Mrs. Fields Moves Forward With Aggressive Expansion

A week after new CEO Mrs. Fields Famous Brands Timothy Casey said he was ready to lead the company's Mrs. Fields Cookies and TCBY in their growth plans, the company has signed its first area development agreement.

CT Business Group has purchased the right to franchise Mrs. Fields and TCBY stores in Honolulu and Washington State. The agreement includes all markets in each state as well as an international master franchise agreement in South Korea.

The agreement stipulates that over the next five years CT Business Group will open 30 new Mrs. Fields or TCBY stores in Hawaii and Washington state as well as 30 new stores in South Korea. The stores will be owned and operated by CT Business Group as well as sub franchised.

"We are thrilled to be working with CT Business Group and look forward to the local business they will bring each new area," said Rob Streett, senior vice president of strategic development for Mrs. Fields Famous Brands. "Mrs. Fields is aggressively expanding our operation both domestically and abroad, and we continue to have discussions with qualified and passionate area developers throughout the United States." The deal with CT Business Group is the first area development agreement for Mrs. Fields, but the company states that executives are currently in discussions with several other potential developers. The company is dedicated to finding and partnering with firms that have the infrastructure to support operational excellence and the ability to develop the brand in a market.

Mrs. Fields announced in September 2009 the launch of aggressive expansion plans for both brands domestically and abroad. Over the past year, Mrs. Fields has increased its footprint both domestically and around the globe through non-traditional development as well as an increased effort behind international growth.

The expansion plan for TCBY coincides with the growing popularity of yogurt among children ages 2 to 17. According to The NPD Group's Snack Trend report, kids ages 2 to 17 ate more refrigerated yogurt as a snack-oriented food in 2009 than they did in 2008. Other trending snack food options among children include potato chips, fresh fruit, string cheese and prepackaged cheese cubes or shapes, hard candy, ice/fudge or cream pops, chewy candy, corn chips, donuts, and snack pies and pastries.

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