Star Metro - The Fresh Factory Reports Q1 2026 Financial Results with 17% Billed Revenue Growth, Completes New Facility Retrofit

DOWNERS GROVE, IL / ACCESS Newswire / May 29, 2026 / The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd. (TSXV: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, is pleased to announce financial results for the thirteen weeks ending April 4, 2026 ("Q1 2026").

"This quarter we completed the retrofit of our 154,000-square-feet manufacturing facility and commenced operations at the site, all while continuing to support existing customers at full capacity and delivering 17% growth in billed revenue," said Bill Besenhofer, CEO and co-founder of The Fresh Factory. "The new facility significantly enhances our production capacity and operational capabilities, giving us the scale and flexibility to better support our partners as they grow. With this operational milestone now behind us, we are energized by the opportunities ahead and focused on executing the next phase of growth into 2026."

Financial and Operational Highlights: Q1 2026 vs. Q1 2025

• Record billed revenue of $12.5M (CAD $17.8M) in Q1 2026 vs. $10.7M (CAD $15.2M) in Q1 2025, a 17% increase, mainly driven by sales to existing strategic partners across a variety of categories, as well as sales to new accounts.

• Adjusted EBITDA of $0.5M (CAD $0.7M) in Q1 2026 vs. $1.1M (CAD $1.5M) in Q1 2025, primarily driven by increased facility and utility costs ahead of full revenue absorption at the new manufacturing site, as well as continued carrying costs of the original facility during its wind-down.

• The Company reported a net loss of $0.9M (CAD $1.2M) in Q1 2026, compared to net income of $0.3M (CAD $0.4M) in Q1 2025, primarily driven by increased facility and utility costs ahead of full revenue absorption at the new manufacturing site, as well as continued carrying costs of the original facility during its wind-down.

• Adjusted Gross Margins were $4.4M (CAD $6.3M) in Q1 2026, compared to $4.4M (CAD $6.3M) in Q1 2025. Adjusted Gross Margin, as a percentage, was 36% in Q1 2026 vs. 41% in Q1 2025, reflecting changes in product mix.

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 products. The Company has established the following three 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 margin dollars were $4.4M (CAD $6.3M) for Q1 2026, compared to $4.4M (CAD $6.3M) for Q1 2025.

• Adjusted gross margins, as a percentage, were 36% for Q1 2026 vs. 41% for Q1 2025, driven by a change in product mix.

• Operating profit on a dollar basis was $1.2M (CAD $1.7M) for Q1 2026, compared to $2.4M (CAD $3.4M) for Q1 2025.

• Operating profit, as a percentage, was 9.4% in Q1 2026 vs. 22.4% in Q1 2025. The margin compression reflects incremental facility and utility costs associated with the ramp-up of the new manufacturing site, as well as continued carrying costs of the original facility during its wind-down. Management expects these dynamics to recede progressively through Q2 2026 as production fully migrates to the new facility.

• The Company achieved positive EBITDA of $0.3M (CAD $0.4M) in Q1 2026.

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

• Billed revenue for Q1 2026 was $12.5M (CAD $17.8M), compared to $10.7M (CAD $15.2M) in Q1 2025.

• The Company's Q1 2026 billed revenue grew 17% YoY, driven by increased demand from existing strategic partners across a variety of categories, as well as sales to new accounts.

• The Company produced 14.9M packaged units in Q1 2026, a 47.5% increase from Q1 2025.

• During Q1 2026, the Company completed the retrofit of its newly leased 154,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and commenced operations at the site. This facility supports future scale, consolidates operations, and enables significant production capacity expansion across condiments and dips, beverages, and hot-fill categories.

• In January 2026, the Company completed a $3.0M (CAD $4.3M) private placement, reinforcing its balance sheet and supporting ongoing expansion activities.

Sustainability: Become a market leader in sustainability.

• The Company continued to compost 100% of its food waste and donate 100% of its produce extras.

• As part of its new facility buildout, the Company replaced aged HVAC units with high-efficiency units, reducing energy consumption and supporting its commitment to lowering operational emissions.

Q1 2026 covers the thirteen-week period ending April 4, 2026, compared to the three-month period ending March 31, 2025 for Q1 2025, following the Company's adoption of a 4-4-5 fiscal calendar in 2026 to better align internal management reporting and operations. As a result, certain financial results for individual reporting periods may not be directly comparable to prior periods.

This earnings news release should be read in conjunction with the Company's interim financial statements for the thirteen weeks ending April 4, 2026, (the "Interim Financial Statements") and the related Management's Discussion and Analysis (the "MD&A"); both documents are available to download on The Fresh Factory's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

For conversion purposes, this release used $0.70 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, and better-for-you food and beverage brands of tomorrow. The Fresh Factory owns or partners with emerging brands in the better-for-you space to develop, manufacture, and sell products made from fresh produce and recognizable ingredients. It operates from two manufacturing facilities near Chicago, serving customers across the United States. As a public benefit 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, X, and LinkedIn.

Contacts

Bill Besenhofer
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
1-877-495-1638
[email protected]

Susan Xu
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+ atwww.sedarplus.ca. 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.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd.

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

O.Ouellet--SMC