Any failure to adequately store, maintain and deliver our products could materially adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, and operating results. Our ability to adequately store, maintain, and deliver our products is critical to our business. Keeping our food products frozen at specific temperatures maintains food safety. In the event of extended power outages, labor disruptions, natural disasters or other catastrophic occurrences, failures of the refrigeration systems in our thirdparty warehouses or delivery trucks, or other circumstances, our inability to store inventory at freezing temperatures could result in significant product inventory losses, as well as increased risk of food-borne illnesses and other food safety incidents. Improper handling or storage of food by a customer, without any involvement or fault of ours or our retail customers, could result in food-borne illnesses, which could result in negative publicity and harm to our brand and reputation. Further, we contract with third-party warehousing and logistics companies to conduct certain processes and operations on our behalf. Any failure by these business partners to adequately store, maintain, or transport our products could negatively impact the safety, quality and merchantability of our products and the experience of our customers. The occurrence of any of these risks could materially adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, and operating results. Failure to retain our senior management may adversely affect our operations. Our success and future growth depend in part on the continued services of our senior management, including Bryan Freeman, our Executive Chairman, Gerard G. Law, our Chief Executive Officer, and Akshay Jagdale, our Chief Financial Officer. These executives are responsible for determining the strategic direction of our business and executing our growth strategy. They are also critical to our ability to attract and retain employees, including additional skilled management personnel. From time to time, there may be changes in our senior management personnel or other key employees resulting from the hiring or departure of these personnel, which may disrupt our business. Our executive officers and other key employees are generally employed on an at-will basis, which means that these personnel could terminate their employment with us at any time. The loss of the services of any of these personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business, as we may not be able to find suitable individuals to replace them on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, any such departure could be viewed negatively by employees, customers, investors or business partners, which could harm our reputation. Further, we do not currently carry key-person life insurance for any of our senior management personnel. Our corporate culture has contributed to our success and, if we cannot maintain this culture as we grow, we could lose the creativity, teamwork, focus, and innovation fostered by our culture. Our corporate culture focuses on trust and respect, relentless product innovation and improvement, as well as transparency, accountability, and ownership. We believe that our culture has been and will continue to be a key contributor to our success. If we do not continue to develop our corporate culture or maintain our core values as we grow and evolve, we may be unable to foster the creativity, teamwork, focus, and innovation we believe we need to support our growth. Any failure to preserve our culture could negatively affect our ability to recruit and retain personnel, effectively drive product innovation, and achieve our strategic objectives. If we are unable to attract, train, and retain employees, our business may be adversely impacted. Our ability to execute our growth plan and achieve our strategic objectives depends in part upon our ability to attract, train, and retain a sufficient number of qualified employees (including contract employees hired through professional employer organizations (“PEOs”)) who can manage our business, oversee our manufacturing operations, and establish credibility with our customers, co-manufacturers, suppliers, and other business partners. However, competition for qualified employees (including contract employees) is intense within our industry and the geographic regions in which we operate, and we and our co-manufacturers have experienced challenges hiring and retaining employees as a result of a number of factors, including upward pressure on wages, the increased mobility of the workforce, which resulted, in part, from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. If we are unable to attract and retain the personnel necessary to execute our growth plan, we may be unable to achieve our strategic objectives. 21
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