Cuisine Solutions Inc.

85 S. Bragg St., Suite 600

Year founded: 1972

Industry: Hospitality/travel

Post 200 Category: Top 125 Companies

Revenue: $36.72 Million

Net Income/Loss: ($1,004,000.00)

Earnings per share: ($0.06)

Dividend: n/a

Stockholder equity: $6.57 Million

Auditor: n/a

Stock: FZN

Assets: $17.71 Million

Market capitalization: $73.50 Million

52-week high: 5.1 3/9/2005

52-week low: 1 5/3/2004

President and CEO: Stanislas Vilgrain

President, U.S.: Thomas Gregg

Employees: 230

Local employees: 180

Description: Cuisine Solutions makes prepared food, which it supplies in frozen, vacuum-packed pouches. Its products are served by airlines, trains, cruise ships, military installations, hotels and other outlets. The company was founded in 1972 as a wholesaler of French bread, then called Vie de France Corp.

Developments: Cuisine Solutions uses a process called "sous-vide," which involves vacuum-packing food in plastic, to make dishes like osso buco, pork shank with apricot glaze and tortellini with shrimp in lobster sauce. The dishes are cooked in plastic packets, then frozen, and the user reheats them by dropping the bag into simmering water. With many of its key customers in the airline and other tourism-related businesses, the company has suffered since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. However, in 2004 it regained its footing, as sales rose 32 percent and climbed above 2001 levels. The company was delisted from Nasdaq in 1998 because its stock price was too low and its shares traded in the over-the-counter market. But in the past year, its stock has been one of the region's best performers, rising from $1 per share to as high as $5. In February, its stock began trading on the American Stock Exchange.