The Fresh Factory Reports Strong Q3 2022 Results with its Highest Ever Quarterly Revenue

• Eighth consecutive quarter of record billed revenue of $5.66M in Q3 2022 ($7.85M CAD), compared to $3.48M ($4.82M CAD) in Q3 2021, representing a YoY increase of 63%
• Year-to-date billed revenue of $14.38M ($19.93M CAD), a YoY increase of 44%
• Year-to-date net revenue of $13.77M ($19.09M CAD), compared to $9.40M ($13.03M CAD) in the nine months ending Q3 2021, representing a YoY increase of 47%

CAROL STREAM, IL / ACCESSWIRE / November 30, 2022 / 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 three and nine months ending September 30, 2022.

Bill Besenhofer, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of The Fresh Factory, commented: "Our third quarter results continue to showcase a successful positive trend, with our eighth consecutive quarter of record billed revenue, driven by an increase in demand from new customers and organic growth. In this quarter alone, we achieved 20% organic growth as we quickly became the partner of choice for some of the top fresh, clean-label, and better-for-you food and beverage companies in North America. We also continued to expand our manufacturing capabilities, installing new equipment to meet the diverse and growing needs of our customers. These new capital investments will improve not only our process efficiencies and product quality but also our revenue and operating cash flow. Finally, due to the heightened demand for innovation and scale in the better-for-you category, we also leased an additional 10,000 square feet of dry storage for ingredients and finished goods."

Mr. Besenhofer added: "Our differentiation sets us apart from our competitors: we are a fully integrated platform that can meet our customers' needs across diverse categories - quality and safety, buying power for ingredient and package sourcing, and distribution. With upward inflationary pressure, customers are turning to The Fresh Factory as a ‘one-stop shop' to streamline the entire process, from formulation to the end consumer. As more and more people are taking charge of their health and well-being, we are confident in our ability to grow and create meaningful value for our shareholders."

Financial Highlights: YTD 2022 vs. YTD 2021

• Record billed revenue of $14.38M ($19.93M CAD) in YTD 2022 vs. $9.96M ($13.80M CAD) for YTD 2021, an increase of 44%, driven by onboarding new customers and organic growth
• Adjusted EBITDA of $(1.29)M ($(1.79)M CAD) YTD 2022 was ~$0.9M unfavorable to previous year materially driven by 2021 change in fair value of derivative liability. Except for the change of derivative liability, Adjusted EBITDA was materially flat YoY
• Adjusted gross margins were $3.95M ($5.47M CAD) in YTD 2022 vs. $3.26 ($4.53M CAD) in YTD 2021

Financial and Operational Highlights: Q3 2022 vs Q2 2022

• Record billed revenue of $5.66M ($7.85M CAD) in Q3 2022 vs. $4.85M ($6.73M CAD) for Q2 2022, an increase of 17%
• Adjusted EBITDA of $(0.36)M ($(0.51)M CAD) in Q3 2022 vs. $(0.47)M ($(0.65)M CAD) in Q2 2022, a decrease of 23%
• Adjusted gross margins were $1.54M ($2.13M CAD) in Q3 2022 vs. $1.37M ($1.89M CAD) in Q2 2022
• As of November 22, 2022, the Company has purchased a total of 85,500 of the eligible 542,335 common shares at a cost of $58,696, representing a weighted average price of $0.69 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 1% from 28% in Q2 2022 to 27% in Q3 2022
• Operating profits increased 0.1% to $0.62M ($0.86M CAD) in Q3 2022 from $0.62M ($0.86M CAD) in Q2 2022
• Operating profit, on a percentage basis, decreased from 15.8% in Q2 2022 to 11.0% in Q3 2022 due to inflationary pressures and costs related to scaling the business
• The Company will focus on improving operating profits in Q4 2022 and into the first half of 2023

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

• Revenue in Q3 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 the third quarter by installing new equipment to support growth across multiple customer segments
• The Company produced 1.58M pounds of food in Q3 of 2022, a 24% increase from Q2 2022

Brand Portfolio: Build meaningful equity participation in the sector

• The Company continues to invest in its two wholly owned brands, FIELD + FARMER and Element Pressed
• The Company's wholly owned brand FIELD + FARMER successfully completed a rotation of its plant-based fresh snack bars in Costco Midwest
• The Company's wholly owned brand FIELD + FARMER won a December 2022/January 2023 rotation with Costco Texas for its plant-based Caramelized Onion Party Dip

Sustainability: Become a market leader in sustainability

• The Company enrolled in an Illinois State Community Solar project where it will receive a portion of the energy that the solar project produces each month. Beginning in January 2023, the portion of energy that comes from the solar farm will come back to the Company in the form of Renewable Energy Credits each month which will help offset their emissions
• The Company continues to compost 100% of its food waste and donate 100% of produce extras
• The Company's wholly owned FIELD + FARMER brand donated 1% of sales each month

The earnings news release should be read in conjunction with the Company's interim financial statements for the three and nine months ending September 30, 2022, which can be found on The Fresh Factory's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

For conversion purposes, this release used $0.72 as the conversion rate from CAD to USD.

All figures in this press 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
info@thefreshfactory.co

Alyssa Barry
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.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.