Ryan's®, HomeTown® Buffet And Old Country Buffet® Partner With Cool Cat Garfield For Purr-fect Family Night Promotion This September

GREER, S.C., Aug. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- America's favorite food-loving cat, Garfield, will be pawing around your local Ryan's^®, HomeTown^® Buffet, or Old Country Buffet^® during mealtime this September. The brands are partnering with Paws, Inc. to bring Garfield into their 333 steak-buffet restaurants. The iconic feline will be the featured Family Night promotional element through in-restaurant, web and social media activities.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130829/FL71521 )

Every Thursday from 5 to 8 PM in September, kids will receive one of three different Garfield masks along with trivia about the famous kitty and his friends, access to an interactive Garfield app, and a coupon towards a Garfield recipe book for parents. Adults can also download a free Garfield ringtone and kids can enjoy additional Garfield activities online.

"Like our restaurants, Garfield is a family favorite, well-loved by all generations," says Alice Crowder, Vice President of Marketing for Buffets, Inc. "Garfield's engaging character gives parents and children something to connect with over a great meal. It's no secret that Garfield loves food. In fact, according to him, the best things in life are edible. So being a part of our Family Night was a natural fit for our favorite cat."

The promotion begins on September 5, 2013 and ends on October 3, 2013. For more information about the Garfield and Family Night promotion, visit www.Ryans.com, www.HomeTownBuffet.com, and www.OldCountryBuffet.com.

About Buffets, Inc.
Buffets, Inc., one of the nation's largest steak-buffet restaurant companies, currently operates 343 restaurants in 35 states, comprised of 333 steak-buffet restaurants and 10 Tahoe Joe's Famous Steakhouse restaurants.  The restaurants are principally operated under the Old Country Buffet^®, HomeTown^® Buffet and Ryan's^® brands. Buffets employs approximately 18,000 team members and serves approximately 100 million customers annually.  For more information, visit www.Buffet.com.

About GARFIELD
GARFIELD was born on the comics pages on June 19, 1978.  The creation of cartoonist Jim Davis, GARFIELD is a humorous strip centered on the lives of a quick-witted orange cat who loves lasagna, coffee, and his remote control; Jon Arbuckle, his owner; and Odie, a sweet but dumb dog. GARFIELD was introduced to the world in just 41 newspapers and is now the most widely syndicated comic strip ever, appearing in 2100 newspapers.  The strip, distributed by Universal Press, is read by over 220 million people each day and is translated into 42 languages.

The success of the comic strip spawned an entertainment empire including television: Garfield and Friends, The Garfield Show, and a dozen primetime specials; movies: Garfield: The Movie and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties; hundreds of best-selling books, and thousands of licensed products.

Garfield has long been considered an evergreen property because he has not only endured, but continues to be fresh and funny after 35 years in the limelight.

Follow Garfield, along with over 10 million other fans, on Facebook (facebook.com/Garfield) and Twitter (twitter.com/Garfield), and visit garfield.com, and Garfield's free educational site, professorgarfield.org.

About Paws, Inc.
Cartoonist Jim Davis' company, Paws, Inc., located near Albany, Indiana, was founded in 1981 to handle the creative end of the Garfield licensing business.  Today, Paws is the sole owner of all copyrights and trademarks for the Garfield property, and controls not only the creative angle of the fat cat's flourishing empire, but also the licensing, marketing, and brand management of Garfield and the Garfield characters.

SOURCE Buffets, Inc.