MARY ROSZEL, BIGGBY COFFEE CO-FOUNDER, TO RETIRE

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MARY ROSZEL, BIGGBY COFFEE CO-FOUNDER, TO RETIRE

Industry entrepreneur retires from East Lansing-based gourmet coffee company

EAST LANSING, MI, Aug. 31, 2012 – More than17 years after co-founding BIGGBY COFFEE, Mary Roszel, the company’s vice president, is announcing her retirement.

Mary helped to conceive the brand and open the first store in1995.  Since then she has put forth an enormous amount of time and dedication, passion, and hard work, as her dream of owning her own coffee shop has become what today is the fastest growing coffee chain in the U.S. The company now has 156 stores.

“Words cannot express the gratitude that I, along with the rest of the company, hold for Mary,” Bob Fish, Company CEO and co-founder said. “She has spent countless hours getting us where we are today, and is one of the most driven and talented people I have ever had the pleasure to work with. We will definitely miss her around the office, but know we will continue to make her proud of the company that she helped to create.”

Originally from Ann Arbor, Mary came to the Lansing area to earn a paralegal degree from Lansing Community College. She worked for the Michigan Supreme Court for more than 13 years and, after raising her two children, went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in hospitality business from Michigan State University.  After Bob and Mary met in the restaurant business, they founded BIGGBY COFFEE, based on the simple ideals of being happy, having fun, making friends, loving people, and drinking great coffee.

“It took a lot of hard work, energy, and faith to accomplish what we have, but we stuck to what we set out to do, and the rest is history,” Mary said. “If you visited our first store in East Lansing in the early days, Bob and I probably made your drinks and chatted with you from behind the counter.  I’m very grateful for the success we had, and I sincerely thank our store owners, employees, and loyal customers.”

About BIGGBY COFFEE®
East Lansing, Mich.-based BIGGBY® COFFEE opened a single store in March of 1995 based on the founding principle that coffee-lovers and the coffee-curious alike would benefit from a less pretentious approach to the standard gourmet café paradigm. BIGGBY COFFEE introduced connoisseur-worthy drinks with pronounceable names like Teddy Bear and Caramel Marvel, and barista staff surprised guests with simple gestures like free kazoos and bouncy balls for no other reason than to brighten their day. The “Big ‘B’” on the orange background caught on, and today BIGGBY COFFEE has 157 cafes open or under contract across eight states including:  Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Florida, and Texas.  For more information, visit www.biggby.com.

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