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January 21, 2000



Mr. Joe Stein
Chief Financial Officer
Rubio's Restaurants, Inc.
1902 Wright Place, Suite 300
Carlsbad, CA  92008

Dear Joe:

Based upon the terms of this letter agreement, Alliant Foodservice, Inc.
(sometimes "we" or "Alliant") offer to sell to your Rubios's Restaurants, Inc.
(sometimes "customer") products carried by the Alliant Foodservice, Inc.
distribution centers serving your account, subject to the availability of
product, for the time period stated in this agreement.

The average order size per unit per delivery will be *** per drop. We recognize
that there will be exceptions; however, this program is based on the condition
that the average order size over a reasonable period of time (quarterly) will be
maintained at *** per drop. Upon thirty (30) days advance notice to you and your
failure to correct the deficiency drop size (system average of *** per drop)
within such time period (quarterly), Alliant reserves the right thereafter to
renegotiate the terms of this agreement, including per case markup, upon prior
notice if there is a significant change in product mix or a failure to regularly
meet the average order size measured in dollar value per drop. The above
parameters are based on information which you have provided to us.

                                     MARK UP

                  Fresh Produce                      *** flat fee per case

                  Tortillas                          *** flat fee per case

                  All Other Products                 *** flat fee per case

Landed Cost is defined as I, II, III:

I.       KRAFT-BRANDED PRODUCTS AND ALLIANT EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS--Cost for such
         products may be based on various national or regional published prices
         lists, plus inbound freight (where applicable). In the alternative, at
         Alliant's option, the cost for Kraft and Alliant Exclusive products may
         be calculated as set forth in paragraph II below "All Other Products".

*** Certain confidential portions of this Exhibit were omitted by means of
blackout of the text (the "Mark"). This Exhibit has been filed separately with
the Secretary of the Commission without the Mark pursuant to the Company's
Application Requesting Confidential Treatment under Rule 24b-2 under the 1934
Act.

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II.      PRODUCE - Total market cost plus freight (where applicable). Total
         market cost is set by the respective Alliant Foodservice distribution
         center on a district-wide basis and is intended to reflect the local
         market replacement cost or current market average cost of procured
         products.

III.     ALL OTHER PRODUCTS--Cost for such products shall be invoice cost plus
         freight (where applicable) or local market replacement cost at
         Alliant's option plus freight (where applicable). Cost may include a
         fee for Alliant procurement activities which provide procurement
         leverage, order consolidation, and administration, and quality
         assurance. Alliant may, at its option, select the invoice cost to be
         used for determining Cost from among all invoices for product currently
         available for sale, or from confirmed purchase orders for product to be
         received by the third day of the pricing cycle. National forward
         purchases (including forward warehouse purchases and consigned
         products) may include applicable storage and finance charges or shall
         be based on local market replacement cost at Alliant's option. Local
         market replacement cost means the cost the individual Alliant
         distribution center would have been required to pay for the purchase of
         its normal quantity requirements of such products. The invoice used to
         establish Cost will be the invoice issued by the vendor or Alliant's
         national processing center.

IV.      SUBSIDIARIES - This agreement expressly excludes City Meat and
         Provisions Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Alliant Foodservice, Inc. and
         any other subsidiaries or affiliates of Alliant which are
         manufacturers, fabricators or processors (collectively, "manufacturing
         subsidiaries"). In the event you wish to purchase products from
         manufacturing subsidiaries, those products' cost shall be determined by
         the manufacturing subsidiaries' price lists. A distribution fee, if
         applicable, may be added to the manufacturing subsidiaries' price list
         amount.

V.       FREIGHT - Unless in-bound freight is included in vendor's delivered
         pricing, freight charges will be based on market conditions and will
         not exceed the freight rate normally payable by the Alliant
         Distribution Center for inbound shipments of regular quantity
         requirements of such products. Freight charges may include common or
         contract carrier charges by the product vendor or a carrier, or charges
         billed by Alliant for its freight management service.

         Prices are subject to change monthly except for certain categories that
         are subject to volatile cost fluctuations (i.e. produce), which will be
         priced weekly or as market conditions dictate.

         Only promotional allowances exclusively negotiated on your behalf or by
         you will be passed through to you. There will be no promotional
         allowances given on Kraft-Branded products under this agreement.
         Alliant shall be entitled to cash discounts and other supplier
         incentives. Because of the competitive nature of our pricing and other
         terms of sale, Alliant has no additional marketing monies to fund
         special customer requests (for example, customer-sponsored events,
         donations to customer-directed causes, etc.).

VI.      ROUNDING - To simplify pricing, receiving and inventory valuation,
         Alliant rounds all prices with calculated penny fractions to the next
         highest penny per unit of sale.

