Planting Hope Adds More Than 700 New Distribution Points for Refrigerated Sesamemilk Across Three Top US Grocery Retailers

• This Spring, Stop & Shop, The GIANT Company, and Woodman's Market will all introduce two refrigerated Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk flavors at their retail locations, adding 720 new points of distribution for the brand
• Planting Hope has engaged Juniper Partners to broker its brands into Target stores

CHICAGO, IL and VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 21, 2022 / The Planting Hope Company Inc. (TSX-V:MYLK)(FRA:J94) ("Planting Hope" or the "Company"), a plant-based food and beverage company focused on producing the world's most nutritious and planet-friendly products, is pleased to announce that the Company has secured three new retail distributors for Hope and Sesame® Non-GMO Verified Sesamemilk in 48 oz refrigerated bottles.

The details of the three new distributors are as follows:

• Stop & Shop, a chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States, will begin carrying Hope and Sesame® Unsweetened Vanilla and Unsweetened Original Sesamemilk by mid-May in more than 240 of its stores across New England. This agreement will add more than 480 total distribution points ("TDP"); the TDP is calculated as the number of retail doors multiplied by the number of SKUs.
• The GIANT Company, a chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States, will begin carrying Hope and Sesame® Unsweetened Original and Chocolate Hazelnut Sesamemilk by mid-May at 107 of its stores, adding 214 TDP.
• Woodman's Market, a regional supermarket chain based in Wisconsin, will begin carrying Hope and Sesame® Unsweetened Vanilla and Unsweetened Original Sesamemilk by the end of April in 13 of their high-volume stores in Illinois and Wisconsin, adding 26 TDP.

Across the United States, refrigerated Hope and Sesame® is now at more than 1,600 TDP.

"Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk is rapidly gaining distribution and retail points across the United States, in retail and in foodservice, continually building awareness and momentum," said Julia Stamberger, CEO and Co-founder of Planting Hope. "We see consumer demand and awareness rising for sesamemilk, especially given its strong nutrition profile and the planet-friendly sustainability of sesame. Wins like Stop & Shop's wide-scale adoption of Hope and Sesame® are expected to drive sales by introducing more consumers to sesamemilk and meeting demand by making it more widely available."

Planting Hope has also engaged with Juniper Partners - a division of Select Sales, Inc. - as broker representative for Target stores in the United States across all Planting Hope products.

Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk - An Ultra-Nutritious, Sustainable Milk Alternative

• Vegan
• A good source of protein: 8g of complete protein per serving (complete protein = contains all nine of the essential amino acids that humans need to obtain from food sources)
• An excellent source of vitamin D and calcium
• Certified Gluten-Free
• Certified Kosher
• Non-GMO Project Verified and Certified by the Plant Based Foods Association

Sesame - One of the Most Sustainable Crops on the Planet

• Requires little water to cultivate and thrives in drought conditions
• Bee-friendly and self-pollinates

Selection and availability may vary by store. To find a participating store, use the locator tool on the Hope and Sesame® website.

About Hope and Sesame®
Hope and Sesame® has cracked the code on unlocking the dense nutrition in tiny sesame seeds, creating an important new trend in plant milk: sesamemilk, both ultra-nutritious and highly planet-friendly. Sesame is sustainable, requiring very little water to cultivate, is naturally drought- and pest-resistant, and can self-pollinate. Sesamemilk is nutritionally comparable to dairy milk, delivering 8g of complete protein per serving (including all nine essential amino acids) - that's 8x the protein in most nut milks and 3x the protein in most oat milks! Specifically developed for and tested by top baristas, Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend froths, steams, and foams like a dream, great for latte art, and delivers 4g of complete protein per 8 oz serving. Sesamemilk is an excellent source of Vitamin D and calcium and is upcycled from the byproduct of sesame oil extraction. Hope and Sesame® Sesamilk™ creamers are free from saturated fat and only 40 calories per serving. All Hope and Sesame® products are vegan, Certified Gluten-Free and Certified Kosher, free from soy and dairy, Non-GMO Project Verified, and Certified by the Plant Based Foods Association. Hope and Sesame® was awarded Best Milk Alternative and Best Plant-Based Sustainability in FoodBev's 2021 World Plant-Based Food Awards and signature Chocolate Hazelnut flavor received the 2020 Sofi Award for Best New Product, Plant-Based Milk from the Specialty Food Association.

About The Planting Hope Company Inc.

Planting Hope develops, launches, and scales uniquely innovative plant-based and planet-friendly food and beverage brands. Planting Hope's award-winning and cutting-edge products fill key unmet needs in the skyrocketing plant-based food and beverage space. The Planting Hope brand family includes Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk and Sesamilk™ creamers, RightRice® Veggie Rice, Mozaics™ Real Veggie Chips, and Veggicopia® Veggie Snacks. Founded by experienced food industry entrepreneurs, Planting Hope is a women-managed and woman-led company focused on nutrition, sustainability, and diversity. For more information, visit: www.plantinghopecompany.com.

Contacts

Company Contact:
Julia Stamberger
CEO and Co-founder
(773) 492-2243
julia@plantinghopecompany.com

Media Contact:
Rachel Kay Public Relations
Becca Stonebraker
(818) 383-3929
becca@rkpr.net

Investor Relations Contact:
Caroline Sawamoto
Investor Relations
(773) 492-2243
ir@plantinghopecompany.com

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

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 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", "anticipates", "continues", or the negative of those words or other similar or comparable words. In preparing the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, the assumption that demand for the Company's product will be sustained or increase in accordance with management's projections, that the Company's current business objectives can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected, and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner. 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 any 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 Company's annual information form dated January 6, 2022, and the Company's continuous disclosure record available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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.

SOURCE: The Planting Hope Company Inc.