BURLINGTON, MA, July 17, 2001—Cognos^® (Nasdaq:COGN; TSE:CSN), the leading provider of business intelligence solutions, today announced restaurant chain Red Robin International uses Cognos to perform enterprise reporting and analysis for the chain's 170 outlets. The result is an annual seven-figure savings in operational costs.

"Cognos has given us the ability to take control of our information assets to make strategic decisions that have a real impact on our business," said Rob Jakoby, director of restaurant systems for Red Robin International. "Cognos allows us to answer our most important questions with up-to-the-minute information."

Cognos reporting and analysis enables Red Robin to measure the impact of its marketing promotions and menu changes. With Cognos Impromptu^® and PowerPlay Web^®, Red Robin can analyze purchases from its major suppliers to negotiate better pricing, track discrepancies on contracted prices - analysis that has resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in yearly savings for each Red Robin restaurant.

Red Robin leverages Cognos business intelligence in the analysis of its daily and weekly sales mix, weekly un-audited restaurant-level sales data, J.D. Edwards period-level corporate actuals, SYSCO data, restaurant-level profit, and loss and budgetary data. Using Cognos, Red Robin can "slice and dice" its sales information by state, region or restaurant. The company is also able to view profit data by year, quarter, period, week or day and then compare the information from same-store restaurant sales versus new restaurants.

Red Robin also uses Cognos to analyze the effects of a technique called "menu engineering." Simply by changing the placement of a food item on a menu - either at the top or bottom of a menu column - the restaurant can change the way food items sell. For example, by placing a food item at the top of a column, making it more prominent to the consumer, the restaurant can drive increased sales.

"Given today's economic uncertainty, companies like Red Robin are realizing the enormous benefits of identifying areas of cost savings," said Alan Rottenberg, senior vice president, E-Applications Business Unit at Cognos. "Cognos provides our customers with the ability to view the entire organization and understand what areas should be given attention."

Red Robin International
Red Robin International and its 20 franchisees operate 170 restaurants in 23 states and two Canadian provinces. Red Robin restaurants specialize in innovative gourmet burgers, bottomless steak fries, specialty entrees, Mad Mixology^TM beverages and unbridled service in an energetic and youthful atmosphere. The company promotes a values-based culture where team members are encouraged to practice honor and integrity, continually seek knowledge and have fun. Visit www.redrobin.com for additional information.