The Fresh Factory Reports Fiscal 2023 Results with Record Annual Total Billed Revenue of $23.7M

• The Company reported a record full-year billed revenue of $23.7M (CAD $32.5M), representing a year-over-year increase of 16.7% from 2022.
• The Company recorded its highest-ever quarterly billed revenue of $6.5M (CAD $8.9M), compared to the previous quarterly record of $5.9M (CAD $7.9M) achieved in Q4 2022, or a 10.2% increase.
• December 2023 had the highest-billed monthly revenue in Company history at $2.4M (CAD $3.3M).
• The Company achieved an adjusted EBITDA of +$0.1M (CAD +$0.1M ) in Q4 2023, marking it the second consecutive quarter of positive performance.
• On October 5, 2023, the Company began trading on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") and concurrently was delisted from the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE"). Following listing on the TSXV, the Company commenced a Normal Course Issuer Bid ("NCIB").
• The Company expanded its full-time employees by 9.0% in 2023 to support its continued growth.

CAROL STREAM, IL / ACCESSWIRE / April 30, 2024 / The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd. (TSXV:FRSH)(FRA:Q4Z)("The Fresh Factory" or the "Company"), a mission-driven company for fresh, clean-label, and better-for-you food and beverage brands, reports financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ending December 31, 2023 ("Q4 2023" and "Fiscal 2023," respectively).

Bill Besenhofer, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of The Fresh Factory, commented: "2023 was a record year for us, with the highest yearly, quarterly (Q4 2023), and monthly (December 2023) total billed revenue in our history. Our entire team demonstrated outstanding growth and resilience, setting new benchmarks in revenue, operational performance, and throughput. Since going public two years ago, we have nearly doubled our revenue and unit volume. We continued to increase operational performance and were adjusted EBITDA-positive for the last two quarters of the year. The next marker is EBITDA-positive, and the longer-term goal still remains net Income positive. We come into 2024 with very strong momentum as our continued commitment to delivering quality products and optimizing operational efficiencies help set this year up for success. We will continue investing in our manufacturing capabilities and our team to help drive profitable growth."

Financial Highlights: Fiscal 2023 vs. Fiscal 2022

• Record billed revenue was $23.7M (CAD $32.5M) in Fiscal 2023 vs. $20.3M (CAD $27.8M) for Fiscal 2022, an increase of 16.7%, driven by the addition of new customers along with incremental growth of existing business, including the support of a limited time offer promotion.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $(0.5)M (CAD $(0.7)M) or -2.1% of total revenue for Fiscal 2023 vs. $(1.3)M (CAD $(1.8)M) or -6.4% of total revenue for Fiscal 2022.
• Adjusted gross margins were $6.6M (CAD $9.1M) in Fiscal 2023 vs. $5.1M (CAD $7.0M) in Fiscal 2022, a year-over-year increase of 29.4%.

Financial and Operational Highlights: Q4 2023 vs Q3 2023

• Record billed revenue was $6.5M (CAD $8.9M) in Q4 2023 vs. $5.9M (CAD $8.1M) for Q3 2023, an increase of 10.2%.
• The Company achieved an adjusted EBITDA of +$0.1M (CAD +$0.1M) in Q4 2023, marking the second consecutive quarter of positive performance.
• Adjusted gross margins were $1.7M (CAD $2.3M) in Q4 2023 vs. $1.8M (CAD $2.4M) in Q3 2023.
• The Company completed its annual SQF (Safe Quality Foods) audit at both of its manufacturing facilities, achieving a combined average score of 98 out of 100. This is the seventh year the Company has been SQF audited.
• The Company completed its annual GFCO (Gluten-Free Certification Organization) audit.
• The Company began trading on the TSXV on October 5, 2023, and in conjunction with the TSXV listing was delisted from the CSE.
• The Company commenced the NCIB on October 9, 2023. Under the NCIB, the Company may purchase up to 916,223 Subordinate Voting Shares, which represented approximately 10% of the Company's public float at the time the NCIB commenced. As of April 28, 2024, the Company purchased 97,600 Subordinate Voting Shares for cancellation at a cost of $61,075 (CAD $83,664), representing a weighted average price of $0.63 (CAD $0.86) per share.

Strategic Areas of Focus

The Fresh Factory is building a platform to serve emerging food and beverage brands in the fresh-food sector with an emphasis on better-for-you products. The Company has established the following three key areas of focus on which it will report on a quarterly basis moving forward.

Execution: Focus on safety, high-quality operations, and strong margins.

