterranean food and lifestyle – Vine Dining™ – that delivers the value and flexibility of casual dining with the casual elegance of finer dining.

“The Stamford/Greenwich area is the ideal place for a Naples Tomato because of its affluence and the number of wine drinkers. That’s why we targeted the area for our first franchised restaurant,” said Jack Serfass, co-founder and co-chairman of Naples Tomato Franchising. “We can’t think of a better partner than EWINE, LLC. We look forward to having EWINE and the people of Connecticut help us evolve and grow our Vine Dining concept.”

EWINE, LLC principals have strong track records in building and operating successful businesses throughout Connecticut, including restaurants, long-term health-care facilities, and commercial and residential construction companies.

“As food and wine lovers, my wife and I were instantly intrigued when we first ate at Naples Tomato, and we can’t wait to bring this experience to others here in Connecticut,” said Ed Jamele, Jr., president of EWINE, LLC. “This area is primed for a restaurant that fits easily into people’s lifestyles, with creative food and wine and good value for their dollar. Naples Tomato has many different ways to appeal to guests. There’s the wine program with the self-service wine bar, the take-home market, the pasta kitchen, private dining, catering and of course the restaurant itself. And it helps that it’s Italian, as I am!”

The new Naples Tomato will open in 2010.

Vine Dining is a new approach to franchising that emphasizes homemade foods made from local ingredients, rather than prepackaged and frozen foods. Thorough training and detailed recipes replace commissaries, so food can be prepared fresh on premises. Franchisees make the commitment to hire culinary-skilled employees in the kitchen and experienced hospitality staff in the dining room. Naples Tomato restaurants do not contain deep fryers. The restaurants make pasta from scratch on premise and also make all sauces on premise using premium ingredients such as San Marzano tomatoes. Restaurants track guest satisfaction openly on the Internet via Twitter, Facebook and OpenTable, and publicly monitor the operational performance of each location.

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Building a Vine, Not a Chain

Naples, FL, Oct. 14, 2009 – Naples Tomato, a nationally recognized restaurant and local institution in Naples, Florida, today announced its plan to expand through franchising.  Naples Tomato offers a uniquely American approach to Mediterranean food and lifestyle – Vine Dining™ – that delivers the value and flexibility of casual dining with the casual elegance of finer dining.

Naples Tomato Franchising, LLC will initially award Naples Tomato franchises in the Eastern United States. The franchise program was developed with the help of Chicago-based iFranchise Group, Inc., and the law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP.  Franchising has been a successful strategy for many restaurants, including Brinker International (NYSE: EAT) restaurants and Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM).

Founded in 2005 in Naples, Florida, Naples Tomato has a strong track record. It has been field-tested by nearly 300,000 guests, and refined with constant feedback from a discerning and well-traveled clientele.

“We were inspired by the wonderful village restaurants that are institutions in the Mediterranean lifestyle, offering homemade food and imaginative wine lists,” said Jack Serfass, co-founder/co-owner of Naples Tomato and Naples Tomato Franchising, LLC.  “Vine Dining’s the antidote to one-size-fits-all dining experiences. It has broad general appeal, from young people on first dates to families to people celebrating their 100^th birthdays.”

“Vine Dining is a bold new concept that fills a gap in diners’ lifestyles and in the restaurant-franchising industry,” said Mark Siebert, CEO of iFranchise. “Based on my work with hundreds of restaurant concepts in over 30 years in franchise consulting, I believe Naples Tomato is a solid concept with the support of an established organization behind it, and one that is primed to expand.”

Naples Tomato’s Vine Dining concept combines American culinary inspiration with the characteristics of the Mediterranean lifestyle:

• Flexibility – a personalized experience every time, no matter what diners spend, what they choose to eat, or how much time they stay

• Homemade food made from fresh ingredients by skilled culinary experts

• Great value – fine-dining quality at budget-friendly prices that match diners’ lifestyles

• Spirited service and personal engagement with all the people behind the food and wines

• Good neighbor, friend and active part of the local community

Bringing Vine Dining to America

To bring its distinctive brand to the broader market, Naples Tomato is taking a unique approach to franchising: one that emphasizes people connections as much as system connections.

“We will be awarding a limited number of franchises in 2010, and we’re seeking franchisees that view the opportunity as more than just a business,” said Serfass. “Prospective franchisees must want their restaurants to be active in their communities and they should share a love of great food and wine.  Our goal is to build a vine, not a chain, that brings together franchisees with a franchise system that connects people to people, winemakers to guests, and the business with the community.”

