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EXHIBIT (a)(9)
JACKSONVILLE RESTAURANT ACQUISITION CORP. COMPLETES
TENDER OFFER FOR COMMON STOCK OF CUCOS INC. AND CUCOS INC. NAMES NEW CHAIRMAN
AND TWO NEW DIRECTORS
NEW ORLEANS, Wednesday, August 30, 2000 -- Jacksonville Restaurant
Acquisition Corp. today announced that it has accepted for payment 1,200,000
shares of common stock of Cucos Inc. in connection with its cash tender offer
for up to 1,200,000 shares at $1 per share. The tender offer expired at 5:00
p.m., Eastern Time, on Friday, August 18, 2000. The shares accepted for payment
represent approximately 45% of the outstanding shares of Cucos common stock.
Jacksonville Restaurant Acquisition Corp. has been advised by Hibernia
National Bank, the Depositary for the tender offer, that approximately 1,434,531
shares of Cucos common stock were tendered and not withdrawn in the offer. The
shares accepted for purchase represent 83.65% of the total number of shares
tendered. The number of shares accepted for payment from each tendering
shareholder was calculated a pro rata basis (disregarding fractions) according
to the number of shares tendered by each tendering shareholder.
Cucos announced that James W. Osborn has been named as Chairman of the
Board of Directors of Cucos, and that Dennis A. Grinn and William F. Saculla
have been named as members of the Board of Directors to fill the vacancies
created by the resignations of former Board members, Frank J. Ferrara, Jr. and
Joseph S. Feth.
CUCOS (OTC: CUCO.OB) is a full-service Mexican restaurant chain consisting
of twelve company-owned restaurants and five franchise restaurants located
primarily in the Southeastern United States. Cucos restaurants were voted "Best
Margarita" by New Orleans Magazine for the eight consecutive year, and also
voted "Best Mexican Restaurant".
Statements herein may include forward-looking statements about Cucos'
current and future business operations and other matters. Forward-looking
statements often include the words "believes," "expects," "plans,"
"anticipates," "intends," "projects" or similar words. These statements speak
only as of the date made, are not guarantees of future performance and involve
known and unknown risks and other factors that could cause actual results to be
materially different from any future results expressed or implied by them. Some
of these factors, many of which are outside of the control of Cucos and its
management, include changing economic or competitive conditions, the negotiation
of agreements with third parties, advertising effectiveness and the ability to
achieve cost reductions. One should not rely too heavily on any forward-looking
statement. For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements
and factors, see Cucos' filings with the SEC.
CONTACT:
Cucos Inc.
James W. Osborn
(504) 835-0306
