A Greener Tomorrow Starts Today.

New Eco-Friendly Restaurants

Rubio's is designing new restaurants with many eco-friendly elements in place:

• Energy efficient LED lights and "smart" lighting management systems
• Reduced waste and recycling of building materials as well as re-using existing building materials (including HVAC, plumbing and electrical)
• Energy Star refrigeration which reduces use of refrigerant
• Tankless water heaters
• Sustainable and recycled materials for panels, countertops, tables and railings, palapa thatch made from discarded palm fronds, LOW VOC paints and CARB compliant millwork.
• Low flow toilets and waterless urinals

Recycling for a greener tomorrow

For all of Rubio's restaurants, our priority is to implement recycling everywhere where the recycling infrastructure and service exists. This involves negotiating with commercial landlords and municipalities to provide the services and space. Our progress so far includes:

• Plastic and glass recycling in 25% of restaurants by end of Q2 2010 with the goal to be recycling everywhere where we control waste management or where recycling infrastructure exists by 2011
• Recycling or rendering of fryer grease

Environmentally-Friendly Packaging and Printing:

With an eye towards a greener tomorrow, we plan to eliminate Styrofoam packaging and implement eco-friendly packaging. In several of our restaurants, we are currently testing eco-friendly take-out packaging, with the goal of a 2011 system-wide introduction. In addition, we are exploring compostable plates and take-out bags. In the mean time, it is our hope that our guests will act responsibly and recycle plastic bags rather than dispose of them in the trash. Some of the changes we have already made to improve packaging and printing include:

• Reusable Rubio's a-Go-Go^® Catering bags
• Conversion to Bottle Box™ salad bowls in May 2010. These bowls are made entirely from recycled plastic bottles and are 100% recyclable.
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)-certified paper cups
• Conversion to bio-plastic (compostable) beer cups
• Compostable bleach-free napkins
• Paper menus made from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper and 10% recycled materials

The New Bottle Box™

Known for sustainability, accessibility and beauty, we are excited to announce the introduction of Rubio's Bottle Box salad bowl, a special salad bowl made from recycled plastic bottles to be used with all Rubio's salads. An environmentally conscious solution to sustainable packaging, our 100% recycled and 100% recyclable Bottle Box helps keep used bottles out of the oceans and landfills. The Bottle Box is made in California from plastic bottles recycled in California. It will start to phase into our restaurants in mid May. The system-wide introduction of the Bottle Box bowl is a great step forward in our eco-friendly packaging initiatives and will help us to keep plastic, which makes up a good portion of marine debris, out of the oceans and landfills.

Being a Friend to the Ocean

Since much of Rubio's Beach Mex^® menu includes seafood, we are passionate about preserving a healthy ocean. Rubio's is helping to promote a clean ocean by participating in local beach cleanups and recycling plastic and glass where feasible. One of the most common items collected in these cleanups is plastic beverage bottles, which can harm marine life. Get involved! Help us keep plastic bottles out of the ocean by recycling them.

Some of our initiatives — that emphasize being a friend to the ocean — include:

• Adoption of a beach in our watershed
• Rubio's team members' participation in regularly scheduled beach cleanups
• Site Sponsorship of Creek to Bay Cleanup 2010 in San Diego, CA. Updates on beach cleanups via Facebook and Twitter photo albums
• New restaurant openings and recycling proceeds to generate donations for selected "ocean-friendly" charities
• Expansion of our recycling program in restaurants, where feasible
• Ocean Education on Kids Meal bags
• Exploration of moving to seafood that is sustainably-raised and wild-caught

Nutritious and Sustainable Food

The culinary team at Rubio's is working with our food suppliers to source sustainable ingredients. We continue to research and stay current on the evolving sustainable best practices in these areas. Current steps toward achieving sustainable and nutritious food are:

• rBST free milk
• rBST free sour cream
• rBST free cheese (coming Summer 2010)
• Goal for majority of our seafood to achieve a favorable sustainability rating by Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program by 2011 (pending completion of research)
• Goal to have natural beef, chicken and slow-roasted pork carnitas by 2011 (pending completion of research)
• Applesauce side option for Kid's Meals
• Plans to reduce sodium across all products over the next several years
• HealthMex^® tacos and burritos with less than 30% of calories from fat
• "No-fried" pinto beans
• Boneless, skinless white meat grilled chicken
• Lean, trimmed grilled steak
• Grilled salmon, grilled shrimp, and grilled mahi mahi
• No Lard or MSG in our recipes

A Greener Rubio's Restaurant Support Center

Rubio's is taking several steps to improve eco-friendly practices at our Restaurant Support Center (RSC):

• Recycling bins for paper, plastic, bottles & cans — proceeds go to "Cans for Cancer™"
• Efforts to reduce printing by 1) printing double sided 2) presenting in electronic format 3) disseminating information in electronic format whenever possible.
• Recycling of old computer equipment
• FSC-certified paper used for letterhead
• FSC-certified paper and 10% recycled paper used for business cards