Comprehensive Agreement Reached on Construction of State of the Art Processing Plant Increase in Profit Participation for CLR Roasters and Acquisition of the coffee brand Café Cachita.
Youngevity International, Inc. (YGYI), a leading omni-direct lifestyle company, announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, CLR Roasters, has executed agreements with its Nicaraguan Based Partners, H and H Export and Marisol Silas, whereby the company anticipates expanding its capabilities in Nicaragua through the planned construction of one of the largest processing mills in Central America. In addition to the agreement to construct new processing facilities, the agreement increases CLR Roasters’ profit participation in the green coffee distribution business with its Nicaraguan Based Partners from 50% to 75% of profits. As part of the agreement CLR is also acquiring the coffee brand Café Cachita.
The construction for the new processing facility is expected to be complete by September of this year in time for the 2020 harvest which will be the second year of the CLR Roasters’ recently signed, 5-year, $250 million green coffee contract. The new processing facility will sit on 45 acres of real estate in Matagalpa, Nicaragua and is conveniently accessible to the coffee growing regions of Nicaragua. When complete, the planned facility is expected to have 28,000 square feet of office space, a 160,000 square foot warehouse capable of holding 48 million pounds of green coffee, and the ability to process over 53 million pounds of green coffee on an annual basis. The facility is expected to be equipped with the most modern technology available and to house a highly efficient lab that will allow for consistency in quality.
“We are very pleased to expand our partnership with Alain Hernandez of H and H Export company and Marisol Silas of Silas Family Plantation Group. We cannot think of better people to be in business with in Nicaragua,” stated Dave Briskie, President and CFO of Youngevity, CLR Roaster’s parent company. “In addition to the new facility we will be retaining our current processing facility, known as La Pita, to produce our certified coffees. Having the ability to keep our organic, rainforest alliance and other certified coffees separate from conventional coffees should provide us with a strong strategic advantage in the market and increased capacity to support growth in the coming years.”
“I am extremely excited about the expanded partnership with Youngevity, CLR, and Siles Familty Plantation,” stated Alain Hernandez, President of H&H Export company. “We have been developing this expanded opportunity for several years and it is very special to see it come to fruition. We expect that these capabilities, along with the strong relationship with our producers, will provide us a competitive edge in this market.”
Ernesto Aguila, Founder of CLR Roasters said, “We are very excited to add a second espresso brand to our product portfolio. Café Cachita provides us with additional shelf space at retail and allows us to be more competitive with our marketing and sales efforts and should drive incremental revenue for our Cafe La Rica brand in the marketplace as well.”
Marisol Siles, President of Siles Family Plantation Group, stated, “With all our teams working together for one common goal this business relationship will be significant for all of us. We have assembled a very strong and experienced team to support logistics, administration, quality control, and local market know-how in support of this major project. Due to the scale of this project we anticipate being better able to support the local community and increase our social responsibility which is a very important part of our culture.”
About CLR Roaster
Youngevity’s coffee manufacturing division, CLR Roasters, was established in 2001 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary. CLR Roasters is a full-sized coffee roaster that produces gourmet coffees under its own boutique brands — Café La Rica®, Josie’s Java House®, and Javalution®; manufactures a variety of private labels for major national chains; and for the direct selling channel under Youngevity International. The company remains one of the largest suppliers in North America to the cruise line industry. CLR was the first entrant into the fortified coffee niche with its Youngevity JavaFit® brand. In May 2014, CLR acquired a coffee plantation and processing facility in Nicaragua, allowing the entity to control coffee production and quality — from field to cup.
About Youngevity International, Inc.
YGYI, Inc. (NASDAQ:YGYI), is a leading omni-direct lifestyle company offering a hybrid of the direct selling business model, that also offers e-commerce and the power of social selling. Assembling a virtual Main Street of products and services under one corporate entity, YGYI offers products from the eight top selling retail categories: health/nutrition, home/family, food/beverage (including coffee), spa/beauty, fashion, essential oils, photo, as well as innovative services. The Company was formed in the course of the summer 2011 merger of Youngevity Essential Life Sciences with Javalution® Coffee Company (now part of the company’s food and beverage division). The resulting company became Youngevity International, Inc. in July 2013. For investor information, please visit YGYI.com. Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Safe Harbor Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “potential,” “continue,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” and similar expressions, and includes statements regarding expanding its capabilities in Nicaragua through planned construction of one of the largest processing mills in Central America, the completed facility having 28,000 square feet of office space, a 160,000 square feet warehouse capable of holding 48 million pounds of green coffee, the expected completion of the new processing facility by September 2019, and the ability to process over 53 million pounds of green coffee on an annual basis, the facility being equipped with the most modern technology available and a highly efficient lab that will allow for consistency in quality, having the ability to keep our organic, rainforest alliance and other certified coffees separate from conventional coffees providing us with a strong strategic advantage in the market and increased capacity to support growth in the coming years, the capabilities from the expanded partnership with Siles Familty Plantation along with the strong relationship with our producers providing a competitive edge in this market and adding Café Cachita as a second brand of espresso providing an opportunity to expand the shelf space at retail and drive incremental revenue for our Cafe La Rica brand in the marketplace and the ability to support the local community and increase our social responsibility which is a very important part of our culture.. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations and assumptions from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, our ability to complete construction of one of the largest processing mills in Central America, with 28,000 square feet of office space, a 160,000 square feet warehouse capable of holding 48 million pounds of green coffee and the ability to process over 53 million pounds of green coffee on an annual basis, our ability to equip the facility being with the most modern technology available and a highly efficient lab that will allow for consistency in quality, our ability to establish a strong strategic advantage in the market and increased capacity to support growth in the coming years by keeping our organic, rainforest alliance and other certified coffees separate from conventional coffees, our ability to establish a competitive edge from the expanded partnership with Siles Familty Plantation along with the strong relationship with our producers, our ability to expand the shelf space at retail and drive incremental revenue for our Cafe La Rica brand in the marketplace by adding Café Cachita as a second brand of espresso, our ability to continue our international growth, our ability to continue our coffee segment growth, our ability to leverage our platform and global infrastructure to drive organic growth, our ability to improve our profitability, expand our liquidity, and strengthen our balance sheet, our ability to continue to maintain compliance with the NASDAQ requirements, the acceptance of the omni-direct approach by our customers, our ability to expand our distribution, our ability to add additional products (whether developed internally or through acquisitions), our ability to continue our financial performance and the other factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 and our subsequent filings with the SEC, including subsequent periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.
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