New Company Debuts Unique Outdoor Architectural Solutions for Restaurant/Commercial Establishments at Wisconsin Restaurant Expo 2010, March 8-10

MARCH 3, 2010 | River Falls, WI

A novel idea for to expand restaurants and commercial outdoor spaces has brought the founder of an acclaimed wood-crafted door company out of retirement to launch a new venture. Cabreeco™ Companies, LLC, a new company based in River Falls, Wis., will introduce its flagship product, the Cabreeze™, at the Wisconsin Restaurant Expo March 8-10 at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee. One of the Expo’s featured products, the Cabreeze is a customizable, convertible patio enclosure that allows the use of those outdoor spaces during any kind of weather. The company is offering free installation to expo attendees who purchase a solution during March 2010.

“The Cabreeze is a very affordable solution to extend the patio season, increasing an establishment’s seating capacity and thereby boosting its bottom line,” says Kent Forsland, Cabreeco’s founder/president and the retired president/founder of Designer Doors, also in River Falls. “The use of supplemental heat offers the experience of year-round dining and seating to guests rain or shine, hot or cold. We offer several attached or freestanding patented designs or we can customize designs to offer architectural harmony to any structure.”

Exhibiting at Expo Booth 540, Cabreeco is introducing the Cabreeze line, including the Exhale™, designed for patrons who wish to smoke, plus other custom and convertible architectural solutions. All its products create flexible indoor or outdoor space for the food/beverage industry and other establishments or for pools and outdoor recreation areas such as basketball or tennis courts. Currently the company is designing a convertible structure for the Hammond Hotel in Hammond, Wis., and other businesses.

Cabreeco was commissioned by the Wisconsin Restaurant Expo 2010 to design and install a custom freestanding convertible structure for the Expo. It will be used as a classroom for attendees learning about Wisconsin’s smoking ban law, which goes into effect July 5, 2010. This freestanding structure will be sold by online auction with 10% of the proceeds to benefit the Wisconsin Restaurant Education Foundation.

Forsland founded Cabreeco Companies in 2009. While on vacation during his brief retirement, Forsland noticed that less-than-perfect weather was prohibiting the use of outdoor seating at several establishments in Arizona, creating long wait times. So he launched an idea branded “outthinking the outdoors”—the company’s tagline—creating affordable architectural solutions that can be opened or closed to maximize the seasonal use of patios and other outdoor spaces. Dubbed by the door industry as the “father of the modern carriage door,” Forsland seceded Designer Doors to its employees in 2006 through an employee stock option program and remains chairman of its board and a trustee of its ESOP program.