BONITA SPRINGS, Fla.,
Oct. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: IVFH), a leading
nationwide provider of specialty foods, gourmet specialty meals,
gluten free foods, and direct from source artisanal foods, today
announced it has launched a retail channel offering for new and
emerging food brands via the acquisition of Organic Food Brokers,
LLC (OFB), a Boulder,
Colorado-based company. Organic Food Brokers focuses on
launching and growing retail sales for small and emerging organic
and specialty food brands nationwide.
Organic Food Brokers works closely with emerging food brands to
develop and execute sales, marketing and distribution plans via its
nationwide network of retail-related food broker relationships
while providing emerging food brands distribution and shelf
placement access in all of the major metro markets in the food
retail industry. Organic Food Brokers has been instrumental in the
launch and nationwide growth of many highly recognizable specialty
food brands over the past several years. As a result, the company
has established a nationwide network of retail decision makers and
buyers representing key retail shelf space for thousands of
supermarkets and other food retailers across the United States. OFB's success and
capabilities can offer clients a distinct competitive advantage
over the thousands of other products that seek to enter the food
retail market each year.
Innovative Food Holdings plans to leverage synergies related to
its specialty and artisanal food capabilities to further accelerate
the growth and conversion rate of OFB's pipeline. Expected
synergies include the ability to offer nationwide foodservice
distribution opportunities for new and select existing and
potential OFB clients with retail products, which can potentially
crossover and succeed in the foodservice space. In addition,
foodservice oriented offerings within the Company's core
foodservice markets will have the potential to successfully and
efficiently cross over to retail shelves.
The acquisition purchase price includes cash consideration of
$100,000, a performance based earn
out of up to $225,000, seller
financing in the form of a $200,000
note, convertible at $1.54 per share
and options to purchase 100,000 shares of Innovative Food Holdings
at $1.46 per share. OFB generates
revenue through monthly recurring revenues as well as through
earning a percentage of future sales of client company products.
Organic Food Brokers, generated approximately $550,000 of unaudited revenues in 2013 and is
expected to be immediately accretive to earnings. OFB will operate
as a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovative Food Holdings.
Sam Klepfish, CEO of Innovative
Food Holdings, commented, "Innovative Food Holdings continues to
pursue opportunities to leverage our unique position in the
specialty food space to grow synergistic opportunities and to enter
into new complimentary specialty food markets, utilizing a low
capex model. We are excited about the opening of this new and
potentially promising market area for Innovative Food Holdings, and
we look forward to being able to take advantage of the numerous
growth opportunities and synergies available in the retail
space."
Justin Wiernasz, President of
Innovative Food Holdings, noted, "We have been seeing continued
convergence between retail and foodservice products in the rapidly
changing specialty food distribution market. We are particularly
enthusiastic about this acquisition as we believe it uniquely
positions Innovative Food Holdings to offer unique, highly
synergistic capabilities and relationships in both the rapidly
growing specialty foodservice and specialty food retail
area."
About Organic Food Brokers
Organic Food Brokers focuses on launching and growing nationwide
and retail sales for small and emerging organic and specialty food
brands. Organic Food Brokers works closely with emerging food
brands to develop and execute sales, marketing and distribution
plans via its nationwide network of retail - related food broker
relationships and provides emerging food brands assistance with
distribution and shelf opportunities in all of the major metro
markets in the retail industry. OFB's capabilities can offer
clients a distinct competitive advantage over the thousands of
other products seeking to enter the retail market each year. Learn
more at www.organicfoodbrokers.com.
About Innovative Food Holdings
Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. enables, through direct distribution
and through an industry leading fully managed specialty food
platform, the nationwide, efficient, seamless, transparent and cost
effective distribution of high quality, direct from source foods,
freshly prepared gourmet specialty meals, artisanal foods, gluten
free, allergen specific foods and other high quality, niche,
specialty food products across multiple food distribution channels
in the United States.
In the professional foodservice channel, Innovative Food
Holdings' platform manages the nationwide sales, sourcing and
procurement, logistics, customer service and distribution of over
7,000 specialty food products. Many of Innovative Food Holdings'
products are used on a daily basis by some of the approximately
40,000 leading professional chefs across the United States.
In the direct to consumer channel, IVFH's wholly owned
subsidiary, The Fresh Diet, Inc. (www.thefreshdiet.com), is the
nationwide leader in freshly prepared gourmet specialty meals,
using the finest specialty, artisanal, direct from source
ingredients. The meals are delivered directly to consumers in
12 states, 44 metropolitan areas and 573 cities across the country
using the Fresh Diet® platform.
In addition, Innovative Food Holdings' wholly owned subsidiary,
For The Gourmet, Inc. offers the finest ingredients and specialty
food via its website www.forthegourmet.com and also offers a
comprehensive white label perishable and nonperishable specialty
food platform for e-commerce retailers and other retailers seeking
to offer the nationwide, efficient, seamless, transparent and cost
effective availability of direct from source, specialty and
artisanal products, directly to consumers.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains
certain forward-looking statements and information relating to
Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. (the "Company") that are based on
the current beliefs of the Company's management, as well as
assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the
Company. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company
with respect to future events and are subject to certain
assumptions, including those described in this release. Should one
or more of these underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual
results may vary materially from those described herein as
"should," "could," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "plan,"
"might," "potentially" or "expect." The Company does not intend to
update these forward-looking statements. Information about third
parties was supplied to the Company by third parties and we accept
no responsibility for its accuracy.
Contact:
|
|
Management
Contact
|
Investor Relations
Contact
|
Sam
Klepfish
|
James
Carbonara
|
CEO
|
Regional Vice
President, Hayden IR
|
(239)
449-3235
|
(646)
755-7412
|
sklepfish@innovativefoodholdings.com
|
james@haydenir.com
|
SOURCE Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.