• Planting Hope gains distribution access to virtually every independent coffee shop in the U.S. through leading e-commerce platform BaristaUnderground.com and adds new direct café distribution partners in both the Mid-Atlantic region and the San Francisco Bay Area
• Planting Hope announces its sponsorship of the upcoming South Chicago Dance Theatre's gala performance, An Evening With the South Chicago Dance Theatre: Celebrating Five Years, on May 20, 2022, with free tickets for baristas and café industry partners
• Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk received an honorable mention in the Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Awards food category for companies changing the world through food

CHICAGO, IL and VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 19, 2022 / The Planting Hope Company Inc. (TSXV:MYLK) (FRA:J94) ("Planting Hope" or the "Company"), a plant-based food and beverage company focused on producing the world's most nutritious and planet-friendly products, is pleased to announce that Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend has secured two new distribution partners, with access to an additional 250+ independent cafés in the Mid-Atlantic region and 300+ cafés in the San Francisco Bay Area. Additionally, Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend is now available for direct delivery through BaristaUnderground.com, which provides wholesale pricing and two-day free shipping to more than 10,000 independent cafés across the contiguous 48 states.

"We are very happy to announce that our Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend is now readily available via wholesale distribution to independent cafés everywhere in the continental U.S.," said Julia Stamberger, CEO and Co-founder of Planting Hope. "Additionally, with the addition of distribution partners in the Mid-Atlantic region and San Francisco Bay Area, we are reaching markets with high concentrations of colleges and universities and corporate campuses, where residents tend to have strong preferences for sustainable non-dairy alternative milks like Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk."

Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend® has been added to the following distributors, collectively providing distribution access to most of the independent coffee shops in the U.S.:

• BaristaUnderground.com, a national distributor of products for espresso bars and café foodservice operators in the U.S. owned by Odeko, with a heavily curated assortment targeted at the specific needs of independent cafés, has added Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend to its wholesale customer catalog as a Recommended Item. Cafés receive free two-day shipping across the continental U.S. on minimum orders of $125.
• Humankind, a distributor of products for espresso bars and café foodservice operators servicing the Mid-Atlantic region, is now stocking Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend and making it available to coffee shops in and around Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.
• Odeko, already a leading distribution partner for Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend to the café channel in the eastern U.S., is now stocking Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend in its warehouses servicing independent café customers in the San Francisco Bay Area and surrounding regions.

Sesamemilk Continues to Appear on the Menus of Leading Independent Cafés!
These independent coffee shops announced they have added Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend Sesamemilk to their menus, with Tiny Arms Coffee announcing it is entirely replacing almond milk with the sesamemilk on its menu:

• Tiny Arms Coffee (Lowell, MA)
• Boxwood Coffee Roasters (Westfield, NJ)
• Uncommon Coffee (Essex Junction, VT)

"Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend is perfect for my café; it has a beautiful rich texture in hot or iced beverages," said Maya Crowley, owner of Uncommon Coffee. "It has the perfect amount of sweetness that mimics the caramelization of sugars in dairy milk when steamed. It's free of the most common allergens, and it's delicious!"

Hope and Sesame® Receives Honorable Mention in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Awards
Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk received an honorable mention in the Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Awards food category. A total of 34 companies were recognized by Fast Company for changing the world through food. Read more on Fast Company's website.

Planting Hope Sponsors South Chicago Dance Theatre Gala
Planting Hope is pleased to announce it is sponsoring the South Chicago Dance Theatre's gala performance, An Evening with the South Chicago Dance Theatre: Celebrating Five Years, on May 20, 2022. The South Chicago Dance Theatre ("SCDT") is a multicultural organization aiming to preserve the art of dance through quality performances and educational opportunities. Planting Hope is proud to support SCDT's five-year celebration spotlighting inclusion and empowerment, mirroring the Company's own corporate emphasis on diversity and inclusion.

Baristas and café industry members can each receive two free tickets to the event, while supplies last, by messaging @hopeandsesameco on Instagram or Facebook. Tickets include exclusive access to the Hope and Sesame® intermission lounge, where Planting Hope team member Michelin-starred Chef Henry Hill, will be serving espresso martinis using Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk, as well as non-alcoholic iced chai teas featuring Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend Sesamemilk.

"We are proud to support SCDT's five-year celebration spotlighting inclusion and empowerment, mirroring our own corporate emphasis on diversity and inclusion," said Julia Stamberger, CEO and Co-founder of Planting Hope. "SCDT has quickly become a model of cultural diplomacy and intergenerational learning and exchange with a major impact on the performing arts in Chicago, the city where Planting Hope began."

