• Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend secured three new distributors, expanding foodservice and ecommerce channels in North America, with access to more than 3,000 independent cafes
• Independent coffee shops have begun replacing almond and soy milk with the Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend sesamemilk as a more delicious and sustainable option that performs extremely well in coffee beverages
• US$2.0 billion plant-based barista market opportunity in the United States
• Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend was the only plant milk recognized as a finalist for Best Product of the Year at the 2022 Specialty Coffee Expo, the largest national coffee show in the United States

CHICAGO, IL and VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 14, 2022 / The Planting Hope Company Inc. (TSXV: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 it has secured three new distributors for its Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend, expanding retail, foodservice, and ecommerce channels in North America.

"Coming out of the Specialty Coffee Association show, we're off to a phenomenal start only six weeks after we first debuted Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend to the industry," said Julia Stamberger, CEO and Co-founder of Planting Hope. "The feedback we heard is clear: sesamemilk is disrupting the third wave coffee industry where quality and sustainability matter, and not just to consumers, but also to producers, importers, roasters, and baristas. This momentum is inspiring coffee shops across the country to replace almond and soy with sesamemilk, which is being called a ‘game-changing' plant milk for coffeeshops - a delicious, more sustainable option, which performs like a dream in hot and cold beverages."

Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend was the only plant-based milk finalist for Best New Product, Specialty Coffee Beverage Additive at the national Specialty Coffee Expo 2022.

Planting Hope's growth and innovation continues to push boundaries and disrupt the plant-based food and beverage industry, and sesamemilk is rapidly gaining favor. The Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend has secured the following distributors, reaching more than 3,000 independent coffee shops:

• Odeko, a mobile app that allows consumers to select their favorite local coffee shop, café, or bakery and order their preferred coffee beverage while enabling these independent small businesses to manage their inventory, has added Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend to its platform for coffee shops in Metro New York City, Atlanta, Charlotte, and San Francisco.
• Baristaundergound.com, the leading online wholesale supplier of coffee and tea accessories to independent espresso cafés, has agreed to list Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend in its offerings and to ship anywhere in the USA, making Barista Blend available to their customers across the country.
• Ecoideas, a leading manufacturer and distributor of natural health products to retailers across Canada, has added Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend to its product offering.

"At Odeko, we're constantly looking for new delicious alternatives to traditional dairy, and the rise in plant milks is making waves across coffee shops big and small," said Jake Weiser, Senior Manager of Vendor Relations at Odeko. "We are excited to partner with The Planting Hope Company and offer their Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend sesamemilk to our network of cafés and small businesses. Together, we look forward to planting hope and creating a more sustainable future for us all."

Out With Almond, in With Sesame!
Joining the sesamemilk movement, the following independent coffee shops have announced they are replacing almond milk with the Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend on their menu:

• Spiller Park (Atlanta, Georgia)
• Coffee Apothecary (Bettendorf, Iowa)
• Fount Board and Table (Dallas, Texas)
• Kindness & Mischief (Los Angeles, California)

"Since before I can remember, I've craved a frothy, plant-based milk cappuccino, but soy, almond, and oat milk never met my needs," said Dale Donchey, Owner of Spiller Park. "After trying the Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend, I couldn't help but smile. Their sesamemilk is not only delicious, but the company's ethos and dedication to the environment makes it even more desirable. The team at Spiller Park is very impressed, we have replaced almond milk at all our locations with sesamemilk - a much more nutritious and sustainable option."

"I opened Coffee Apothecary to redefine not only what a coffee shop looked and felt like in our area, but to also bring ingenuity and growth to the Quad Cities coffee shop scene," said Lindsey Schmidt, Owner of Coffee Apothecary. "From day one, I have made sure I am using the highest quality product, from companies who are truly making a difference. When I came across Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend sesamemilk and read about the company's mission and how nut milk truly impacts our environment, I decided to replace almond milk with sesamemilk in my café. Not only is Hope & Sesame's mission spot on, but the product itself is delicious and top notch in terms of performance in our coffee beverages."

Café Channel Expands Hope and Sesame® Market Opportunity
Planting Hope has conducted an internal research and analysis of the plant-based barista market opportunity in the United States based on market data from a few key distributors in the foodservice space and independent cafes. The key findings are as follows:

• Plant milk usage at independent cafes is trending at 46% of total milk usage (all milks including dairy and plant milks), indicating a market size of US $2.0 billion per year for this channel. This is up from 30% of total milk usage in 2019, or a $1.35 billion plant-based milk market through the more than 31,000 independent cafés in the United States (not including large coffee chains and other points of purchase for barista plant-based milks and creamers).
• Independent café feedback indicates a pervasive interest in more sustainable alternatives to replace almond milk, creating a disruptive opportunity for Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend.
• Coffee shop milk options can influence consumer awareness and have a lead-on effect to consumption behavior trends in the grocer channel.

Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend

• 4g complete plant-based protein per serving (provides all nine essential amino acids)
• Excellent source of Calcium and a good source of Vitamin D and Phosphorus
• Vegan / Soy-Free / Dairy-Free / Gluten-Free Certified / Kosher Certified
• Froths, foams and steams like a dream, great for latte art!
• Delicious in any hot or iced drink

Sesame - One of the Most Sustainable Crops on the Planet

• Requires little water to cultivate, thrives in drought conditions
• Bee-friendly, self-pollinating
• An excellent cover crop, contributing positively to sustainable agriculture
• Sesamemilk upcycles the protein remaining after sesame seeds are pressed for oil (traditionally considered a by-product used primarily for animal feed)

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, Barista Blend was a finalist for Best Product of the Year at the 2022 Specialty Coffee 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 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 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.