America's favorite fast-casual Italian chain to provide FREE kids' meals with purchase of an adult entrée at participating locations

LEXINGTON, Ky. - (October 1, 2015) - Noodles have been a food staple around the world for thousands of years, coming in an assortment of colors, shapes and sizes. Fazoli's, America's favorite fast-casual Italian restaurant chain, is celebrating National Noodle Day on Tuesday, October 6, with a special Kid's Night Spaghetti Smarts activity and social media contest.

There are approximately 350 different kinds of noodles; penne, fettucine, and rigatoni?just to name a few! On National Noodle Day, Fazoli's will celebrate them all. This year, Fazoli's will ask kids: "Do You Know Your Noodle?" with an exciting and educational Kids Night worksheet. All activity sheets will include a FREE Kids Meal with the purchase of an adult entrée to use at a future visit to Fazoli's.

"Here at Fazoli's, we live, breathe and eat everything noodle," said Jon Quinn, vice president of marketing at Fazoli's. "We're excited to provide families with a place to dine on National Noodle Day, where kids can have fun and parents can relax without having to worry about paying a fortune for dinner."

During the celebration on Oct. 6, parents will be encouraged to share a photo of their child through social media wearing their "I Know My Noodle" sticker, using the hashtag #NationalNoodleDay and tagging Fazoli's on Twitter (@Fazolis) or Instagram (@FazolisItalian) for the chance to win a $25 Fazoli's gift card.

Fazoli's is proud to offer a wide variety quality noodles to consumers across the country. To learn more about the savory dishes available Monday-Sunday at Fazoli's, visit www.fazolis.com.

About Fazoli's

With approximately 220 restaurants, Fazoli's is America's largest Italian fast-casual chain, serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos® sandwiches, salads and pizza. One of the New York Post's five breakout fast-casual restaurants and a FastCasual.com Brand of the Year, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing record sales growth. Visit www.ownafazolis.com for details on development opportunities, including new operator incentives.

Heart of America Group is pleased to announce the opening of the Figge Café, a casual lunch café which is located within the Figge Art Museum at 225 W 2nd St, Davenport, IA 52801. Lunch will be served every weekday the museum is open, Tuesday through Friday from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM. 

If the museum is closed during the week for a holiday, the Café will also be closed.

Chef Steve Hall will provide a new menu each week as he sources both fresh and local food options to feature, when possible. The menu will include a selection of soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts as well as Cappuccino and Espresso.  

Heart of America has been a catering partner for the Figge since 2010. The Café will add an additional attraction to the museum and as well as provide additional lunch options to the entire downtown area.

The Quad Cities based Heart of America Group owns and operates 20 restaurants in six states including The Machine Shed, Thunder Bay Grille and The J Bar in Davenport, Johnny's Italian Steakhouse in Moline and Gramma's Kitchen/Checkered Flag near Walcott.

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One of the Quad Cities' favorite restaurants will host an event celebrating its customers and its last weekend operating at the downtown Bettendorf location.

Ross' Restaurant will host a customer appreciation event this Saturday, September 19th from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the downtown location (430 14th Street in Bettendorf). Activities will include a live band from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with some classic music from times gone by, followed by a local DJ spinning tunes from all of the decades Ross' has been in business. Children can enjoy a bounce house, and Ross' will be bringing back our Chili eating contest from 1980 with hopes of crowning a new champion. Ross' is rolling back the clock on menu pricing on one of its signature sandwiches and will be serving Rossburgers for $.50, and a Rossburger, fries and a pop for $1.00.

The announcement was made today by Melissa Freidhof-Rodgers, manager and granddaughter of founder Harold Ross. "We are so excited about our new restaurant and can't wait to share it with our community. We wanted to have this last weekend be a celebration of our beloved customers, many who have been coming in for our 75-plus years of operation. Ross' wouldn't be here if it weren't for all of them, and we would like to thank our customers for their support. On the toughest days, they are what got us through; their smiles, hugs and words of encouragement were so appreciated.

For the past three years, kids have eaten healthier breakfasts, lunches and snacks at school thanks to the bipartisan Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which made the first meaningful improvements to the nutrition of foods and beverages served in cafeterias and sold in vending machines in 30 years. Thanks to the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act and other strategies, the national obesity trend is slowly reversing, and our children have more energy to learn and grow, greater opportunity to thrive, and better overall health.

As Congress turns its attention to reauthorizing the Act this year, it is important to remember that our children are battling a national obesity epidemic that costs $190.2 billion per year to treat and, according to retired U.S. generals, threatens our national security by making almost one in three young adults unfit to serve in our nation's military. If we don't continue to invest in our children's health, this generation will be the first to live shorter lives than their parents.