The typical Naples Tomato franchise store will occupy approximately 7,000 square feet and serve 220 guests with indoor and outdoor seating. The stores will feature an open-concept kitchen, upscale “bistro-style” décor and a private pasta-kitchen dining alcove. They will also have a full bar, an extensive wine program, and a wine lounge with self-service wine bar (enomatic).  The stores are designed to be flexible, so they can work in suburban malls, hotels, outparcels, and other high-traffic locations.

Naples Tomato’s franchise model contains systems and rigorous controls to ensure that the Naples Tomato brand experience is successfully replicated in other markets. At the same time, each restaurant will be slightly different based on its location and the local market. Franchisees have the flexibility to tailor their stores to their personalities, their own love of food and wine, and their local markets.

For example, all the restaurants will make all their food on site, not from pre-frozen materials shipped from a central commissary.  This means that they can take advantage of locally grown and produced ingredients in executing their recipes.

Naples Tomato franchises offer opportunity for:

—      Restaurant owners or investors who want to diversify their portfolios

—      Culinary business owners who want to expand into new areas

—      Successful entrepreneurs who want to get into the restaurant business

Area development agreements are available.

Naples Tomato has received local and national recognition, including a Wine Spectator “Best of Award of Excellence” award for its wine program for the last three years in a row. Naples Tomato customers tend to be highly involved in “their” restaurant, providing feedback, ideas, and referrals.  Naples Tomato has an email list with more than 8,000 members, who automatically become members of the restaurant’s wine club. It also has thousands of followers on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

For more information about franchises, go to http://www.naplestomato.com or call 877-510-VINE (8463).

Franchises are subject to state and local regulations and may not be available in all states.

Financial Note

Our company-owned Naples Tomato restaurant located in Naples, Florida, earned total revenues of $3,164,701 in 2008 and $3,180,558 in 2007.  These figures are actual total revenues earned by our one company-owned restaurant, and no other company-owned or franchised restaurants exist as of the date of this press release.  There is no assurance other franchised restaurants will do as well. Anyone relying on these figures must accept this risk.  These results are published in our October 2009 Franchise Disclosure Document.

About Naples Tomato

Naples Tomato is your place for Vine Dining™. Vine Dining is a uniquely American way to experience the Mediterranean lifestyle, where every meal is a celebration of life.  You can effortlessly match inventive cuisine and unusual wines to your mood, the moment and your budget.  You can enjoy a glass of wine with cheese before the theatre, or a simple bowl of pasta or perfectly prepared fish at an intimate table, or a special family dinner with wine pairings. Naples Tomato offers Neapolitan fare reinvented with American flair: homemade pastas, award-winning lasagna, fresh local fish and other specialties in creative preparations.  The flagship Naples Tomato restaurant is located at 14700 Tamiami Trail N, Naples, FL, 34110, telephone 239-598-9800.

NAPLES, FL, September 15, 2009 – Home chefs often struggle when making the much-loved Italian dish, lasagna, says Jack Serfass, co-owner and founding executive chef of the Naples Tomato restaurant in Naples, Florida. They struggle to hit that perfect spot between an overcooked square and a mushy pile that immediately collapses when taken out of the pan.

To help home chefs, Naples Tomato today offered its tips for building the perfect lasagna. Of Naples Tomato’s lasagna, The New York Times said: “Never will you feast on better lasagna.” The restaurant has served more than 100,000 lasagnas since it opened, and today serves nearly 35,000 lasagnas a year.

While the recipe for his lasagna remains a closely guarded secret, Jack Serfass shares these four tips for building a better lasagna:

• Use impastata ricotta cheese, available in Italian markets. Impastata is the highest-quality layer of ricotta that emerges from the cheese-making process and it has the lowest water content. Impastata ricotta makes the lasagna stand up better; it requires fewer eggs to soak up excess water (adding too many eggs can result in an eggy vs. cheesy consistency).
• Amplify the flavor of the ricotta to create a flavorful filling, by adding ingredients that “pull” the flavor and sweetness from the cheese. Naples Tomato uses sauteed garlic, fresh basil, and other fresh herbs (never dried herbs).
• Don’t be too heavy-handed with the sauce; it should complement but not overwhelm the rest of the lasagna ingredients. A good lasagna sauce should also be cooked for several hours before it goes into the lasagna.
• Use fresh pasta made by the lamination method instead of the extrusion method. (Both are popular methods of making pasta by hand.) The lamination method involves running the pasta through the machine once, then folding it over and over on itself, before running it through again. This takes more time, but results in noodles that have hundreds of layers. The pasta is more porous (so it absorbs the sauce better) and it is more textured (so it helps the lasagna to stand up).

