TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--General Assembly Holdings Limited (the “Company” or “GA Pizza”) (TSXV: GA), an innovative, premium consumer packaged goods (“CPG”) brand dedicated to making delicious pizzas available to everyone, everywhere, and Fortinos Supermarket, a Loblaw Companies Ltd. (“Loblaw”) owned grocery chain, announce a significant expansion of a wholesale partnership that makes GA Pizza’s premium, naturally leavened frozen pizzas available at all 23 Fortinos banner stores.
In 2021, GA Pizza announced a five-store pilot program with Fortinos which, at the time, was the brand’s biggest push into retail channels. Since then, shoppers at select Fortinos stores got to experience General Assembly’s elevated frozen pizzas, with pies designed by real chefs and made with premium ingredients and all-natural dough. The pilot was a success, with General Assembly providing additional support through store samplings and promotional pricing over a 3-week period. Fortinos will now launch GA pizza across all locations effective April 28.
GA Pizza is now available at over 300 retail stores in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta. Today’s announcement advances the Company’s goal of reaching 400 retail doors by the end of 2022.
“The expansion of our partnership with Fortinos is another validation of our core, strategic expansion plan as we continue to scale our retail footprint” said Ali Khan Lalani, GA Pizza’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “With our new production facility online and smart distribution partnerships in place, we are focused on continuing to make it easy for shoppers to access our products, in grocery freezers and beyond. The Fortinos brand is as synonymous with quality as we are, and we are pleased to be working with such a trusted grocer to further grow our retail business.”
“Customers at the five stores in our pilot program showed us that they, too, were drawn to what we already knew about GA Pizza – that this frozen product delivered on the quality and great taste which we knew from their fresh line,” said Beverly Wright, Director of Marketing at Fortinos. “Expanding this partnership to our entire chain made perfect sense.”
About GA Pizza
GA Pizza began its life as a fast-casual pizza restaurant in the heart of Toronto. Four years later, we also offer a freezer-to-table consumer packaged goods line and a revolutionary direct-to-consumer eCommerce experience—not to mention a pizza box with more than one pizza in it. Our ambition? Make delicious pizzas available to everyone, everywhere. We’re always working to take pizza to new heights—from showing the world that better pizza is possible, to finding new spaces and places to deliver unrivaled pizza experiences. Find us in your freezer or visit gapizza.com for more information.
Visit invest.gapizza.com or gapizza.com for more information.
Cautionary Notice
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Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains statements which constitute “forward-looking information” or “forward-looking statements” (together “forward-looking information”) within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs, and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words “may”, “would”, “could”, “should”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” or similar expressions and includes information regarding anticipated increases to the Company's production capacity at the master facility and the Company's growth strategy.
Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflect the Company’s management’s expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance, or achievements of the combined company. Among key factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information may include, without limitation, the following: there being no market for the securities of the Company; the Company’s limited operating history; global economic risk; COVID-19’s impact on the Company; the general economic environment; cybersecurity risks; financial projections may prove materially inaccurate or incorrect; the Company may experience difficulties to forecast sales; general competition in the industry from other companies; management of growth-related risks; reliance on management; risks relating to insurance; changes in food and supply costs could adversely affect profitability and ultimately our results of operations; our business could be adversely affected by increased labour costs or difficulties in finding suitable employees; changes in customer tastes and preferences, spending patterns and demographic trends could cause sales to decline; changes in nutrition and food regulation; failure to establish our master production facility; failure to expand production capacity; disruption at our facilities; government regulation of the food industry creating risks and challenges; risk associated with food safety and consumer health; changes in internet and social media search algorithms; risks associated with leasing commercial and retail space; third party reliance for shipping and payment processing; environmental laws; we may not persuade customers of the benefits of paying our prices for higher-quality food; our marketing and advertising strategies may not be successful, which could adversely impact our business; requirements for further financing; the Company may prioritize customer growth and engagement and the customer experience over short-term financial results. This forward-looking information may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the business of the Company and market conditions.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated, or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law.
