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Seattle's Best Coffee Signs Agreement with Safeway to Offer Fair Trade Certified Organic Coffee

(Seattle, Wash.) - Seattle's Best Coffee¨, a subsidiary of AFC Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFCE) signed an agreement with Safeway Inc., (NYSE: SWY) to sell the entire Seattle's Best Coffee line of organic coffee in about 1,400 stores across the country.

"The grocery market is a high growth segment for Seattle's Best Coffee," says Steve Schickler, president of Seattle Coffee Company, parent company of Seattle's Best Coffee. "This is a tremendous opportunity to continue our growth and make our brand much more accessible to a broader market."

The agreement will result in the largest distribution of Fair Trade Certified organically grown coffee products in North American grocery stores to date. Seattle's Best Coffee Fair Trade Certified Organic French Roast is harvested in the highlands of Southern Peru. The coffee is grown by a collection of small farms, which produce a rich, smooth, flavorful coffee. These farms produce coffee under canopies of various indigenous trees. This habitat is beneficial to the numerous migratory bird species, which live in the area.

The organic food industry accounts for $7.7 billion in revenue each year in the U.S. and has grown at an average annual rate of 20 percent over the last 10 years. The Seattle's Best Coffee organic line will be offered in Safeway stores located across the U.S., including Vons stores in Southern California and Nevada, Chicago-based Dominick's stores, Randalls and Tom Thumb stores in Texas, as well as Carr's stores in Alaska. The line will include six Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) certified organic blends, Sumatra, Tierra Verde, Blue Water, Breakfast, Twilight Decaf, and "the Transfair Fair Trade Certified Organic French Roast".

"We are very proud to be able to partner with Safeway in bringing our quality coffee to Safeway customers while practicing equitable economics," says Schickler.

Seattle's Best Coffee's organic line was introduced into Seattle's Best Coffee cafŽs several years ago with immediate consumer acceptance and remarkable growth. SBC's certified organic coffee is 100 percent high-altitude, shade-grown and free of pesticides and herbicides. "Seattle's Best Coffee is deeply committed to working responsibly with people in coffee growing regions and the environmental benefits of shade-grown coffee are also just as important to us," Schickler says. "Seattle's Best Coffee's customers will benefit by tasting the exceptional flavor of shade grown organic coffee while contributing to a better environment."

TransFair USA, a non-profit monitoring agency, is the only organization providing independent, third-party certification of Fair Trade Certified products in the U.S. TransFair promotes mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and coffee companies, and educates consumers about international trade and economic development. Fair trade offers farmers fair prices, direct trade, and access to credit. Through fair trade, small family farmers are able to provide basic healthcare and improved nutrition for their families, keep their children in school, re-invest in their farms and communities, and practice environmentally responsible farming methods.

Seattle Coffee Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based AFC Enterprises, Inc. franchises and operates 128 Seattle's Best Coffee¨ cafŽs and 19 Torrefazione Italia¨ cafŽs in eight countries worldwide. The company has more than 6,700 wholesale customers, including restaurants, food service, airlines, and hotels.

AFC Enterprises operates, develops and franchises quick service restaurants, bakeries and cafes primarily under the trade names Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, Church's Chicken, Cinnabon¨, Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia¨. As of December 31, 2000, AFC Enterprises operated and franchised 3,618 restaurants, bakeries and cafes in 46 states, the District of Columbia and 27 foreign countries. AFC Enterprises system-wide sales in 2000 totaled approximately $2.4 billion.

Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 50 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America based on sales. The company operates 1,754 stores in the United States and Canada and had annual sales of $32.0 billion in 2000. The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.

Forward-Looking Statement. Certain statements in this release, and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of AFC or its brands, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements regarding future events and developments and our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, plans, estimates or projections relating to the future, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of these laws. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are the cost and availability of our principal food products, labor shortages or increased labor costs, our ability to franchise new units and expand our brands, our and our franchisees' ability to successfully operate existing units and open new units, changes in consumer preferences and demographic trends, competition, general economic, political and regulatory conditions and the risk factors detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and the other documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, since those statements speak only as of the date they are made.