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Non-Tech : RAINFOREST CAFE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dylan who wrote (3970)	2/4/1998 6:56:00 PM
From: Dennis Vail	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4704

All, Just got done listening to the conference call. Very thorough with the grilling in Q&A. Overall very positive but with a few question marks. I have 5 pages of notes I won't bore you with in their entirety but here's some of the bigger nuggets. Big positive: Same store sales in January for stores open 18 months or longer. Counting Disney (which I don't) +4%. Yes, we go from -11% in the 4Q to +4 in January. Store by store: Disney +11% (hard to believe it keeps trending up each quarter in double digits!!!!) MOA -3% Woodfield -11% Gurnee -2% The key here is that collectively MOA, Woodfield, and Gurnee hav gone from being -11% in the 4Q to under -6% in January. Again I think these numbers suggest the Woodfield revenues drawn by the excitement of the River North opening are beginning to level out. I think we see them hold at about -5%. No big deal IMHO Next, (surprise!! surprise!!) the search for the COO/Pres should be resolved in the first half of 1998. OK, if you say so Ken. Deja Vu all over again.A negative in my book. Stock buyback: Since the 1/7 crash RAIN has bought back 730,000 common shares and 545,000 more shares in puts. RAIN now is holding 1.4 million shares in puts sales. The company has $110 millionin cash and investments. Between $ 80 and $90 million in capital expenditures are planned for 1998. Openings: March 19 Palisades Soft March opening Official April opening Animal Kingdom Next Ontario Mills (no exact date) Cherry Creek 3Q Burlington Early to Mid 4Q Seattle Mid to Late 4Q Great Lakes Mid to Late 4Q One or two 'smaller' MOA sized units are being considered for 1998 as well. Five international units staring with Vancover in July and one other in the third quarter followed by three in the fourth. Lots of talk about plans to increase revenues and cut costs in 1998 that I'lll talk avbout in my next post. Gotta run, folks!! Regards, Dennis