ATLANTA, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Complementing fresh menu offerings with fast, friendly service, Au Bon Pain recently turned to NCR Corporation to implement a hospitality point-of-service (POS) solution throughout the bakery cafe's 170 U.S. company-owned and franchised locations.

Au Bon Pain invested approximately $4.4 million in the new in-store solution, which is helping the chain better serve customers at the point-of- service.

The industry leader in bakery cafe concepts, Boston-based Au Bon Pain selected the NCR 7454 Hospitality POS System, together with application software from NCR retail solution partner Compris Technologies. The contract includes NCR 7454 touchscreen workstations, personal computers, printers, and other peripherals, as well as services.

To assure that the project was completed on time and with minimal disruption to Au Bon Pain's operations, NCR provided staging services -- which included software loading and system testing -- plus site survey, wiring, installation, and project management services. Deployment was completed in October.

"Building and maintaining an environment which allows us to provide a positive and memorable customer experience is the cornerstone of Au Bon Pain's business. We want every point-of-service transaction to help achieve that goal," said Andy Sonntag, Au Bon Pain's vice president, Information Technology. "NCR has provided an open, robust system that is easy for our associates to learn and to use. In addition, NCR's ability to deploy and service our new solution practically anywhere in the world was a strong factor in our decision."

The NCR 7454 Hospitality POS System was designed by NCR to meet the business needs of quick service and fine dining establishments, combining POS functionality, security and an advanced user interface with the flexibility of full motion video in a small footprint. The NCR 7454 system runs the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) NT 4.0 operating system and supports Windows-based applications.

"Au Bon Pain has built its success on providing superior quality and customer service, and we're pleased to be a part of helping them carry that tradition into the future," said Brian Murphy, NCR's vice president for Hospitality Industry Sales in the Americas. "NCR and Compris designed a solution, including services and software, that clearly addressed Au Bon Pain's business needs for superior ergonomic design, reliability, and the ability to serve customers more efficiently."

About Au Bon Pain

Au Bon Pain offers a variety of fresh baked croissants, breads, muffins, cookies and specialty baked goods, along with sandwiches, soups, salads, and cafe beverages, all served in a comfortable and relaxing cafe setting. From its roots in Boston, Au Bon Pain has grown to become a cornerstone of the urban scene where the world works and plays. There are more than 250 Au Bon Pain bakery cafes operating in key financial cities in the United States, United Kingdom, Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. More information about Au Bon Pain may be found on the World Wide Web at www.aubonpain.com .

About Compris Technologies, Inc.

Compris Technologies, an Atlanta based company founded in 1989, is the market leader in innovative color touchscreen technology for the hospitality industry. Compris combines expertise in software technology with years of restaurant operational experience to offer the highest quality solutions and services for today, and into the future. Compris' product suite, which includes WinPOS point-of-sale, Advanced Manager's Workstation (AMWS),

Multi-Site Maintenance System (MS2) and Executive Information System (EIS), is developed to reduce costs and increase sales. On the support side, Compris surrounds its product line with professional services including Training, Project Management, Implementation, Support Services, 24x7 Help Desk, and Software Maintenance. Compris is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Provider Partner, and has earned three Microsoft Retail Application Developer (RAD) Awards -- in 1996, 1998, and 1999. More information on Compris and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.compristech.com .

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) is in the business of transforming transactions into relationships. NCR is a recognized world leader in data warehousing solutions, ATMs, point-of-sale systems, high performance scanners, and support services for retail, financial, telecommunications, airline and insurance markets. NCR's business solutions are built on the foundation of the company's long-established industry knowledge and consulting expertise, value-adding software, global customer support services, a complete line of consumable and media products, and world-leading hardware technology. More information about NCR and its products may be found on the World Wide Web at www.ncr.com .

NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. All other brand and product names appearing in this document are registered trademarks, trademarks or service marks of their respective holders.

Contact: Robert, Kelly, Kramer of NCR Corporation, 770-623-7215, or [email protected] ; or John Walker of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, 770-431-6227, or [email protected] ; or Andy Sonntag of Au Bon Pain, 617-423-2100, or [email protected] ; or Heather Pitts of Compris Technologies, 770-795-3364, or [email protected]

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Thanks Anna!