NEWS RELEASE
For further information: 
John Tata 
xpient Solutions, LLC
info@xpient.com
603.379.2101 

XPIENT's IRIS POS Provides Integrated Restaurant/Retail Solutions to KnowFat!

Charlotte, NC (December 5, 2005) ~ XPIENT Solutions, LLC., today announced that KnowFat! Lifestyle Grille has implemented xpient’s IRIS (Intelligent Restaurant Information Systems) point-of-sale (POS) application and several of XPIENT’s enhanced productivity modules. “Our formula for success combines a quick-serve restaurant with a retail store that both support a health lifestyle,” said Eric Spitz, President and Co-CEO of KnowFat! Lifestyle Grille. “IRIS provides us with a best of class restaurant system integrated with a high-end retail system to meet the unique needs of our business.” The solution includes NCR POS hardware and integration services provided by Cryan & Associates, an authorized reseller for NCR and XPIENT Solutions.  “We are very pleased to have been selected as the solution of choice for the KnowFat! Lifestyle Grille,” stated John Tata, Vice President, XPIENT Solutions.  “KnowFat! has assembled a first-class management team to develop and guide their innovative concept.  We are excited to partner with them, providing the system and support services to help them succeed with their exciting, new business model.” 

“For years, restaurants have tried to figure out ways to sell customers more than just a meal, and some national chains have been successful,” Spitz said. “When executed properly, the retail business provides significant economic benefits including raising the value of a customer’s visit, optimizing labor usage, smoothing peak sales times, and allocating rent across multiple businesses. KnowFat! is extending the restaurant-retail concept and creating the archetype for maximizing sales in the restaurant industry. One of the biggest challenges that we faced was finding software that we could handle both our restaurant and retail sides so that we could manage them as a single business.”

KnowFat! executives hired a consultant to canvas the landscape of restaurant and retail systems in search of one that provided high-level performance in both areas. The consultant provided three alternatives. “We performed in depth analysis on the contenders and concluded that XPIENT was the closest to meeting our needs,” Spitz said. “XPIENT agreed to modify IRIS to make it do everything we needed. Over this period, they continually showed their dedication and devotion to making sure that our needs were met completely. They promised us a lot and lived up to their promises. By the time they were done, XPIENT had taken a system that was already the market leader in the quick serve restaurant business and provided integrated capabilities that compare very well with the leading retail systems.” 

The IRIS POS system allows users to create and maintain menus, handles complex discount scenarios, traces cash from point of order to point of deposit, tracks time and attendance, and provides automatic end of day processing. IRIS also tracks KnowFat!’s thousands of retail items and easily generates an accurate inventory that provides the correct running margin at any given point in time. It manages the receiving process, correctly codifies new UPCs, and depletes inventory correctly when an item is scanned and sold. It can easily distinguish between different package types and generate a correct known loss report. “We now believe that we have by far the best integrated solution in the world for handling both restaurant and retail sales,” Spitz concluded. “IRIS software has become an important competitive advantage for our company.”  KnowFat! is also deploying several of XPIENT’s above store modules including Enterprise Data Management which allows the central control of item and price maintenance; eIntelligence, a web-based enterprise reporting system and XPIENT’s Rewards customer loyalty program, branded as “In the Know” for the KnowFat! Lifestyle Grille community. 

About KnowFat! Lifestyle Grille
KnowFat! Lifestyle Grille is more than just a place to get a great-tasting, nutritious meal that fits into a healthy lifestyle. Each KnowFat! combines a quick-serve restaurant with a convenience-style retail store that carries the best health-oriented consumable products available for purchase. KnowFat! offers: 1) A menu where every item has healthy underpinnings and tastes great 2) Nutritional information on the menu and on customer receipts 3) A broad menu that addresses a variety of specific diet plans and lifestyles 4) Cutting edge nutritional products that demonstrate a commitment to knowledge and science 5) Take-out and catering products as a way to eat healthy all day, not just while dining in the restaurant.

About XPIENT Solutions, LLC.
XPIENT Solutions ( www.xpient.com ) is an organization of highly qualified restaurant and software development specialists devoted to business process improvement and professional support services for the foodservice industry. XPIENT offers a full complement of integrated technologies including Point-of-Sale, Back Office and Enterprise Management. From applications that help efficiently take orders and improve kitchen throughput, to labor management, production prep, inventory control, customer loyalty, speed of service, surveillance enhancement and data management tools, XPIENT's solution suite allows the restaurant operator to better and more easily manage every aspect of their restaurant operations.