VII.     SUBSTITUTIONS - will be priced in accordance within the applicable
         category and of acceptable quality as determined by Rubio's R&D
         department.

VIII.    RESTOCKING FEE - In the case of seasonal or special products or other
         instances where you request that Alliant pick up product for reasons
         other than an Alliant delivery error (i.e. incorrect or damaged product
         delivered), agree to pick up unopened, full cases of non-perishable
         products which are in good and saleable condition with adequate
         remaining shelf life to allow for resale. This will be mutually agreed
         to by Rubio's and Alliant. To defray our additional handling

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         expenses for the return of your excess inventory, Alliant reserves
         the right and with Rubio's approval, to charge a restocking fee of
         *** in addition to any restocking fees that may be charged by the
         manufacturer or additional freight expenses incurred. This
         restocking fee will be deducted from the full credit value of
         returned product.

IX.      JOINT BUYING DECISIONS - Forward purchases made with your concurrence
         will be priced to you as follows: During the first full calendar month
         the product is in Alliant's warehouse, the price will be Landed Cost
         plus the applicable flat fee per case. During each additional calendar
         month that the product remains in Alliant's warehouse, the price will
         be increased see Schedule C to cover the cost of financing and storage,
         plus outside storage charges if applicable.

X.       SERVICE CHARGE - If invoices are not paid within the terms specified in
         this agreement, a service charge will be assessed of *** per month, or
         such lesser charge if required by law. Unpaid invoice balances and
         finance charges due to Alliant will be deducted from any credits due to
         you.

XI.      CUSTOMER OWNED INVENTORY - Alliant, at its discretion, may from time to
         time provide incidental storage and handling services with respect to
         certain products owned by you or a third party ("Customer Products").
         The costs for such services shall be ***, and Customer shall pay such
         amounts within *** of receipt of an invoice from Alliant. Product will
         be invoiced as delivered to stores. Additional freight, storage, cost
         of money, etc. Associated with customer owned inventory will be agreed
         (per schedule c) and added to products. Alliant reserves the right to
         accept or reject any tendered Customer Product based on then-current
         business circumstances. You acknowledge that (i) Alliant will not have
         title to such Customer Products, and (ii) that Alliant shall not be
         deemed to be a bailee (paid or gratuitous) of the customer products,
         and (iii) that Alliant has no private warehouse or other insurance that
         would cover any losses relating to such Customer Products. Accordingly,
         Alliant makes no warranties or representations regarding the services
         provided hereunder and shall assume no liability with regard to such
         services or such Customer Products. You agree to release, indemnify and
         hold harmless Alliant, and its officers, employees and affiliates, from
         any and all liabilities, claims, suits, expenses, causes of action or
         damages (including but not limited to personal injury, death, property
         damage or damage to the Customer Products, and whether such damages be
         direct, actual, indirect, consequential, incidental or otherwise), that
         may arise out of Alliant's handling of the Customer Products or that in
         any way arise out of the services being performed by Alliant, except
         for such liabilities that may arise out of the gross negligence or
         willful misconduct of Alliant.

XII.     PAYMENT - Terms are net *** with service charge applicable after ***,
         measured from invoice delivery date to date of our receipt of payment.
         Rubios will pay ***, per above terms, on a set prompt payment
         timetable, Alliant reserves the right at any time to adjust the payment
         terms or take any other appropriate action regarding payment or terms
         as it deems appropriate in its reasonable judgment if there is a change
         in Rubio's financial health, including the execution and delivery of a
         security agreement for extension of credit. We reserve the right to
         require the annual or quarterly, submission of audited financial
         statements, including a statement of cash flow, in order to ensure
         confirmation of the approved payment terms. You agree to reimburse
         Alliant for all costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys'
         fees) incurred in enforcing its right to payment hereunder.


*** Portions of this page have been omitted pursuant to a request for
Confidential Treatment and filed separately with the Commission.

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         Established terms pertain to franchiser only. Franchisee terms will be
         established based on Alliant's analysis of available credit
         information. A personal guaranty is typically required from franchisees
         in order to obtain terms exceeding c.o.d.

XXII.    PROMPT PAY INCENTIVE - Your prompt payment terms are net ***. If you
         elect to pay prior to the net due date, then Alliant will pay you an
         incentive amount based upon the following schedule:

                           NET PAYMENT DAYS          INCENTIVE

                                 ***                    ***

         The incentive, which will be paid within *** following the close of the
         respective monthly period, will be calculated by *** amount during the
         period. *** will be permitted. Any deviation from your payment terms
         will voice and nullify this prompt payment incentive. The incentive
         will be paid by check.

XIV.     TERM - This agreement shall commence as of the date first written above
         and shall continue for the period of 3 years and will be renewable each
         year. Either party may elect to terminate this agreement, with or
         without cause, upon sixty (60) days prior written notice to the other
         party.

