Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 28, 2023) - Happy Belly Food Group Inc. (CSE: HBFG) (OTCQB: VGANF) ("Happy Belly" or the "Company"), a leading consolidator of emerging food brands is pleased to announce that on April 28th, 2023 it has signed an area development agreement for the province of Alberta for the opening of 30 franchise restaurants of HEAL Wellness, a fresh smoothie bowls, acai bowls, smoothies, and delicious breakfast waffles quick serve restaurant.
"Today's announcement of establishing our 3rd franchised brand propels HEAL Wellness into a national franchise brand. By using our existing team and road map for accelerated growth, we are quickly building HEAL into an established brand across Canada. I became a huge fan of Heal the moment I drove to Hamilton for the 'belly check'. To see these founders now expanding their brand nationally less than a year later from the day we signed a deal with them is pretty incredible to watch. The four original partners in Heal, Jay, Jesse, Kartik and Ryan have the best smoothie bowl product in Canada by far. Albertans are in for a special treat very shortly as we expect to see our 1st locations begin to open in 2023," said Sean Black, Chief Investment Officer of Happy Belly.
"Since the start of 2023 we have built a pipeline of 110 QSR units combined across our brand portfolio that are in franchising development. We are showing our brand partners and shareholders just how serious we are about accelerated growth in an asset light franchise model. Keeping in mind I have only been at Happy Belly full time for less than a year so we are just getting started."
"Our franchise development model, real estate growth plan and accelerated brand development framework are the three pillars enabling us to achieve our goals at an accelerated pace. Speed to market is crucial when scaling an emerging brand, and we plan to leverage our platform across our portfolio to help us achieve this."
"Stephen Travers was the 1st Extreme Pita Franchisee ever, and later the 1st ever Area-Developer for Extreme Pita, Mucho Burrito and Via Cibo. He has over 20 years of QSR experience. Stephen brings along with him his full service team on the ground in Alberta and track record of developing brands quickly in Western Canada. Stephen has developed over 150 QSR restaurants and has delivered for us time and time again as we built our previous brands so the opportunity to put the band back together makes perfect sense. Happy Belly is quickly become a national franchisor of emerging brands."
HEAL Wellness is the third brand this year within the Happy Belly Portfolio that has announced and begun its franchising development roadmap. For franchising inquiries please see www.happybellyfg.com/franchise-with-us/ or contact us at hello@happybellyfg.com.
About Heal Wellness
Prior to becoming a founding partner of Heal Wellness, Jay Zuccato was a spokesperson alongside a globally distributed nutritional companies to market health and wellness foods. Long-time childhood friend and also a founding partner of Heal Wellness, Jesse Davidson, specialized in business operations with one of Canada's top protein companies as they grew nationwide in operations and storefronts.
With these strong backgrounds and a passion for wellness, they came together to identify a need for a quick-serve healthy food lifestyle. In June of 2019, they responded to this need by opening the first Heal Wellness location in their hometown of Hamilton, Ontario with the goal of being at the forefront of the health food revolution.
"Heal Wellness was created out of a passion and mission to serve quick, fresh wellness foods that power and support a busy, active lifestyle. Currently, we are pleased to offer a wide variety of smoothie bowls, smoothies, and delicious breakfast waffles. We are proud to highlight that every superfood ingredient in the Heal Wellness menu is carefully selected with the intention of fueling the body with a reduced ecological footprint," said Jesse Davidson, Co-founder of Heal Wellness.
About Happy Belly Food Group
Happy Belly Food Group Inc. (CSE: HBFG) (OTCQB: VGANF) ("Happy Belly" or the "Company"), a leading consolidator of emerging food brands.
Happy Belly Food Group Shawn Moniz Chief Executive Officer
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.
All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include the future performance of LumberHeads Food Co. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. There are no assurances that the business plans for Happy Belly described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis and other disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulators, which are posted on www.sedar.com.