For more advice on building the perfect lasagna, download the free document

“How to Build the Perfect Lasagna – An Interview with Naples Tomato’s Jack Serfass”

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NAPLES, Fla. – February 5, 2009 – Always on the culinary cutting-edge, Naples Tomato is the first Florida restaurant to introduce the “mozzarella bar,” a cheese tasting concept already popular in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and throughout Europe.

Originating in Rome at the famed Obiká restaurant four years ago, the mozzarella bar was made popular in the U.S. by renowned chefs Mario Batali and Nancy Silverstein at their L.A. restaurant, Osteria Mozza, and other restaurateurs in major metropolitan areas have followed suit by offering the creamy dairy concoction as a menu mainstay.

The mozzarella cheese-tasting concept is the same as with Naples Tomato’s approach to wine in that several varieties are available in small portions, which allow the taster to compare flavor, texture and style. Naples Tomato offers five mozzarella choices during the peak-tourist winter months and plans to offer three cheeses during the summer season. The daily selections feature a combination of Italian, California and homemade cheeses, consisting of cows’ milk, buffalo milk and burrata. The mozzarella bar also includes antipasto accompaniments such as sea salt, extra virgin olive oil, marinated mushrooms, roasted eggplant, cherry tomatoes with pesto, and Italian meats.

“This is going to be fun,” states co-owner Jack Serfass, noting Naples Tomato was the first Florida restaurant to introduce the successful Enomatic wine system over two years ago. “It makes the foodie in all of us smile! We believe the mozzarella bar is a natural complement to our American-Neapolitan menu and wine lounge.”

The homemade mozzarella and burrata cheeses are made daily. The Italian cheeses are shipped via international air service to Miami and then rushed across the state by refrigerated truck to arrive at Naples Tomato within 48 hours of being made. The Italian cheeses are vacuum-sealed in a pouch with water and opened the day of serving, versus other offerings where the cheese is made weeks earlier.

The mozzarella bar is available daily and the menu offers individual portions starting at $9 for lunch and $10 for dinner.

The national award-winning Italian restaurant, located in Tamiami Square in North Naples, has developed a loyal patronage and the area’s largest wine club since opening April 2005. A new dining terrace, which opened January 2008, makes it one of the largest restaurants in Naples (spanning five shopping bays and approximately 9,000 square feet total). Adjoining the restaurant’s main dining room and full-service bar is the wine lounge and tasting room, featuring the popular Enomatic self-serving wine system that offers 48 selections in 1oz, 3oz and 6oz tastes on demand. Naples Tomato is also the only restaurant in Southwest Florida that offers a display pasta kitchen making homemade pasta with the lamination technique.

Naples Tomato is located at 14700 Tamiami Trail North. Hours of operation are 11:30AM – 12:00AM seven days a week. Complimentary valet parking is offered from 6:00PM-10:00PM. For more information about Naples Tomato or the Naples Tomato Wine Club call (239) 598-9800 or visit www.naplestomato.com.

NAPLES, Fla. – August 1, 2008 – Naples Tomato, the acclaimed Italian restaurant in North Naples, not only offers an impressive menu of award-winning cuisine, but an equally impressive wine list, confirmed by Wine Spectator Magazine which awarded the restaurant its second highest honor – Best of Award of Excellence – in its Annual Restaurant Awards for 2008. The Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards recognize restaurants whose wine lists offer interesting selections, are appropriate to their cuisine and appeal to a wide range of wine lovers.

One of only 802 restaurants worldwide and four in Collier County to receive the Best of Award of Excellence, this is Naples Tomato’s second consecutive year to receive the coveted distinction. These lists display either vintage depth, with vertical offerings of several top producers from major regions, or excellent breadth spread over several winegrowing regions. These wine lists typically offer 400 or more selections, along with superior presentation.

In addition to an international wine list with over 3,500 bottles and 70 wines-by-the-glass, Naples Tomato also features the popular Enomatic self-serving wine tasting system, offering 48 selections in 1oz, 3oz and 6oz tastes-on-demand. The Naples Tomato Wine Club has grown to more than 5,000 members in less then three years, making it the largest wine club in Southwest Florida. The members host wine makers at Naples Tomato, conduct monthly tastings and travel the world to several vineyards.  This summer, the Wine Club is hosting a series of Italian Wine Dinners where a different region of Italy is featured every month.  July’s dinner was so well attended that it took over the entire restaurant.

Naples Tomato is located at 14700 Tamiami Trail North. Hours of operation are 11:30 a.m. – midnight seven days a week. Complimentary valet parking is offered from 6:00 p.m. –10:00 p.m. For more information about Naples Tomato or the Naples Tomato Wine Club call (239) 598-9800 or visit www.naplestomato.com.

