WARWICK, R.I., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Uno Chicago Grill® will celebrate the grand re-opening of its Warwick Commons location on Wednesday, August 11, after historic floods devastated the area this past March. To show its support for this hard-hit community, UNO will offer a 10 percent discount on all entrees for the first month, now through September 12.

"With more than 10,000 homes in Rhode Island suffering damage, 240 companies closing, and almost 4,900 people losing their jobs, the magnitude of this flood is just horrific. Many businesses in the area are still closed. We feel fortunate that we are able to open at this time, and we want to do a little something extra to show support for the community that has supported us for the past twenty-four years," said UNO President and CEO Frank Guidara.

UNO is among the first retail locations to re-emerge after driving rains and overflowing rivers caused it to shut down. "The damage was extreme," said Duncan Chan, managing partner, UNO and resident of Cranston. "We had to gut the restaurant down to the studs and rebuild, but we're coming back better, and greener, than ever!"

The result is a brand-new UNO that is the first location to incorporate the latest elements of the brand's new "way deeper" look and feel. Among the changes will be a completely redesigned space with a Wood Stone(TM) oven, featuring a terracotta brick interior, that will bake UNO's thin-crust pizzas made with an all-natural, hand-formed crust available in a choice of traditional or five grain.

Guests will also be able to enjoy a spacious new lounge area featuring a huge Matrix flat screen TV, which is perfect for game nights (as well as any other night!). Food lovers will truly enjoy the new open-view kitchen that lets diners watch the chefs prepare UNO's signature deep dish pizzas, along with a variety of exciting new dishes.

The lounge and dining room each have a "networking nook," which is an intimate dining space with a private television. Guests can watch the game or whatever they might enjoy on the television, or can plug a laptop directly into it via a USB port for business presentations or slide shows of the latest family vacation. In addition, the restaurant will provide wireless Internet for guest use.

The new UNO is also the company's "greenest" restaurant yet. In addition to using low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint, the new restaurant features compact fluorescent and LED lighting which is significantly more energy efficient. The building now has an on-demand water heating system (which is 90 percent more efficient than a tank-based system), hands-free restrooms, dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals, which are estimated to save 40,000 gallons of water per year.

Materials used include recycled and refurbished wood tables and recycled flooring materials. The new bar is made from American-grown mahogany, and the new pizza ovens run on 30 percent less gas; all resulting in a lower carbon footprint for the restaurant.

The new look and menu items are among a series of changes UNO is incorporating as part of an overall strategy to evolve as the world evolves.

"Our brand has a strong presence in New England, and we felt it was particularly important to maintain and enhance our location in Warwick," said Guidara. "Rebuilding this restaurant and being among the first to recreate jobs, 112 to be exact, in this hard-hit area is very important to us. It illustrates UNO's commitment to the local community, as well as our desire to work side-by-side with our neighbors to rebuild and set a path for future growth and development."

About UNO

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation includes 161 company-owned and franchised restaurants located in 24 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Honduras, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The Company also operates a fast casual concept called Uno Due Go, a quick service concept called Uno Express and a consumer packaged foods business which supplies airlines, movie theatres, hotels, airports, travel plazas, schools and supermarkets with both frozen and refrigerated private-label foods and Uno branded products. For more information, visit www.unos.com.

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    Contact: Elliott Subervi
    Utopia Communications for UNO
    (732) 542-9100, ext. 111
    elliott@utopiacommunications.biz

SOURCE Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation