Super Chefs Yan, Moulton, Esposito, and the Pences Sign On with Simon Super Chefs Live!

Super Chefs Yan, Moulton, Esposito, and the Pences Sign On with Simon Super Chefs Live!

Signature mall event draws DASANI, Jacob's Creek, Bertolli Frozen Dinners, Uncle Ben's Brand, Waldenbooks, B. Dalton Bookseller, Barnes & Noble, Borders Express and other brands as key sponsors

INDIANAPOLIS, March 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nationally-celebrated chefs Martin Yan, Sara Moulton, Mary Ann Esposito, and John and Caprial Pence will headline the 2006 edition of Simon Super Chefs Live! at Simon malls across the country from late March through mid-August.

Simon Super Chefs Live! is a proprietary program developed by Simon Brand Ventures, the business-to-consumer arm of Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG).

Simon Super Chefs Live!, emceed by four-time Emmy Award-winning TV Host Bill Boggs, is an exciting, day-long, in-mall celebration of food, wine, cooking and shopping, and it is all free and open to the public.

The event, now in its third year, attracts thousands of consumers to each tour stop and is a huge draw for major sponsoring brands, which include DASANI, Jacob's Creek, Bertolli Frozen Dinners, Uncle Ben's Brand, Waldenbooks, B. Dalton Bookseller, Barnes & Noble and Borders Express, among others.

The event showcases live cooking performances by a nationally renowned featured chef, cooking demonstrations by local celebrity chefs, wine seminars, audience participation, food and beverage sampling, sponsor pavilions, cookbook sales, autograph and book signings, and culinary activities with participating retailers and restaurants.

"With the ever-growing popularity of in-home cooking, dining and entertainment, Simon Super Chefs Live! has proven to have an increasingly vast appeal for consumers," said Stewart Stockdale, chief marketing officer of Simon Property Group and president of Simon Brand Ventures. "It also marries the consumers' culinary and entertainment interests with a wide variety of home category retailers in our malls. And it's a highly attractive venue for national consumer advertisers to get engaged with consumers in a very unique, entertaining environment," he added.

The tour kicks off on Saturday, March 25, at Town Center at Aurora in the Denver area with highly celebrated Chef Martin Yan, the host of more than 1,900 TV cooking episodes and author of 26 cookbooks. In addition to Yan, other national food celebrities who will star on the Simon Super Chefs Live! tour include:

* Mary Ann Esposito: Chef Esposito is the author of eight cookbooks and host of Ciao Italia, the longest running cooking series on PBS.

* Sara Moulton: Chef Moulton is a cookbook author, host of Sara's Secrets as seen on Food Network, chef of the executive dining room at Gourmet Magazine, and Food Editor for ABC-TV's Good Morning America.

* John and Caprial Pence: For the past 11 years, noted chefs Caprial and John Pence have owned and operated Caprial's Bistro in Portland, OR, and have hosted and produced "Caprial & John's Kitchen" on PBS. Caprial has written eight cookbooks, one of them co-authored with John.

* Bill Boggs: Food and lifestyle authority, stage performer and four-time Emmy Award-winning television host Bill Boggs will emcee the Simon Super Chefs Live! tour.

Each day-long event culminates with the highly popular Simon Super Chefs Live! Cook-off, where local food fans selected from the audience or local market celebrities have the opportunity to serve as sous chefs to the professionals during a live-action, on-stage cook-off.

And the pint-sized chefs aren't left out of the recipe for fun, either. Many Simon Malls participating in the Simon Super Chefs Live! tour will also feature an event hosted by Simon Kidgits Club that engages young budding chefs in fun culinary activities ranging from decorating cookies and pretzels to making their own personal chef's hat or apron.

The national mall tour will wrap-up in early August at The Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas after making 24 other stops around the country, including the Kansas City, MO; St. Paul, MN; Chicago; Indianapolis; Pittsburgh; Boston; New York; Philadelphia; Memphis; Atlanta; Miami; Jacksonville; Orlando; Austin; San Diego; Los Angeles; Seattle and San Francisco areas.

For more information about the Simon Super Chefs Live! tour schedule, visit http://www.simon.com/ .

Simon Super Chefs Live! sponsor and partner quotes:

"At Barnes & Noble, we love nothing more than to connect readers with their favorite writers," said Brenda Marsh, Vice President, Author Relations, Barnes & Noble, Inc. "The Simon Super Chefs Live! tour is the perfect opportunity to bring favorite TV celebrity chefs together with their book- buying customers. We are so excited to be back for another fantastic season."

"We are thrilled to participate in another season of Simon Super Chefs Live! in Simon malls across the country," said Holley Stein, spokesperson for Borders Group, Inc. "Cookbooks are very popular with our customers right now, especially titles written by celebrity chefs, some of which are featured in this tour." Stein added, "Simon Super Chefs Live! will give cooking fans an exciting opportunity to meet, learn from and connect with their favorite chefs and cookbook authors."

"Simon Super Chefs Live! is a great program for DASANI, because it's consistent with what consumers expect from the DASANI brand: Quality and great, fresh taste," said Eric Masters, DASANI senior brand manager. "These attributes are exemplified in our entire portfolio of products, including DASANI Flavors and our new lightly carbonated DASANI Sensations."

"The impact of Jacob's Creek's affiliation with the Simon Super Chefs Live! tour was significant," said Jeanne Eliades, Senior Brand Director - Still Wines, Pernod Ricard USA. "It gave us a great opportunity to meet face to face with our consumer base to discuss and sample the Jacob's Creek range of reserve wines. Jacob's Creek is always associated with good times and this was the perfect venue for us."

"We are very excited to be a sponsor of the Simon Super Chefs Live! events touring Simon malls this year. We will be sampling UNCLE BEN'S(R) Long Grain & Wild Rice, providing recipe books and valuable coupons to attendees. We chose to be a part of the tour because our platform of creating a special dinner for your family marries up well with the Simon Super Chefs Live! philosophy. It's all about great food, a great experience and making your dinners just a little bit more special. With the star-studded chef line up and great tips learned, any family can incorporate great cooking ideas with ease!" - Bryan Crowley, Vice President, Uncle Ben's.

About Simon Brand Ventures

Simon Brand Ventures (SBV), Simon's business-to-consumer arm, has pioneered the transformation of shopping malls into a medium where consumer brands can build one-on-one relationships with shoppers who make approximately 2.4 billion visits to Simon malls each year. Simon's vast franchise of market-leading shopping centers nationwide provides SBV the foundation to monetize the distribution system through numerous consumer ventures. SBV has engaged in a number of consumer business initiatives, including the Simon Giftcard(R), launch of Simon platform programs such as Simon Kidgits Club(R), Simon Super Chefs Live!(R), Simon DTour Live(R), and Simon Evening of Giving(R); a national media delivery channel including static, digital and experiential marketing and advertising vehicles; and multiple national and local marketing alliances with Coca-Cola, Visa U.S.A. and Cingular Wireless, among others.

About Simon Property Group

Simon Property Group, Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a real estate investment trust engaged in the ownership, development and management of retail real estate, primarily regional malls, Premium Outlet(R) centers and community/lifestyle centers. The Company's current total market capitalization is approximately $42 billion. Through its subsidiary partnership, it currently owns or has an interest in 286 properties in the United States containing an aggregate of 200 million square feet of gross leasable area in 39 states plus Puerto Rico. Simon also owns interests in 51 European shopping centers in France, Italy, and Poland; 5 Premium Outlet(R) centers in Japan; and one Premium Outlet(R) center in Mexico. Additional Simon Property Group information is available at http://www.simon.com/ .

Source: Simon Property Group, Inc.

CONTACT: Angela Wiebusch of Fleishman Hillard, +1-314-982-9132,
wiebusca@fleishman.com ; or Billie Scott of Simon Property Group,
+1-317-263-7148, bscott@simon.com

Web site: http://www.simon.com/

-------
Profile: intent