About Naples Tomato, LLC

Opened April 2005 by the Serfass family, Naples Tomato is a refreshing change that transforms ‘fine dining’ into ‘vine dining.’  Fresh, local ingredients and a large wine selection, including the self-serve Enomatic wine system, are offered in an upscale but still casual environment which is well suited to the Naples lifestyle. Food is offered in four settings: a dining room, a social wine room, the terrace room and a sun room. Homemade food is also available for take-out in a small market area. The menu features homemade pasta and sauces, local line caught seafood, multiple veal dishes and a homemade antipasto bar.

NAPLES, Fla. – January 31, 2008 – Naples Tomato, a full-service Italian restaurant in North Naples, can add another award to its impressive list: the WRAP Award presented by Collier County Commissioners in recognition of the restaurant’s enhanced and innovative recycling programs.

The Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) was established by Collier County Commissioners in July 2004 as part of the mandatory Non-Residential Recycling Ordinance. The award is presented quarterly to businesses in Collier County that have integrated new, expanded, exceptional and/or innovative recycling and/or waste reduction efforts into its solid waste management system.

Naples Tomato was selected as a WRAP recipient based on the following recycling and waste reduction initiatives:

• The recycling program began with a one cubic yard cardboard recycling container and now has expanded by adding seven 96-gallon commingled recycling carts to collect materials such as aluminum, tin cans, glass, office paper and plastics.

• Placing a recycling bin under the bar for wine and glass bottles, near the kitchen for staff to dispose of food packaging, and several other locations in the restaurant.

• Naples Tomato promotes waste reduction by banning the purchase of Styrofoam products used for to-go containers; instead they use aluminum or plastic containers and monitor plastic to-go bags. The employees also use reusable drinking cups.

• Initiating an extensive employee training program by posting signs on the bulletin board and kitchen areas near waste receptacles. The “can” and “cannot” list of recyclable materials are both in English and Spanish as a reminder towards recycling more.

• Naples Tomato restaurant is one of several businesses located in Tamiami Trail shopping plaza and by implementing a recycling system they lead the way for all businesses in Tamiami Trail to recycle.

In an era when environmental awareness and proactive measures are crucial, co-owner Jack Serfass sees Naples Tomato’s recycling program as just another good business practice.

“One of our servers, Christian Ercolani approached us about expanding our recycling program and my wife, Nadine and I were in full support of it,” stated Serfass. “It is great for our entire team to know that we are doing our part to to protect the environment and the WARP Award is something that everyone should be proud of.  For the program to work, it takes the commitment of everyone.”

Naples Tomato is located at 14700 Tamiami Trail North. Hours of operation are 11:30AM – 12:00AM seven days a week.  Complimentary valet parking is offered from 6:00PM-10:00PM. For more information about Naples Tomato or the Naples Tomato Wine Club call (239) 598-9800 or visit www.naplestomato.com.

About Naples Tomato, LLC

Opened April 2005 by the Serfass family, Naples Tomato is a refreshing change that transforms ‘fine dining’ into ‘vine dining.’  Fresh, local ingredients and a large wine selection are offered in an upscale but still casual environment which is well-suited to the Naples lifestyle. Food is offered in four settings: a dining room, a social wine room, the terrace room and a sun room. Homemade food is also offered for take-out in a small market area. The menu features homemade pasta and sauces, local line caught seafood, multiple veal dishes and a homemade antipasto bar. The Naples Tomato Wine Club has grown to more than 3700 members in less then three years, making it the largest Wine Club in Southwest Florida.  The restaurant also hosts monthly events for its Wine Club.

Awards and Accolades

¨     Chosen by New York Times as one of two restaurants to visit in Naples

¨     Four Stars for Food, Atmosphere, Service – Jean Le Boeuf, News-Press

¨     Best New Restaurant in Naples – Doing and Dining Guide 2006

¨     Best Wine Shop Finalist – Gulfshore Life

¨     Best Wine List Finalist – Gulfshore Life

¨     Best of Award of Excellence – Wine Spectator (less than 800 selected worldwide)

¨     Chosen by Chaîne des Rôtisseurs for 2005 dinner

¨     Chosen for several special local events such as the Naples Winter Wine Festival, the Robb Report luncheon, and the Carol Channing dinner in Mediterra hosted by Gulfshore Playhouse.

¨     Chosen by The New Yorker on-line as one of three restaurants to visit in Naples

¨     Highlighted in the Canadian Public Television show Floride! (only restaurant selected in Naples)