Letter to Shareholders

Shareholder Letter 2010

2009 represented one of the most challenging years in the history of MRI and the hospitality industry in general.  All industry segments were impacted by the severity of the economic downturn, which for MRI caused a decline of 8.6% in our comparable same-store sales.

Throughout the year, we made critical decisions to mitigate the challenges posed by the downturn while also identifying the opportunities created by such a difficult economic environment.  We focused on four key strategies:  building stronger relationships with our customer base, streamlining our operating model, conserving capital and thereby enhancing our balance sheet, and creating new value-driven menu options that are competitively priced.  Operational agility and discipline were our themes in 2009 as we took aggressive steps to improve our cost structure and adjust our infrastructure in line with market conditions.  We realized that a paradigm shift was a necessity to realize financial success moving forward.

MRI’s Starship program was implemented in the 4th quarter of 2009; it will be our point of differentiation in a very crowded marketplace.  This initiative will re-focus and re-energize our employees behind delivering a fun, engaging and satisfying experience to our customers.  It will focus managers and servers on selling items with higher margins, high-value specials, appetizers, alcohol and desserts.  It will ensure that all of our restaurants are operationally excellent; feature seamless service, impeccable food and clean, well-maintained restaurants which will result in a memorable experience for our guests.  MRI is steadfast on executing this program because of our highly talented, passionate team and values-driven culture.

Going into 2010, the hospitality industry seems to be stabilizing, and MRI is well positioned to emerge from the downturn, remaining ready to pursue revenue and market share growth.  I am confident that we will see the benefits of our decisions made and actions taken this past year and the additional changes we will implement in 2010.  We will continue our diligent approach to managing and aligning our strategic, financial and operational fundamentals so that we can continue to evolve and to deliver value to you, our shareholders.

Thank you for your continued support.

Curt Glowacki
President and Chief Executive Officer