ST. CHARLES, Ill., June 7, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Universal Food & Beverage Company located in St. Charles, Illinois (OTCBB:UFBV) is pleased to announce its first corporate update.
Former President of IGA North America, Duane Martin, will lead Universal Food & Beverage Company ("Universal") toward a dominant position in the $7 billion bottled water industry, in addition to increasing market share with the Company's present line-up of value added beverages and contract packing capabilities for other brand owners and private label clients. Expansion plans are underway to increase its current production facilities tenfold with capacity of 17 million cases over the next 12 months.
Mr. Martin has assembled a high powered management team with experience in manufacturing, branding and distribution of products to grocers and big box retailers.
Universal's founding shareholder and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Duane Martin recently explained Universal's corporate development strategy as follows: "We created this company from scratch with one core objective, to build Universal as the dominant player in the beverage co-packing and specialty bottled water market, an exploding segment of the industry. With our foundation of proven senior management; a portfolio of trademarked products targeted to meet existing market demands; a highly expandable state of the art production facility with untapped spring water resources; and our ability to anticipate and react to market demands, there is no question that Universal is poised to become a dominant industry player."
Currently, Universal owns and operates a bottling process plant in Independence, Virginia. Recently announced plans to call for Universal to increase current production capacity from 2.4 million cases annually of single serve water and cold fill product, to over 17 million cases annually with the addition of gallon packaging and high speed lines to be completed in Q-3 of 2005 along with a cold-blend production facility recently put into operation. This is a remarkable tenfold planned production increase aimed to meet anticipated demand for Universal's products and services.
According to Mr. Marc Fry, past Vice President of Operations for Parmalat and currently President & COO of Universal, "We are one of the few companies that can produce a full range of specialty water including flavored, vitamin, juice-based, isotonics, teas and custom formulated beverages either under our own brand or as single source supplier to private label and other brand owners."
About Universal Food & Beverage Company
Universal Food & Beverage Company is a full-service provider of Universal branded beverages and co-pack private label products for the health conscious consumer.
The Company continues to develop nutritional, controlled-calorie products that provide alternatives to medications and encourage natural living and healing. Universal also develops, tests and perfects production systems including new aseptic processing and packaging systems to enhance product quality. The Company's innovative range of products and systems are developed for both domestic and international markets.
This press release may contain statements, estimates or projections that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). Generally, the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "project," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical in nature. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements concerning future financings, results of operations, financial and business projections, plant expansions and product line acquisitions and product development and marketing. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our present expectations or projections. These risks include, but are not limited to, acceptance of the Company's products in the marketplace; changes in the non-alcoholic beverages business environment, including actions of competitors and changes in consumer preferences; adverse weather conditions; our ability to finance expansion plans and general operating activities; regulatory and legal changes; the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing programs; fluctuations in the cost and availability of raw materials; dependence upon third-party vendors; our ability to achieve earnings forecasts; integration of acquisitions; ability to sustain and manage growth; and changes in economic and political conditions. You should not place undue reliance on forward- looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.