Artisanal Brands, Inc. Closes in on Capital Plans

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Artisanal Brands, Inc. AHFP, a marketer and distributor of specialty, artisanal and farmstead cheeses and other specialty food products, announced that it has surpassed the half-way mark on its $2 million convertible preferred stock offering and plans to complete the offering in the coming weeks based on investor interest to date. Completion of the offering will trigger the conversion of $4.5 million of early stage shareholder loans into preferred shares at $1.00 per share and common stock at $.30 per share, respectively, thus improving the Company's balance sheet, and will add more capital to expand its sales organization.

The Company is also pleased that its e-commerce revenues this holiday season have returned to pre-recession levels. Daniel W. Dowe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Artisanal, said, “While sales are always more robust during the holiday season, this year Artisanal boxes were shipped to every state --even Hawaii and Alaska--as well as to Puerto Rico. With partners like Frontgate, Allen Brothers, Sur La Table, Saks and Neiman-Marcus our brand was visible online and in millions of catalogues these partners mailed.

Our corporate gifting program has expanded to numerous Fortune 500 companies including large commercial real estate firms and premium luxury travel agents that have year-long gifting opportunities for client-customers, tenants and employee incentives programs. We are excited by our new partnerships with online wine merchants that are marketing our cheeses (using the Artisanal CheeseClock® cheese & wine pairing methodology) to their wine consumers under a revenue sharing plan. In just one click, a wine consumer can purchase cheeses at our website that pairs with the wines they just selected.

The Company also reports that all permits have been filed and construction will be underway toward building the first Artisanal Premium Cheese café at the entrance of the Falchi Building in Long Island City to open in Spring 2014. The store will be a combined cheese shop and café with a cheese-centric breakfast, lunch and bar menu.

By the end of this week, the Company expects to submit for auditor review its outstanding SEC filings. Says Dowe, "Since the close of our fiscal year on May 31, we have moved our operations twice--once to a temporary location in Long Island City and then again to our permanent home at the Falchi Building. These moves, the time and resources devoted to building the new caves and offices in time for the holiday season, limited staff and auditing delays all contributed to the late filings. Now that we have settled in and with the holidays behind us, we want to fasttrack these filings and get on with the task of growing our business and advancing the exciting plans that we have for the new year in food service, corporate gifting, online wine partners, retail wine merchants and, of course, the new cheese shop and café."

The Company also plans to announce a date later this summer for its annual shareholders' meeting and a new ticker symbol that fits our brand. "We have postponed the meeting so that we can to celebrate the new cheese center and cheese shop café. We appreciate having dedicated shareholders that share our vision for Artisanal Premium Cheese becoming the brand of choice for consumers and have hung in there with us and our meeting should be a great event."

About Artisanal Brands, Inc.

Artisanal Brands Inc. is based in New York City and markets Artisanal Premium Cheese's line products to food wholesalers and retailers, and directly to consumers through its website, www.artisanalcheese.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Forward-looking statements made in this press release are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. They are based on management's expectations that involve potential risks and uncertainties (more fully described in Company filings made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) that may result in such expectations not being realized.