• Adjusted Gross Margins increased to $1.7M (CAD $2.3M) for Q4 2023 compared to $1.1M (CAD $1.5M) for Q4 2022 and increased by $1.5M (CAD $2.1M) YTD 2023 compared to YTD 2022.
• Adjusted Gross Margins, on a percentage basis, were 25.6% for Q4 2023 compared to 19.1% for Q4 2022 and 27.9% YTD 2023 compared to 25.0% YTD 2022.
• Operating Profit on a dollar basis increased by $0.3M (CAD $0.4M) for Q4 2023 vs Q4 2022 and $0.6M (CAD $0.8M) YTD 2023 vs YTD 2022.

Growth: Invest in and grow with the right brands across diversified channels.

• Total revenue in Fiscal 2023 remains broadly diversified across direct-to-consumer, retail, and food-service outlets.
• The Company successfully expanded its manufacturing capabilities and its capacity throughout Fiscal 2023.
• The Company produced 13.1M total units in 2023, a 28.1% increase from 2022.
• In December 2023, the Company set a new monthly record with billed revenue of $2.4M (CAD $3.2M).

Sustainability: Become a market leader in sustainability.

• The Company purchased 2.2M pounds of produce seconds, a year-over-year increase of 15.0%.
• The Company composts 100% of its food waste and donates 100% of produce extras.
• The Company expanded its full-time employees in 2023 by 9.0%.
• The Company continued to improve its FOG (fats, oils, grease) mitigation system to reduce environmental waste.
• The team is diverse, with 26% women and 87% identifying as PoC (people of color).

This earnings news release should be read in conjunction with the Company's audited financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2023 (the "Audited Financial Statements") and the related Management's Discussion and Analysis (the "MD&A"), both documents are available to download on The Fresh Factory's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

For conversion purposes, this release used $0.73 as the conversion rate from CAD to USD.

All figures in this news release are in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

About The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd.

The Fresh Factory is a vertically integrated company focused on accelerating the growth of the fresh, clean-label, plant-based food and beverage brands of tomorrow. The Fresh Factory owns or partners with emerging brands in the plant-based space to develop, manufacture, and sell products made from fresh produce and recognizable ingredients. It operates from its centrally located manufacturing facility near Chicago, serving customers across the United States. As a public benefits corporation, The Fresh Factory is ESG-focused, driven to make a lighter, greener impact on the environment and a stronger, positive impact on local communities and the food system as a whole. Learn more about The Fresh Factory at www.thefreshfactory.co and find The Fresh Factory on social media at Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Contacts:

Bill Besenhofer
CEO and Co-founder
1-877-495-1638
info@thefreshfactory.co

Cole Lesueur
Media and Investor Relations
1-877-495-1638
healthyinvestors@thefreshfactory.co

Non-IFRS Measures

There are measures included in this news release that do not have a standardized meaning under international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and therefore may not be comparable to similarly titled measures and metrics presented by other publicly traded companies. The Company includes these measures because it believes certain investors use them as a means of assessing financial performance. Billed revenue, adjusted gross margin, operating profit, EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA are financial measures that do not have a standardized meaning under IFRS. EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, one-time transaction expenses, and change in fair value of derivative liabilities. Adjusted gross margin is defined as billed revenue minus food, packaging, and labor (i.e., COGs). Operating profit is adjusted gross margin less utilities, facilities, and maintenance costs. Billed revenue is a financial measure defined as the revenue billed to customers as opposed to total revenue, which represents billed revenue less trade and variable selling and any production credits and samples.

We prepare and release quarterly unaudited and annual audited financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS. We also disclose and discuss certain non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) financial information used to evaluate our performance in this and other earnings releases and investor conference calls as a complement to results provided in accordance with IFRS. We believe that current shareholders and potential investors in the Company use non-GAAP financial measures, such as billed revenue, adjusted gross margin, operating profit, EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA in making investment decisions about the Company and measuring its operational results.

Management believes that investors and financial analysts measure our business on the same basis, and we are providing the billed revenue, adjusted gross margin, operating profit, EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA as financial metrics to assist in this evaluation and to provide a higher level of transparency into how we measure our own business.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to hereafter as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements that address activities, events, or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will, or may, occur in the future, including statements about the Company's new product offerings, its ability to execute on its goals, general macro and micro economic impacts of inflation on the business and operation of the Company, the timing pertaining to these goals and receipt of applicable consents and approvals, and Company's business prospects, future trends, plans, and strategies. In some cases, forward-looking statements are preceded by, followed by, or include words such as "may", "will," "would", "could", "should", "believes", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "expects", "plans", "intends", "proposes", "anticipates", "targeted", "continues", "forecasts", "designed", "goal", "anticipate" or the negative of those words or other similar or comparable words. Although the management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company, as well as trends identified by the Company affecting its industry, can be found in the final long-form prospectus of the Company dated November 10, 2021, and the Company's continuous disclosure record available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Such cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements made in this news release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd.

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