• Hope and Sesame® Chocolate Sesamemilk received the acclaimed 2023 KeHE Holiday Show On Trend® Award for the Dairy & Refrigerated category
• KeHE is one of the leading food and beverage distributors in North America, servicing more than 30,000 retail doors across the United States, from major grocery retail and specialty chains to natural retailers and independent grocery stores
• The Planting Hope Company is exhibiting Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk, RightRice® Veggie Rice, Mozaics™ Real Veggie Chips, and Veggicopia® Snack Olives at KeHE's Holiday Show in Chicago, June 14-15, 2023

CHICAGO, IL and VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 15, 2023 / The Planting Hope Company Inc. (TSXV:MYLK) (OTCQB:MYLKF) (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 proud to announce that Hope and Sesame® Chocolate Sesamemilk received the On Trend® Award for the Dairy & Refrigerated category at the 2023 KeHE Holiday Show. The KeHE On Trend® Awards recognize 15 brands as ‘best-in-show' for innovation, purpose, taste, promotions, packaging, and people. The unveiling of the KeHE ‘best-in-class' On Trend awards serves as the unofficial kickoff to KeHE's annual Holiday trade show, which draws over 800 exhibitors, 900 retailers, and thousands of buyers and industry leaders over a two-day period.

"Across more than 70,000 products it distributes to retailers nationwide, KeHE only recognizes 15 products at their annual Holiday show as On Trend® winners, based on their on-trend positioning, innovation, and taste, and we are thrilled that Hope and Sesame® Chocolate Sesamemilk was selected as a 2023 winner," said Julia Stamberger, CEO and Co-Founder of Planting Hope. "Over the past 16 months since we introduced our full line of Hope and Sesame® sustainably packaged, upcycled certified sesame milks, we've watched sesame pick up momentum as a flavor trend and ingredient on foodservice and café menus and in retail food and beverage products. To us, this award represents yet another affirmation that sesame milk is on track to become the next meaningful subcategory in the $35 billion plant-based milk space, taking its place next to oat milk on café menus and in consumer pantries across North America and beyond."

The KeHE ‘On Trend' Award is the latest in more than a dozen awards Hope and Sesame® has received over the past 18 months from major trend-spotters, industry organizations, and consumer and trade publications around the world. A selection of awards received to date include:

• Best Novel Creamer, Good Housekeeping's 2022 Best Coffee Awards
• Best Product, Coffee Fest 2022
• Best Hospitality Product, GAMA 2022 International Trend Awards
• Best Plant Milk, 2023 Hong Kong LOHAS Expo
• Best Plant-Based Beverage, 2022 World Plant Based Awards

The KeHE Holiday Show is known as a hub for innovation, connection, and discovery. The annual show brings together retailers, suppliers, KeHE representatives, and vital industry members to experience thousands of the top natural and organic, fresh, and specialty products on the market today.

In addition to the full lineup of Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk products, Planting Hope is also showcasing RightRice® Veggie Rice and Risotto, Mozaics™ Real Veggie Chips, and Veggicopia® Snack Olives at the KeHE 2023 Holiday Show, June 14-15^th at Chicago's McCormick Center.

About KeHE
KeHE Distributors, LLC (KeHE) is the largest distributor of natural & organic, specialty, and fresh products to more than 30,000 natural food stores, chain and independent grocery stores, e-commerce retailers, and other specialty products retailers throughout North America. With over 6,800 employee-owners, KeHE, a Certified B Corporation, drives its mission of serving to make lives better throughout all aspects of its operation. For more about KeHE, visit KeHE.com or check out their social media channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

About Hope and Sesame®
Hope and Sesame® has cracked the code on unlocking the dense nutrition in tiny sesame seeds to create a plant milk that's good-for-you, planet-friendly, and delicious! Sesame is highly sustainable, thriving in arid climates with very little water, is naturally drought- and pest-resistant, and can self-pollinate.

Nutritionally comparable to dairy milk, Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk delivers 8g of complete protein per serving (including all nine essential amino acids) - that's 8x the protein in most almond and nut milks and 2x the protein in most oat milks! Developed for and approved by top baristas, specially formulated to perform in hot and iced drinks, Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend Sesamemilk froths, steams, and foams like a dream, is great for latte art, and delivers 4g of complete protein per 8oz serving. Sesamemilk is an excellent source of both vitamin D and calcium, and its core ingredient is the ultra-nutritious pulp upcycled from sesame oil extraction.

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® Sesamemilk is the only plant milk globally that is Upcycled Certified by the Upcycled Food Association. Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk is available in shelf-stable long-life recyclable aseptic cartons in seven flavors and in both US and Canadian bilingual packaging.

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, Barista Blend Sesamemilk, and Sesamilk™ creamers, RightRice® Veggie Rice, Mozaics™ Real Veggie Chips, and Veggicopia® Veggie Snacks. Planting Hope products are currently found in more than 15,000 retail doors and 70,000 total distribution points across North America. Founded by experienced food industry entrepreneurs, Planting Hope is a women-managed and women-led company focused on nutrition, sustainability, and representation.

For more information about Planting Hope please visit plantinghopecompany.com, sign up for Planting Hope news emails HERE and follow on LinkedIn.

An informational webinar on The Planting Hope Company from CEO and Co-Founder Julia Stamberger is available HERE.

To follow the brands on Instagram and Facebook, please visit: @hopeandsesameco, @rightrice, @mozaicschips, @veggicopia.

To find Planting Hope products at a store near you in the United States or Canada, please visit the store locator. Planting Hope products are also available at plantinghopebrands.com and ecommerce retailers including Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

The 2023 Planting Hope Product Catalog is available here. The Planting Hope Foodservice Catalog, including item codes to order Planting Hope products through DOT Foods, is available here.

Contacts

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

Investor Relations Contact:
Glen Akselrod, Bristol Capital
(905) 326-1888 ext. 1
glen@bristolir.com

Media Contact:
Alex Jessup, Jessup PR
(323) 529-3541
alex.jessup@jessuppr.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 ability to execute on its goals, the timing pertaining to these goals the potential demand for the Company's products, the timing and success of anticipated product launches and distribution of the Company's products, and 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 internal research and analysis is indicative of broader market trends and the Company's anticipated future demand for its products, that changes in consumer preferences in the plant-based food industry will continue in accordance with the Company's expectations, 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 December 31, 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.