The Act has undoubtedly improved the quality of school meals as well as the health and wellbeing of our children and for those reasons is supported by parents, teachers, doctors and kids themselves. USDA continues to work with schools, listen carefully, and provide time, flexibility, guidance, and resources to help them serve the healthier meals. Now is not the time to backpedal on a healthier future for our kids?that is why Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is encouraging Congress to act quickly to reauthorize a strong Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and support the ongoing success of the healthier meals.

• Kids are eating more healthy food and throwing less food away. Plate waste is not increasing. A study released in March 2015 by the University of Connecticut's Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity shows that students are eating more nutritious foods and discarding less of their lunches under the healthier standards. Kids ate 13 percent more of their entrees and nearly 20 percent more of their vegetables in 2014 than in 2012, which means that less food is ending up in the trash today than before the national standards were updated.

• Americans agree that healthier meals are the right thing for our kids. A poll released in mid-August by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation shows that 9 out of 10 Americans support national nutrition standards for school meals. Nearly 70% believe school meals are excellent or good, compared to just 26% in 2010, before the healthier school meals were implemented in schools.

• Students like the taste of the healthier school meals. A 2015 study from the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health found that nearly 90 percent of surveyed students liked at least some school meal options. And according to an August 2014 survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 70 percent of elementary school leaders nationwide reported that students liked the new lunches.

• Kids are eating more fruits and vegetables as a result of updated standards. A May 2014 Harvard School of Public Health study shows that, under the updated standards, kids are now eating 16 percent more vegetables and 23 percent more fruit at lunch.

• Parents support the healthier school meals. A September 2014 poll released by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association shows that 72 percent of parents favor strong nutrition standards for school meals and 91 percent support serving fruits or vegetables with every meal.

• Support for healthier school meals is bipartisan. A September 2014 poll released by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association found that 87 percent of Democrats, 70 percent of independents and more than half of registered voters with kids in public schools surveyed were supportive of the new meals.

• Over 95 percent of schools report that they are successfully meeting the updated nutrition standards. Students across the country are experiencing a healthier school environment with more nutritious options. The new meals are providing children more whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean protein and low-fat dairy, as well as less sugar, fat, and sodium.

• USDA continues to work with schools as they implement the new standards. USDA recently launched an initiative called Team Up for School Nutrition Success that allows the schools who still face challenges to pair up and learn best practices from schools that are already successfully serving healthier meals. The program has provided training for more than 3,500 individuals and has been enthusiastically received by schools and school officials.

• School lunch revenue is up. Despite concerns raised about the impact of new standards on participation and costs, a USDA analysis suggests that last year, schools saw a net nationwide increase in revenue from school lunches of approximately $450 million. This includes the annual reimbursement rate adjustments, as well as increased revenue from paid meals and the additional 6 cents per meal for schools meeting the new meal standards.
• Participation is increasing substantially in many areas of the country. Total breakfast participation increased by 380,000 students from FY2013 to FY2014 and has increased by more than 3 million students since 2008. USDA has also received reports from many schools indicating a positive response to healthier offerings and increased participation.
  
  The Community Eligibility Provision under the HHFKA has been successfully implemented in over 14,000 schools. As a result, schools in low-income areas are now able to offer free, nutritious school meals to more than 6.8 million kids. Schools participating in CEP report increased revenue, decreased administrative costs, reduced program errors, and substantially higher program participation - on average, a 9 percent increase in school breakfast participation and 5 percent increase in school lunch.
  
  As more kids and schools continue to successfully make the transition to the new standards, USDA expects participation to keep growing.
• Virtually all schools continue to participate. Data from states indicated very few schools (only 0.51 percent of schools nationwide) reported dropping out of the programs due to struggles over providing kids healthy food. State agencies reported that the schools no longer participating in the NSLP were mainly residential child care institutions and smaller schools with very low percentages of children eligible for free and reduced price meals.
• USDA has and will continue to listen to stakeholders and provide guidance and flexibilities, as appropriate, to help schools and students adapt to the updated requirements. Early in the implementation process for school meals, when schools asked for flexibility to serve larger servings of grains and proteins within the overall calorie caps, USDA responded. In January of 2014, that flexibility was made permanent. USDA is also phasing other requirements in over the next several years. And hearing schools concerns on the lack of availability of whole grain products, USDA is allowing schools that have demonstrated difficulty in obtaining adequate whole grain items to submit a request to the States to use some traditional products for an additional two years while industry works to create better whole grain products.