XV.      CUSTOMER INVENTORY - To effectively service our customers, Alliant is
         obligated to maximize warehouse capacity and limit inventory
         proliferation. Accordingly, we reserve the right not to stock any
         special or proprietary inventory which does not meet our minimum
         velocity requirement of ***. We also request that our customers afford
         us the opportunity to present alternatives to customer-requested
         special and/or proprietary products. Upon termination of this agreement
         for any reason, you agree to purchase at Cost plus reasonable delivery
         fee, all products that Alliant has in inventory, in transit, or for
         which unconditional orders have been placed, that have been purchased,
         transferred or consigned at your request, or otherwise for your
         account, including but not limited to customer-labeled or other
         proprietary products.

         In addition to the foregoing, you agree that at any time, with respect
         to any obsolete products purchased specially for you (which includes
         specially ordered and proprietary products), you will either purchase
         such products directly or advise us how to dispose of such products. In
         either event, we will be entitled to the full price, which we would
         otherwise be entitled to under this agreement. For purposes of this
         agreement, for each Alliant distribution center, obsolete products
         shall mean those which have a sales velocity of less than the above
         stated minimum velocity requirement. We will meet monthly to review and
         resolve all slow moving and obsolete inventory issues.

XVI.     CUSTOMER-SPECIFIED VENDORS - If you specify a particular vendor for
         your account which is not currently authorized by Alliant, then such
         vendor will be required to complete our standard vendor documentation
         before purchases can be made by Alliant for resale to your unit(s).

XVII.    DEVIATED COST PROGRAMS - Alliant agrees to maintain deviated costing
         programs in its contract pricing system when deviated cost(s) has been
         negotiated directly between you and vendors. Alliant will only maintain
         those deviated cost programs documented by the vendor and

*** Portions of this page have been omitted pursuant to a request for
Confidential Treatment and filed separately with the Commission.

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         communicated to Alliant via notice on vendor letterhead or by
         completion of an Alliant "Deviated Cost Program" form. The
         communication shall, at a minimum, contain:

         -     Adequate lead time of ten (10) working days

         -     Program start/end dates

         -     Information pertaining to deviated cost type (delivered to
               distributor, allowance, f.o.b. origin)

         -     Information on specific products covered, including manufacturer
               product code

         -     Signature of vendor representative authorized to offer program

         -     Vendor contact.

         Alliant will not be responsible for collection, payment or any
         reimbursement of monies due to you as a result of vendors supplying
         inadequate information, communication received after program start
         date, predated or retroactive programs. Further, as Alliant acts as an
         administrator regarding negotiated deviated cost programs negotiated by
         you, Alliant will not be held liable for any vendor omissions or errors
         in maintaining the programs and all such related recoveries shall be
         from the involved vendor.

         Alliant is responsible for maintaining accurate tracking records and
         timely reporting of programs and volumes. In addition, Alliant will
         monitor deviated price programs negotiated for Rubio's.

         Alliant reserves the right to calculate flat fee mark up per case based
         upon *** prior to any customer-specific rebates or discounts. The flat
         fee per case will then be applied to the *** Alliant may impose a
         charge upon vendors providing ***. If Alliant chooses to request these
         charges, they will be known by and agreeded to by Rubio's, prior to
         implementation.

XVIII.   REPORTS/ORDER GUIDES - Alliant will provide the following reports upon
         your request:

         1.   Customized Order/Inventory Guides.  One copy will be furnished to
              each purchasing location.

         2.   Monthly or Quarterly Standardized Usage Report. One copy will be
              furnished to the location of your choice.

         3.   On line access to all usage reports of all products purchased by
              Rubio's Restaurants through Alliant Link system electronically.

         4.   Quarterly Business Review - See Schedule B.

XIX.     FORCE MAJEURE - Either party hereto shall be relieved of its
         obligations under this agreement for so long as such party is prevented
         from fulfilling its obligations by causes outside its reasonable
         control, including but not limited to casualty, labor strikes and
         serious adverse weather conditions. This provision shall not be
         interpreted to relieve either party of its obligations to make any
         payments due hereunder.

XX       MISCELLANEOUS - Neither party will assign this agreement, in whole or
         in part, or otherwise extend the benefits of this agreement to any
         unaffiliated third party, without the prior written


*** Portions of this page have been omitted pursuant to a request for
Confidential Treatment and filed separately with the Commission.

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         consent of either party. At Alliant's option, the provisions of this
         agreement shall not apply to any unit(s) following the transfer or sale
         of such unit(s). This agreement, including the Schedules attached
         herein, constitutes and contains the entire agreement of the parties
         and cancels and supersedes any and all prior negotiations,
         correspondence and agreements, whether oral or written, between you and
         Alliant respecting the subject matter hereof

         If this offer is acceptable to you, please sign both copies of this
         agreement and return one to us. By your signature you represent that
         these margins/prices quoted herein are competitive with margins/prices
         quoted your account by others for similar products.

