Westrock Coffee Hosts Groundbreaking Ceremony to Begin Refurbishments on New Facility in Conway

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – November 9, 2022 – Westrock Coffee Company (Nasdaq: WEST) (“Westrock Coffee,” or the “Company”), announced today the company hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its new, state-of-the-art, roasting to ready-to-drink (RTD) facility in Conway, Arkansas. Company executives including Westrock Coffee CEO and Co-founder, Scott Ford attended the event that took place at 480 Exchange Avenue, Conway, Arkansas on November 9, 2022. Charles Nabholz, Chairman Emeritus of Nabholz Construction, a multi-service contractor leading the refurbishments, also attended the groundbreaking ceremony. 

“We are thrilled to start the renovations of Westrock Coffee’s largest production facility,” said Scott Ford, Westrock Coffee CEO and Co-founder. “As an industry leader, Westrock Coffee provides beverage solutions to the most distinguished brands around the world, and this new facility enables us to further our ability to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers in a variety of formats.”

In addition, Joe T. Ford, Co-founder and Chairman of Westrock Coffee said, “It is particularly meaningful to me to have the nation’s largest roasting to ready-to-drink packaging facility in Conway, my hometown. Starting these upgrades marks a significant milestone in our company’s history to further accomplish our mission.”

Once fully operational, the 524,000 square foot facility will be the largest roasting to ready-to-drink (RTD) operation of its kind. The facility will offer ample space for the development, production, and distribution of our coffee, tea, and RTD products, including ready-to-drink cans, glass bottles, multi-serve plastic bottles, and bag-in-box (BiB) solutions. The space will also incorporate a premiere product development lab, enabling the Company to create, test, and produce new beverage solutions.

“Nabholz is proud to partner with Westrock Coffee on this important project that will bring new employment opportunities to the region,” said Charles Nabholz, Chairman Emeritus of Nabholz. “We look forward to the road ahead and bringing this new facility to life.” 

The Conway facility is one of eight global Westrock sites providing coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients solutions sourced from 35 origins around the world. Currently Westrock provides over 20 million cups of coffee a day and is the number one provider of coffee and tea to foodservice in the U.S. as well as a leading coffee extracts supplier in RTD coffee. 

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended from time to time.  Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, certain plans, expectations, goals, projections, and statements about the benefits of the build-out of the Company’s Conway, Arkansas flavors, extracts and ingredients facility, the plans, objections, expectations, and intentions of Westrock Coffee, and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements are based on information available to Westrock Coffee as of the date hereof and Westrock Coffee is not under any duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this communication to conform these statements to actual results. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this communication, and on the current expectations of the management of Westrock Coffee as of the date hereof and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as and should not be relied on by an investor or others as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Westrock Coffee. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political, and legal conditions;  risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to Westrock Coffee; risks related to the rollout of Westrock Coffee’s business and the timing of expected business milestones; the effects of competition on Westrock Coffee’s business; the ability of Westrock Coffee to issue equity or equity-linked securities or obtain debt financing in the future; the risk that Westrock Coffee fails to fully realize the potential benefits of acquisitions or has difficulty successfully integrating acquired companies; the availability of equipment and the timely performance by suppliers involved with the build-out of the Conway, Arkansas facility; the loss of significant customers; and those factors discussed in Westrock Coffee’s registration statement on Form S-1, which was initially filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on September 20, 2022, under the heading “Risk Factors”, and other documents Westrock Coffee has filed, or will file, with the SEC. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that Westrock Coffee does not presently know, or that Westrock Coffee currently believes are immaterial, that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, the forward-looking statements reflect Westrock Coffee’s expectations, plans, or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Westrock Coffee anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Westrock Coffee’s assessments to change. However, while Westrock Coffee may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Westrock Coffee specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a representation of Westrock Coffee’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

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