VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Plant Veda Foods Ltd. (CSE:MILK) (OTC:PLVFF) (XFRA:A3CS6B) (the “Company” or “Plant Veda”), an award-winning dairy-alternative food manufacturer, is pleased to announce that its Plant Gurt spoonable yogurt has been approved for sale by Whole Foods Market, one of the world’s most discerning retailers, and will be available in certain locations in BC in the second quarter.
Whole Foods Market is more than just a grocery store: they seek out the finest natural and organic foods available, and they maintain the strictest of quality standards. Whole Foods has over 500 stores in North America, sales of over $16 billion USD, and is owned by Amazon.com.1
The Plant Gurt product line launched in late 2021 and features 3 flavours: plain unsweetened, mango, and blueberry. One tub of Plant Gurt (spoonable yogurt) contains billions of probiotics. Made with simple whole food ingredients, including unsweetened and natural agave sweetened options. Spoonable yogurts serve as a perfect snack, a base for breakfast bowls, cereals, smoothies, and so much more. Spoonable yogurt tubs account for over 63% of the $115 billion USD global yogurt market.2
Plant Veda intends to leverage Plant Gurt’s initial rollout with B.C. outlets to the hundreds of other Whole Foods locations North America-wide.
Whole Foods Market sells only products that meet its own self-created quality standards for being “natural”, which they define as: minimally processed foods that are free of hydrogenated fats as well as artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, and preservatives as listed on their online “Unacceptable Food Ingredients” list. For food products, there are currently 79 different ingredients deemed as unacceptable.
“Getting Plant Gurt onto the shelves at Whole Foods Market is a great milestone achievement for Plant Veda,” stated Sunny Gurnani, CEO of Plant Veda. “Product placement with Whole Foods is seen as the ultimate goal of many in the natural food businesses. Whole Foods’ commitment to quality, combined with their rigorous product standards is yet another confirmation of the excellence and purity of our products.”
Service Agreement
The Company also announces it has renewed its agreements with Gina Capital and Clarkham Capital to provide investor relations and digital marketing services. The terms are for the offering of services for one month beginning February, 2022. As consideration for the renewal, the Company has made payments of EUR$40,000 and EUR$80,000, respectively.
Stock Based Compensation Grant
The Company announces that it has granted an aggregate of 3,130,000 stock options (“Options”) and 84,000 restricted share units (“RSUs”) to certain employees and consultants pursuant to the Company’s omnibus equity incentive plan, including 25,000 Options to the principal of Empire Communications Group Inc., a consultant which provides investor relations services. 1,000,000 of the Options vest over a one-year period with 1/4 vesting immediately and 1/4 vesting on the dates that are 4, 8 and 12 months following the date of grant and expire three years after the date of grant, and the remainder of the Options vest immediately, have an exercise price of $0.85 and expire two years after the date of grant. The RSUs vest over a three-year period with 1/3 vesting on each anniversary of the grant date.
About Plant Veda (CSE:MILK) (OTC:PLVFF) (XFRA:A3CS6B)
Plant Veda Foods Ltd. has a mission to accelerate humanity’s shift to a plant-based lifestyle. We remain clear in our goals: to improve the environment and humanity’s overall health through plant-based consumption. Our Company has succeeded in creating award-winning plant-based dairy alternatives, continuing to shake up the dairy-free market by creating unique, one-of-a-kind products that leave our customers forgetting about dairy to begin with.
Learn more at www.PlantVeda.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking information and information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “estimates”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur, or be achieved. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding the anticipated benefits of stocking by Whole Foods Market, and there is no assurance that initial stores selling products will lead to additional stores carrying products. The forward-looking information reflects management’s current expectations based on information currently available and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed timeframes or at all. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include: (i) adverse market conditions; (ii) changes to the growth and size of the dairy-alternative markets; and (iii) other factors beyond the control of the Company. The Company operates in a rapidly evolving environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is impossible for the Company’s management to predict all risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on Company’s business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
As each individual is different, the benefits, if any, of taking the Company’s products will vary from person to person. No claims or guarantees can be made as to the effects of the Company’s products on an individual’s health and well-being. The Company’s products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
This news release may contain trademarked names of third-party entities (or their respective offerings with trademarked names) typically in reference to (i) relationships had by the Company with such third-party entities as referred to in this release and/or (ii) client/vendor/service provider parties whose relationship with the Company is/are referred to in this release. All rights to such trademarks are reserved by their respective owners or licensees.
1 https://www.statista.com/statistics/258673/net-sales-of-whole-foods-market-worldwide/
2 https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/food/dairy-products-eggs/yogurt/worldwide
