The Fresh Factory Reports Fiscal 2022 Results with Record Annual Total Billed Revenue of $20.3M

• The Company reported a record full-year billed revenue of $20.3M ($27.8M CAD), representing a year-over-year increase of 50.0% from 2021.
• This was the ninth consecutive quarter of record billed revenue, totaling $5.9M in Q4 2022 ($8.1M CAD), compared to $3.6M ($4.9M CAD) in Q4 2021, representing a year-over-year increase of 64.0%.
• Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 was $(0.2)M ($(0.3)M CAD), largely driven by a record level of billed revenue.
• The Company launched 59 new product SKUs and added 13 new manufacturing partnerships with customers across multiple product categories.
• The Company purchased 1.9M lbs of produce seconds, a year-over-year increase of 38.0%.
• The Company expanded its full-time employees by 33.0% (33 people) in 2022 to support its continued growth.

CAROL STREAM, IL / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2023 / The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd. (CSE: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, 2022 ("Q4 2022" and "Fiscal 2022," respectively).

Bill Besenhofer, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of The Fresh Factory commented: "As we close out fiscal year 2022, we are thrilled to report yet another record-breaking quarter with our ninth consecutive quarter of record billed revenue, reaching $5.9M (+64.0% YoY) in Q4 2022 and annual total billed revenue of $20.3M (+50.0% YoY). Our investments in expanding our manufacturing capabilities with new equipment and strengthening our leadership team position us for continued growth in the quarters ahead. The overall financial performance for Q4 2022 reinforces the thesis for our business, and as we put more volume through our facility, we are confident in our ability to drive profits. With a number of our expansion projects now complete, our focus will turn to filling out the capacity of our existing manufacturing lines and driving contribution margins higher. While we have begun to see easing in our supply chain, we expect to see continued inflationary pressure in the early part of 2023, with stabilization expected later in the year. Given overall market conditions and the typical early-year seasonal softness of our business, we recognize sales may not be fully linear in the quarters ahead. That being said, we believe we have the infrastructure and team now in place to ramp-up growth in a sustainable manner and solidify The Fresh Factory as a leader in the fresh, clean-label food and beverage industry in the United States."

Financial Highlights: Fiscal 2022 vs. Fiscal 2021

• Record billed revenue of $20.3M ($27.8M CAD) in Fiscal 2022 vs. $13.5M ($18.5M CAD) for Fiscal 2021, an increase of 50.0%, driven by onboarding new customers and increased demand of existing customers.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $(1.3)M ($(1.8)M CAD) or -6.4% of total revenue for Fiscal 2022 vs. $(1.0)M ($(1.4)M CAD) or -7.5% of total revenue for Fiscal 2021.
• Adjusted gross margins were $5.2M ($7.1M CAD) in Fiscal 2022 vs. $4.3M ($5.9M CAD) in Fiscal 2021, a year-over-year increase of 21.0%.

Financial and Operational Highlights: Q4 2022 vs Q3 2022

• Record billed revenue of $5.9M ($8.1M CAD) in Q4 2022 vs. $5.7M ($7.8M CAD) for Q3 2022.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $(0.2M) ($(0.3)M CAD)in Q4 2022 vs. $(0.4)M ($(0.5)M CAD) in Q3 2022.
• Adjusted gross margins of $1.1M ($1.5M CAD) in Q4 2022 vs. $1.5M ($2.1M CAD) in Q3 2022.
• As of March 31, 2023, the Company has purchased a total of 167,000 of the eligible 540,169 common shares at a cost of $88,375 ($121,910 CAD), representing a weighted average price of $0.53 ($0.73 CAD) per share under its Normal Course Issuer Bid ("NCIB").

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 brands. The Company has established four 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, on a percentage basis, decreased by 8 percentage points from 27.0% in Q3 2022 to 19.0% in Q4 2022, driven by costs related to scaling the business and one-time expenses.
• Operating profit, on a percentage basis, decreased from 11.0% in Q3 2022 to 4.6% in Q4 2022 due to inflationary pressures, costs related to scaling the business, and one-time expenses.
• The Company completed its annual SQF (Safe Quality Foods) audit, achieving a score of 97 out of 100. This is the sixth year the Company has been SQF audited.
• The Company will focus on improving contribution margins for Fiscal 2023 and expects supply-chain issues and inflationary pressure to subside in the second half of the year.

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

• Total revenue in Fiscal 2022 continues to remain broadly diversified across direct-to-consumer, quick-service restaurants, retail customers, and food-service customers.
• The Company successfully expanded its manufacturing capabilities and its capacity throughout Fiscal 2022 by installing new equipment, including high-shear mixers, bottle inverters, vertical pouch-filling and forming machines, two 300-gallon kettles, a lug capper, a continuous thread capper, a cooling/blanching tunnel, an automated checkweighing combo unit, a particle-reducing shear machine with custom screw pumps, and a new boiler.
• The Company produced 9.4M total units in 2022, a 24.0% increase from 2021.
• In December 2022, the Company set a new monthly record with billed revenue of $2.4M ($3.3M CAD).
• The Company launched 59 new product SKUs and added 13 new manufacturing partnerships with customers across multiple product categories.

Brand Portfolio: Build meaningful equity participation in the sector

• The Company's owned brand, Field + Farmer, successfully completed rotations of dips and bars across Costco regions throughout 2022.
• In April 2022, several products made at the Company's facility were reconfirmed as Non-GMO Project ("Non-Genetically Modified Organism") Certified.
• The Company successfully completed its annual GFCO ("Gluten-Free Certification Organization") audit.

Sustainability: Become a market leader in sustainability

• The Company purchased 3.9M lbs of produce in 2022, a 28.0% year-over-year increase, and 1.9M lbs of produce seconds, a 38.0% year-over-year increase.
• The Company continues to compost 100.0% of its food waste and donate 100.0% of produce extras.
• The Company has expanded its full-time employees in 2022 by 33.0% (33 people) to help with growth.
• The team is diverse, with 89.0% identifying as PoC ("People of Color"), a 1.2% year-over-year increase.
• 50.0% of the ingredients purchased for the Field + Farmer brand were local to the Company's facility in Carol Stream.

This earnings news release should be read in conjunction with the Company's audited financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2022 (the "Audited Financial Statements") and the related Management's Discussion and Analysis (the "MD&A"), both documents will be available to download on The Fresh Factory's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

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 US. 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. To receive news and updates about The Fresh Factory, visit their website at www.thefreshfactory.co.

Contacts
Bill Besenhofer
CEO and Co-founder
1-877-495-1638
[email protected]

Alyssa Barry
Media and Investor Relations
1-877-495-1638
[email protected]

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.sedar.com. 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.

SOURCE: The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd.