Sbarro Enters Brazil Market With Plans To Open 1,000 Restaurants

Inks Partnership with GPS Group to Launch Aggressive Growth Strategy

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Apr 15, 2010, 08:30 ET

MELVILLE, N.Y., April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Sbarro (www.sbarro.com), the world's leading quick service Italian restaurant concept, today announced its entry into the Brazil marketplace through a partnership agreement with GPS Group. The agreement calls for the opening of more than 1,000 restaurants throughout Brazil over a twenty year period. Sbarro's first-ever Brazil location is slated to open in Rio de Janeiro during the second half of 2010.

"We could not ask for a better partner than the team at GPS Group. Their expert knowledge of the Brazilian marketplace is the perfect complement to our proven franchise formula," said Peter Beaudrault, president and CEO of Sbarro. "This is an exciting period of international growth for Sbarro and we are now proud to serve guests across 42 countries."

The announcement of Sbarro's partnership with GPS Group comes on the heels of a separate international agreement with JCI Inc. that will see the opening of 1,250 Sbarro restaurants throughout Japan.

"Sbarro is a great brand and restaurant industry icon. It's a proven concept that has flourished throughout the world and there's no team more experienced or successful than Sbarro's international franchise experts. We have no doubt that the fresh, quality food and high standard of service that is synonymous with Sbarro will be a tremendous success across Brazil," said Jair M. Duartes, President and Partner of GPS Group.

About Sbarro

Based in Melville, New York, we are the world's leading Italian quick service restaurant concept and the largest shopping mall-focused restaurant concept in the world with more than 1,000 restaurants across 42 countries. Sbarro restaurants feature a menu of popular Italian food, including pizza, a selection of pasta dishes and other hot and cold Italian entrees, salads, sandwiches, drinks and desserts. Additional information is available at http://www.sbarro.com/.

SOURCE Sbarro