Deepened leadership across sales, marketing,
finance, and tech to accelerate GA Pizza's retail channel
growth
General Assembly Holdings Limited (the “Company” or
“GA Pizza”) (TSXV: GA), a Toronto pizza
restaurant-turned-omnichannel consumer packaged goods
(“CPG”) brand, today announced four key leadership
appointments that will further accelerate the Company’s rapid
growth into retail channels:
- Director of Sales, Brendan Beamish brings extensive
experience leading sales for established CPG brands, including
Nature’s Path Foods, Smucker Foods of Canada, Folgers Coffee and
Steam Whistle Brewing. In his new role, he will apply his skills
managing teams, implementing sales and market development
strategies and navigating the landscape of major Canadian retailers
to drive meaningful growth in GA’s promising grocery business.
“I was drawn to GA Pizza because of the
strength of the brand,” said Mr. Beamish. “The immediate growth
opportunity at Canadian retail is undeniable. GA's better-made
pizzas are clearly differentiated in the frozen section and are
expected to draw new customers into the segment while driving
revenue growth for retailers. General Assembly's
hospitality-inspired approach to doing business will make growing
our sales fun!"
- Senior Vice President, Marketing Ryan Donik brings over
a decade of experience optimizing the marketing efforts behind
premium brands. Prior to joining GA Pizza, Mr. Donik was at Samsung
Canada, where he led digital and traditional marketing for the
Company’s consumer electronics divisions. Before that, he worked at
Loblaw Companies Limited, where he honed such iconic Canadian
brands as President's Choice® and no name®, and pioneered new DTC
experiences with PC.ca and joefresh.com. His experience in premium
and retail spaces, love of data-informed decision-making and
passion for good food will take GA Pizza’s powerful brand to the
next level.
“GA Pizza has a culture rooted in
breakthrough innovation, trust and consumer experience,” said Mr.
Donik. “The Company has plenty of opportunities to further
establish itself as a solid CPG brand, and our team has the skills
to accelerate the brand as a definitive benchmark in a new category
for Canadians.”
- Katharine Joakim has been appointed Chief Financial
Officer of the Company with effect as of January 24, 2022,
subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (“TSXV”).
Ms. Joakim brings over a decade of experience leading finance
functions at such organizations as Tsavo Media and Fibernetics. Her
strong technical accounting skills, including financial reporting
and forecasting, analysis and implementation of both U.S. GAAP,
ASPE and IFRS, stock compensation analysis, transfer pricing and
tax provision work, positions GA Pizza with the fiscal experience
and discipline to smoothly navigate continued growth.
“GA Pizza’s rapid growth over the past few
years has been incredible to see and could be surpassed by
realizing on the opportunities to scale the business,” said Ms.
Joakim. “I’m looking forward to maintaining our strong books so we
can capitalize on the tremendous opportunities that await.”
- Eric Hacke is promoted to the new role of Senior Vice
President, Technology. Mr. Hacke joined GA Pizza in early 2021
as Vice-President of Software Engineering. Before that, he worked
as founder and lead developer for a series of startups and
mid-sized tech companies, building new products for such
organizations as Honeywell, Voiceflow and Xero. Mr. Hacke’s strong
history of technical leadership and deep understanding of
fast-growing teams have been instrumental in strengthening GA
Pizza’s tech stack. In his new position, he will strengthen the
technical backbone required for rapid retail expansion, including
building out the Company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) (to
support scaling production and more complex supply chains) and
improving business intelligence and analytics (to better empower
sales and production management).
“A business with growth as fast and
multifaceted as GA Pizza’s requires a technological back-end that
is robust, reliable and scalable—a dream challenge for a software
engineer,” said Mr. Hacke. “Our tech team was pivotal to
collecting, safeguarding, and measuring our progress to get to this
point, and we’ll be just as crucial as GA Pizza navigates through
its next phases of growth.”
“These four appointments strengthen GA Pizza’s bench as we ready
ourselves for the strong long-term growth expected to come from our
shift towards being an omnichannel CPG brand, with a focus on
grocery retail,” said Ali Khan Lalani, Founder and CEO of GA
Pizza. “Their collective experiences leading CPG brands and scaling
businesses will help us grow into our next phase—particularly,
scaling the number of stores that carry our delicious pizzas—and
better position us on our path toward profitability.”
In light of the foregoing appointments, each of Jeff Collins and
Greg Pogue have resigned as Chief Financial Officer and Chief
Technology Officer of the Company, respectively, effective January
24, 2022.
Following the Company's announcement on December 21, 2021
regarding its engagement of Sophic Capital Inc. to provide capital
markets advisory services, the Company announces the termination of
its investor relations services engagement with Bristol Capital
Ltd. with effect as of December 1, 2021.
The Company also reports that the TSX Venture Exchange has
accepted previously announced loans in the aggregate principal
amount of $3,000,000 (the “Loan”). The Company wishes to
clarify the terms of the monitoring fee payable in connection with
the Loan. Each lender, other than the Related Party Lenders (as
defined below), is entitled to a fixed monthly monitoring fee
during the term of the Loan, equal to 1.2% of the lender’s original
principal amount. In connection with the Loan, on January 24, 2022,
the Company issued an aggregate of 3,504,077 common share purchase
warrants (collectively, “Bonus Warrants”) to the lenders, as
loan bonuses, with 1,851,849 of such Bonus Warrants (the
“Initial Bonus Warrants”) entitling the applicable lender to
acquire one (1) Class A common share of the Company (“Common
Share”) during the forty-two month period following the loan
date (the “Exercise Period”) at an exercise price of $1.08
and 1,652,228 of such Bonus Warrants entitling the applicable
lender to acquire one (1) Common Share during the Exercise Period
at an exercise price of $0.76. Each of Ted Hastings, director of
the Company, and Jeff Collins, former Chief Financial Officer of
the Company (the “Related Party Lenders”), were issued
231,481 of the Initial Bonus Warrants pursuant to the terms of the
Loan entered into on November 5, 2021. Please see press releases
from November 5, 2021 and December 31, 2021 for additional
information regarding the Loan.
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
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
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.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220125005556/en/
Media Tat Read, Communications Director, GA Pizza
tat@gapizza.com
Investor Relations Eric Balshin, Sophic Capital
invest@gapizza.com
Ali Khan Lalani, Chief Executive Officer & Founder (416)
583-5571
General Assembly (TSXV:GA)
過去 株価チャート
から 11 2024 まで 12 2024
General Assembly (TSXV:GA)
過去 株価チャート
から 12 2023 まで 12 2024