"In its fifth anniversary season, SCDT performances have reached over 10,000 audience members and our signature Education and Community Programs have supported over 1,000 students on the city's south and west sides and throughout Chicagoland," said Kia Smith, Executive Artistic Director of South Chicago Dance Theatre. "We are incredibly grateful to Planting Hope for their support, which will help our organization continue to reach new audiences and elevate our mission of celebrating diverse contemporary voices in the field of dance."

Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend Sesamemilk

• 4g complete plant-based protein per serving (provides all nine essential amino acids)
• Excellent source of Calcium and a good source of Vitamin D and Phosphorus
• Vegan / Soy-Free / Dairy-Free / Gluten-Free Certified / Kosher Certified
• Froths, foams, and steams like a dream, great for latte art!
• Delicious in any hot or iced drink

Sesame - One of the Most Sustainable Crops on the Planet

• Requires little water to cultivate, thrives in drought conditions
• Bee-friendly, self-pollinating
• An excellent cover crop, contributing positively to sustainable agriculture
• Sesamemilk upcycles the protein remaining after sesame seeds are pressed for oil (traditionally considered a by-product used primarily for animal feed)

About Hope and Sesame®
Hope and Sesame® has cracked the code on unlocking the dense nutrition in tiny sesame seeds, creating an important new trend in plant milk: sesamemilk, both ultra-nutritious and highly planet-friendly. Sesame is sustainable, requiring very little water to cultivate, is naturally drought- and pest-resistant, and can self-pollinate. Sesamemilk is nutritionally comparable to dairy milk, delivering 8g of complete protein per serving (including all nine essential amino acids) - that's 8x the protein in most nut milks and 3x the protein in most oat milks! Specifically developed for and tested by top baristas, Hope and Sesame® Barista Blend Sesamemilk froths, steams, and foams like a dream, great for latte art, and delivers 4g of complete protein per 8oz serving. Sesamemilk is an excellent source of Vitamin D and calcium and is upcycled from the byproduct of sesame oil extraction. Hope and Sesame® Sesamilk™ creamers are free from saturated fat and only 40 calories per serving. All Hope and Sesame® products are vegan, Certified Gluten-Free and Certified Kosher, free from soy and dairy, Non-GMO Project Verified, and Certified by the Plant Based Foods Association. Hope and Sesame® was awarded Best Milk Alternative and Best Plant-Based Sustainability in FoodBev's 2021 World Plant-Based Food Awards, Barista Blend was a finalist for Best Product of the Year at the 2022 Specialty Coffee Awards, and signature Chocolate Hazelnut flavor received the 2020 Sofi Award for Best New Product, Plant-Based Milk from the Specialty Food Association.

About The Planting Hope Company Inc.
Planting Hope develops, launches, and scales uniquely innovative plant-based and planet-friendly food and beverage brands. Planting Hope's award-winning and cutting-edge products fill key unmet needs in the skyrocketing plant-based food and beverage space. The Planting Hope brand family includes Hope and Sesame® Sesamemilk and Sesamilk™ creamers, RightRice® Veggie Rice, Mozaics™ Real Veggie Chips, and Veggicopia® Veggie Snacks. Founded by experienced food industry entrepreneurs, Planting Hope is a women-managed and woman-led company focused on nutrition, sustainability, and diversity. For more information visit: www.plantinghopecompany.com.

Contacts:

Company Contact:
Julia Stamberger
CEO and Co-founder
(773) 492-2243
julia@plantinghopecompany.com

Media Contact:
Jessup PR
Alex Jessup
(323) 529-3541
alex.jessup@jessuppr.com

Investor Relations Contact:
Caroline Sawamoto
Investor Relations
(773) 492-2243
ir@plantinghopecompany.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to hereafter as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements that address activities, events, or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will, or may, occur in the future, including statements about the Company's ability to execute on its goals, the timing pertaining to these goals the potential demand for the Company's products, the timing and success of anticipated product launches and distribution of the Company's products, and the Company's business prospects, future trends, plans and strategies. In some cases, forward looking statements are preceded by, followed by, or include words such as "may", "will," "would", "could", "should", "believes", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "continues", or the negative of those words or other similar or comparable words. In preparing the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, the assumption that demand for the Company's product will be sustained or increase in accordance with management's projections, that the Company's internal research and analysis is indicative of broader market trends and the Company's anticipated future demand for its products, that changes in consumer preferences in the plant-based food industry will continue in accordance with the Company's expectations, that the Company's current business objectives can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected, and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner. Although the management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking statement herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company, as well as trends identified by the Company affecting its industry can be found in the Company's annual information form dated January 6, 2022 and the Company's continuous disclosure record available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Such cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements made in this news release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE: The Planting Hope Company Inc.