XXI.     NOTICES - Any written notice called for in this agreement may be given
         by personal delivery, first class mail, overnight delivery service or
         facsimile transmission. Notices given by personal delivery will be
         effective on delivery; by overnight services on the next business day,
         by first class mail three business days after mailing; and by facsimile
         when transmission is complete. The address of each party is set forth
         below.

XXII.    PRICE SUBSTANTIATION - RIGHT TO AUDIT - Upon reasonable notice and
         during regular business hours, but no more frequently than once every
         six months, you may examine, at the local Alliant Foodservice District
         servicing your operations, documentation to support pricing of products
         sold to you pursuant to this agreement; provided, however, that any
         such audit shall be limited to no more than 25 items. If such
         documentation is not available at the District office, Alliant's
         computer generated reports will be made available to you at the
         District office or the audit may be conducted at our processing center,
         at Alliant's option. The audited period shall be limited to the twelve
         (12) months immediately preceding such audit.


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XXIII    GOVERNING LAW - This agreement shall be governed by, and interpreted in
         accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois, U.S., except any
         such law mandating the application of the law(s) of a different
         jurisdiction.

                              Sincerely,

                              ALLIANT FOODSERVICE, INC.
--------------------------
--------------------------    By:  /s/ Tom Kertis
--------------------------       ---------------------------------------------
Attention:                       Tom Kertis, President - Southern California
          ----------------
Telephone:                    By:  /s/ Phil Collins
          ----------------       ---------------------------------------------
Facsimile:                       Phil Collins, President - Northern California
          ----------------
                              By:  /s/ Dan Carroll
                                 ---------------------------------------------
                                 Dan Carroll, President - Arizona/Nevada

                              By:  /s/ Dave Hansel
                                 ---------------------------------------------
                                 Dave Hansel, President  - Utah

                              By:  /s/ Mark Robertson
                                 ---------------------------------------------
                                 Mark Robertson, President - Colorado

                              By:  /s/ Mike Potter
                                 ---------------------------------------------
                                 Mike Potter, President - Minnesota

                              ACCEPTED:

--------------------------    ------------------------------------------------
--------------------------    Rubio's Baja Grill
--------------------------
Attention:                    /s/ Joe Stein
          ----------------    ------------------------------------------------
Telephone:                    Joe Stein
          ----------------
Facsimile:                    ------------------------------------------------
          ----------------    Chief Financial Officer
                                   1-21-00
                              ------------------------------------------------
                              (Date)

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SCHEDULE A

MARKETING INCENTIVE: You will be entitled to receive a prepayment marketing
incentive of ***. Payment will be made within *** of the contract month
following the close of the respective incentive period. Any significant breach
from your payment terms will void and nullify this marketing incentive. This
incentive will be paid by check. If this agreement is terminated at any time for
any reason during this calendar year, you will return to us the prorated portion
of the incentive within *** of termination.

Additionally all new stores will receive the same *** for their first *** of
operations. This will be paid by check to Rubio's corporate office within ***.

SCHEDULE B

QUARTERLY BUSINESS REVIEW - The Quarterly Business Review will be utilized to
analyze clearly defined objectives. For example, service level, procurement
activities, technology, and general service issues. This will be an ongoing
process. We will meet every 3 months to review objectives and set new goals.
Listed below is an example of delivery measurement tracking and sku level
tracking:

HISTORICAL ON-TIME DELIVERIES - On-time delivery performance is greatly impacted
by the windows offered by a customer. A simple block out window of no deliveries
from a customer's peak day parts(s), i.e. no deliveries between 11 a.m. to 1
p.m. will bring scores approaching 100%. A two hour "open window" will generally
score in the 90's percentile. A one hour window as proposed by the RFP may
create a rating in the 90's percentile.

Measurement is provided by cross referencing Roadnet and Cadec software, which
develops a report comparing the time window allocated and the actual time and
duration of the delivery.

SALES COMPLIANCE - Using the traditional industry method of cases shipped versus
cases ordered our program customers average 98.4 "fill" rates. This can, and has
been, advanced to over 99.5 when the customer's designated vendors provide
Alliant with "perfect invoice" service. Vendor support on proprietary products
is a key element in maintaining a consistent 99+ score.

Measurement is by traditional cases shipped versus cases ordered reporting.

SCHEDULE C

OUTSIDE STORAGE AND FINANCING

Storage for Langostino and fish will be billed out as follows:

***.

Under this agreement and mutually agreed to by Rubio's and Alliant any other
products will be covered as indicated above.



*** Portions of this page have been omitted pursuant to a request for
Confidential Treatment and filed separately with the Commission.