Koios Beverage Corp (FITSF)

[greenwillow]

KOIOS Nootropic Beverages to be Distributed Under KeHE’s elevate™ Program

https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/KBEVF/news/story?e&id=1610400

Koios announces its five flavour line of nootropic beverages have been accepted into KeHE Distributors’ elevate™ program. Based in Naperville, IL, KeHE distributes fresh, natural, organic and specialty food and beverage products to more than 30,000 stores in North America. KeHE is also a primary distribution partner in select categories for Albertsons and Sprouts Farmers Market. In its elevate™ program for emerging suppliers, KeHE provides enhanced guidance through its category management team to create synergies between retailers and early-stage brands to capitalize on market demand for the products of up-and-coming vendors. As KeHE has identified nootropics as one of the top five grocery industry trends for 2020, it has selected Koios to participate in this exclusive program.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Koios Beverage Corp. (CSE: KBEV; OTC: KBEVF) (the "Company" or "Koios") is pleased to announce that it has re-engaged with KeHE Distributors, LLC (“KeHE”), a well-established national distributor of fresh, natural, organic and specialty food and beverage products with a network of more than 35,000 retail outlets across North America. All five flavours of the Company’s KOIOS™ branded functional nootropic beverages will be distributed through KeHE as part of its elevate™ program. At the end of 2019, KeHE published a report with its predictions for the top five grocery industry trends for 2020, which included nootropics as a category experiencing growth based on an increased interest in supporting brain health1.

Founded in 1952, KeHE is an employee-owned company that is presently powered by a staff of more than 5,500 individuals across a network of sixteen distribution centers in the United States and Canada, with a fleet of 500 trucks with daily routes from coast to coast. KeHE distributes more than 65,000 SKUs to the stores of its retail partners in North America, which include chain and independent grocers, mass merchandisers, convenience stores, and natural holistic pharmacies.
KeHE is a certified “B Corporation” in good standing with B Lab (http://bcorporation.net), a body that measures companies’ entire social and environmental performance according to a rigorous set of standards. Fewer than 3,300 companies worldwide hold this certification, which includes well-known consumer brands such as Patagonia, Hootsuite, Danone, and Ben & Jerry’s2.

More information about KeHE can be found on its website: http://kehe.com.

Under this new engagement, KeHE will distribute all five varieties of the KOIOS™ branded nootropic beverages, which include the Black Raspberry, Apricot Vanilla, Peach Mango, Blood Orange, and Pear Guava flavours as part of KeHE’s elevate™ program for emerging suppliers. The elevate™ program is intended to bring promising early-stage brands to KeHE’s retail partners as a way of enhancing their brand portfolio. Correspondingly, KeHE’s category management team works directly with brands such as Koios in the elevate™ program to provide advice and insights to maximize the performance of each brand in the stores of KeHE’s retail partners. In the interest of providing the best experience to emerging brands, the elevate™ network is limited to a maximum of 200 participating brands.

The Company anticipates the KOIOS™ line of beverages will be distributed through KeHE beginning in May 2020. However, this launch date may be deferred to accommodate for variances in the supply chain and retail allocation practices that are presently being adjusted in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Koios’ CEO Chris Miller commented, “We have always held KeHE in high regard as both an impressive distributor of natural and organic specialty products, and as an exemplary corporate citizen. Through its partnerships with Albertsons and Sprouts, in addition to numerous other retailers, their top-notch curation strategies and distribution network has earned them a footprint of more than 35,000 stores to which they distribute products. Through their KeHE Cares foundation, they contribute 10% of annual profits to helping those in need with the volunteer assistance of KeHE employees, they have gone above and beyond to make the world a better place. We are very excited to be part of their elevate™ program in which Koios will benefit from the dedicated support of KeHE’s category managers to drive the success of our products in the stores of their retail partners. We look forward to our continued partnership with KeHE to grow the profile of our KOIOS™ line of nootropic beverages.”

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company,

KOIOS BEVERAGE CORP.

“Chris Miller”

Chris Miller, CEO, and Director