ICOA up 33% on low low volume!
(old news article here)
Market Wire - September 1, 2006 7:30 AM (EDT)
Restaurant Patrons Enjoy Free Broadband Web Access With Great Food and Micro-Brewed Beer
WARWICK, RI, Sep 01, 2006 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- ICOA Inc. (OTCBB: ICOA) has added a menu item that is proving very popular with customers of the new Embers Grill in Alpharetta, Georgia. In addition to tasty grilled meats and fine beers from an on-premises microbrewery, patrons of Embers Grill enjoy free Wi-Fi broadband Internet access.
Restaurateur Gilles Maillet has spent three decades in senior posts at major restaurant chains, so he knows what it takes to keep customers happy and coming back. He applied all of that knowledge and experience when he struck out on his own, establishing Embers Grill. The upscale grill, located in a fast-growing suburb north of Atlanta, seats 250.
Mr. Maillet chose a format popular with today's busy diners -- hearty, cooked-to-order food served quickly in a friendly, casual setting. He also installed an amenity that is increasingly popular at restaurants across America: a Wi-Fi network that offers his patrons free high-speed Internet access, and also serves as a vital tool for the Embers Grill staff. Mr. Maillet turned to ICOA, Inc. to design, install and maintain the network, and to provide ongoing customer support both to Ember Grills and to any of his customers that need a little help getting online.
"Wi-Fi is an important service for our customers today," says Mr. Maillet. "They want to relax and have a great meal, but they also want the ability to take a moment and check e-mail or get online for a few minutes before or after they eat. Offering them our ICOA wireless network is just another way to let them know that we appreciate their patronage."
Although one of the farthest of Atlanta's suburbs, Alpharetta is an affluent, growing city that has a strong business community. Many Embers Grill diners work at the high-tech companies that now have offices in the area, including IBM, AT&T, Siemens, E-Trade, Lucent, Nortel, Verizon and the headquarters of ChoicePoint. All are within a few minutes of the restaurant, which is located at 3655 Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta.
The Embers Grill Wi-Fi network is powered by ICOA through its Restaurants and Retail Solutions group. ICOA is a leading provider of Wi-Fi solutions to venues nationwide, including Panera Bread, Au Bon Pain, Denny's, Panda Express, Bruegger's, Stop & Shop, Giant Foods, Kroger and others.
Mr. Maillet, who trained in the culinary arts in Lausanne, Switzerland, worked at the TGI Fridays, Taco Bell and Panera Bread restaurant chains before establishing Embers Grill. It was at Panera Bread, which also uses the ICOA Wi-Fi system in some of its stores, that he first became familiar with the technology and its appeal.
The ICOA Wi-Fi networks offers customers of the host locations secure, convenient broadband wireless Internet access. The on-premises networks typically cover the entire store as well as adjacent areas, such as parking lots and outdoor patios. While popular with customers at any time, the networks have proven to be an especially effective way of generating additional business at off-peak times.
Mr. Maillet says that he chose ICOA in part because they offer turnkey support, including design, setup and fine-tuning of the sophisticated wireless technology. "But what really impressed me was their ability to turn technology into a true customer amenity," he says.
He explains that ICOA's customer call center is available around the clock to help any patron who needs support. "I don't want my reservations clerk trying to figure out how to configure a customer's wireless card or VoIP setup," he says. "Even more important, ICOA can filter the content, so I don't have a situation where one customer is viewing **** or other material that could be offensive to diners at the next table."
At Embers Grill, the customers are not the only ones using the Wi-Fi network. The system also serves as the communications backbone of the restaurant's own computer system. Mr. Maillet has installed a suite of software packages that help manage virtually all of the restaurant's operations. For example, a program from Atlanta-based Queuent allow Embers Grill customers to make reservations online, and enables the restaurant's staff to track and manage reservations to minimize customer waiting time while maximizing revenue.
"Our staff needs to be mobile, and having the ability for them to access the restaurant's software from anywhere on the premises, via the ICOA Wi-Fi network, gives us enormous flexibility and saves a lot of time," Mr. Maillet says.
About ICOA, Inc.
ICOA, Inc. (OTCBB: ICOA) is a national provider of wireless and wired broadband Internet networks in high-traffic public locations. ICOA provides design, installation, operation, maintenance and management of Wi-Fi hot-spot and hot-zone Internet access. Based in Warwick, Rhode Island, ICOA owns or operates over 1,800 broadband access installations in high-traffic locations across 45 states, located in airports, quick-service restaurants, hotels and motels, travel plazas, marinas, universities, and municipal structures and locales. ICOA networks are compatible with widely-used 802.11x technology and with virtually all Internet service providers. Further information is at
ICOA:: Broadband Wireless Solutions.
Press contact:
Alexander Auerbach
Auerbach & Co., Inc.
1-800-871-2583
auerbach@aapr.com
SOURCE: ICOA, Inc.
mailto:auerbach@aapr.com
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