Cafe Rio Mexican Grill Takes Home 'Oscar Gold' Equivalent for the Second Year in a Row

SALT LAKE CITY, March 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Academy Awards announced Sunday the winners of the revered gold trophy. The restaurant industry also staged their top awards, and Cafe Rio Mexican Grill just took home their equivalent of an Oscar! Cafe Rio was recently awarded the Sandelman & Associates' 2011 Quick-Track Awards of Excellence, for the second straight year, edging out some of the nation's strongest competition including Chipotle, In-N-Out Burger, Chic-fil-A and Pei Wei. The Quick-Track Award is an honor limited to the very best restaurant performers in the nation. This highly respected award is based solely on customer reviews and dining experience. Categories include, taste of food, overall service, speed of service and value.

"This is a huge honor, and we couldn't have done it without our amazing employees," says President and CFO, Bob Baker. "Cafe Rio Mexican Grill could not be more honored by this award and the people we would like to thank first and foremost are our customers. Winning this award two times in a row feels fantastic!"

Don Miguel Julio Juarez III, Cafe Rio's Fresh Food Ambassador (see picture below), comments, "We'd like to thank the Sandelman & Associates decision maker people, our employees, and our Superfan amigos, because without you, none of this would be possible. We share this award with everyone that loves fresh, never frozen, food from scratch! Long Live the Mexican Food Revolution! I'd also like to mention how incredible my shoulders are going to look hoisting all of these awards, so thank you for that too! Call me Men's Fitness (wink)."

Photo: http://www.ereleases.com/pic/2012-Don-Miguel.pdf

Cafe Rio Mexican Grill, Inc.:

The Utah-based restaurants opened in 1997 and quickly became renowned for their made-from-scratch, flavorful meals with fresh, never-frozen, ingredients. With recent openings in Wyoming, Montana and Washington DC, Cafe Rio is looking forward to the future and continued growth. Cafe Rio will be opening multiple restaurants in 2012 and is looking forward to bringing their award winning food to new markets in Virginia and Maryland. The company currently operates 48 restaurants in 10 states.

Cafe Rio Mexican Grill, Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the leading quick-casual restaurant specializing in made from scratch Mexican cuisine. Cafe Rio takes enormous pride in serving customers the highest-quality meals with the freshest ingredients both through their restaurant locations and catering business. Visit Cafe Rio http://www.caferio.com for more information.

Sandelman & Associates Foodservice Consumer Research Firm:

Sandelman & Associates is a market research and consulting firm that was established in 1988 to provide foodservice companies with the consumer information they need to direct their marketing and operations efforts. For 20 years Sandelman & Associates has produced insightful attitude, awareness and usage studies for the quick-service and casual dining restaurant industries. Their syndicated tracking studies provide fast-food and casual dining marketers with consumer insights. The Quick-Track and Casual-Track are syndicated research programs that monitor awareness, usage and attitudes toward fast-food and casual dining chain restaurants. All studies are conducted and reported in individual major markets, because each market has its own competitive set. Their studies are conducted with over 100,000 U.S. consumers per year and have been conducted in more than 100 individual markets.

For royalty free stock photography as well as video footage of Cafe Rio visit:

http://www.caferio.com/press  

Password: C@FERIO

If you would like more information on this topic or to schedule an interview or appearance with a Cafe Rio executive, please contact, Cafe Rio Mexican Grill Media Representative Jennifer Burns: 801-358-1858 or [email protected]

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Cafe Rio Mexican Grill, Inc.