NEW YORK, NY — Artisanal Brands, Inc., a marketer and distributor of specialty, artisanal and farmstead cheese products and other specialty food products, announced it worked through a relocation plan with its current landlord and will relocate into new cheese aging and production facilities next Spring as part of its celebration of the Company's 10th anniversary. The company is also making progress toward raising $8 million in new working capital through a direct sale of shares. The company has offered these shares to its database of 90,000 customers and new customers in the "spirit of crowd funding," but through an effective registration statement. In April 2012, the Company filed a registration statement to sell up to 16 million shares of its common stock that became effective in mid-June.
Daniel W. Dowe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Artisanal, commented, "Even with the demands of our trade show season and the slower summer months, we made progress with our Artisanal Owner's Club www.artisanalcheese.com/ownersclub. This weekend, our largest shareholder bought $200,000 of shares through the Owner's Club to help us begin our relocation plans. This is a good step toward our ability to reach our first goal of $1 million raised, which will enable the Company to finance larger inventories to help us reach our profitability goals and to expand our line of American artisan cheeses from six regions of the U.S., the largest offering available online. Members of the Artisanal Owner's Club will receive our quarterly newsletters and access to specialty cheeses not available in retail markets as well as Artisanal-branded merchandise to demonstrate our appreciation of their support of our business. This new level of loyal and close customer relationships was exactly what we sought with the Owner's Club. Our recent blog posting http://blog.artisanalcheese.com/owners-club/673 explains the benefits of the Artisanal Owner's Club. Our next milestone is the $4,000,000 mark which, when reached, will enable us to further improve our inventory management goals and start paying off loans from shareholders that supported us during the development phase of our new proprietary retail merchandising system called the Artisanal CheeseClock™."
"Our Artisanal CheeseClock™ program is gaining momentum in states where wine retailers have recently been permitted by law to sell food products like cheese. Our packaging system was designed in a way that enables consumers to easily purchase cheeses based on their own taste preferences and pair them with wines and beers. We are now opening one to two retailers per day and have plans to hire additional sales personnel, to enhance our progress. We are currently concentrating our marketing in the states of New Jersey and Connecticut, where cheese can be sold in wine stores and in New York State where we are partnering with beer producers to cross-promote beers around the colorful display cases we have designed for retailers. We believe this geographic focus will allow us to reduce costs while adding revenues to achieve our goal of profitability."
About Artisanal Premium Cheese
Artisanal Premium Cheese markets and distributes a line of specialty, artisanal and farmstead cheese products, as well as other related specialty food products under its own brand to food wholesalers and retailers, as well as directly to consumers through its catalogue and website, artisanalcheese.com. Artisanal Brands, Inc. is based in New York, New York.
Safe Harbor Statement: Forward-looking statements made in this press release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on current management expectations that involve risks and uncertainties that may result in such expectations not being realized. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks described in Company filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investor Contact John Nesbett/Jennifer Belodeau Institutional Marketing Services (IMS) 203/972-9200 Email Contact Company Contact Daniel W. Dowe Artisanal Premium Cheese 212/871-3139 Email Contact
Source: Artisanal Premium Cheese
