Stryve Foods, Inc.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Strive Foods second quarter fiscal 2023 financial results conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist for pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note, today's event is being recorded. Now I'll turn the call over to Sandy Martin, three-part advisor, to make introductions and read the safe harbor statement. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and welcome to the Strive Foods second quarter earnings conference call. With me today are Strive's Chief Executive Officer, Chris Beaver, and Chief Financial Officer, Alex Hawkins. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that part of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements by their nature are uncertain and outside of the company's control. Actual results could differ materially from these expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed upon them. We do not undertake to update these forward looking statements at a later date and they only refer to today. In addition, today's call will include a discussion of non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to and not a substitute for GAAP financial measures. We refer you to the reconciliation of non-GAAP to the nearest GAAP measure included in today's earnings press release for further detail. This call is being webcast and can be accessed through the audio link on the news and events page of the Investor

section at ir.strive.com and the earnings press release is posted on our website and with that i would now like to turn the call over to chris beaver chris thank you sandy and welcome and thank you for joining us for our second quarter earnings call i have completed my first full year i am proud of the significant accomplishments that the team has achieved we are a new company one that is now an excellent position to deliver against our full potential We have transformed the company from one with a net loss of over $44 million in the 12 months prior to our transformation to one that has improved that by $26 million with a rate of material improvements each and every quarter. One that lost $11.4 million and adjusted even last year in the second quarter to one that lost only $2.4 million on $5 million less in revenue. Our pride is high. We are more determined than ever to build off the foundation created and the momentum we are generating. Upon reflection of my first year with Strive, it is important that we highlight several accomplishments from our transformation. We have streamlined, prioritized the organization, better leveraging our talents and assets. We have simplified our portfolio consistent with our strategy, eliminating approximately two-thirds of our SKUs. We have executed two separate pricing actions, better reflecting inflation, restoring our gross margin potential. We have introduced and now embedded productivity into our culture that will continue to drive enhancements through our P&L. We have clear, measurable goals aligned cross-functionally, ensuring organizational focus. We have conducted research and are now leveraging consumer and customer insights to better understand what's working and what's not. We have listened to these insights, analyzed, and are now actioning the voice of the consumer and customer. We have created and are launching new strategic brand positioning, clearly segmenting each brand, the role of each brand, complementing the broader category with innovative solutions. We have addressed product quality, delivering a consistent, high-quality consumer experience, utilizing process discipline, focusing on our core product. We have instituted a zero-waste culture, ensuring we are not simply delivering better-for-you protein stands, but also responsibly ensuring we are better for the planet. We have developed innovative capabilities, including a pipeline of ideas that are prioritized and focused for multi-year growth and margin expansion. We developed and launched into the meat sticks segment on both Strive and Vacadillo's brands in stick and bite form, which is over half the current category's dollar sales. I want to assure all stakeholders that we are maniacally focused on the management and oversight of costs, resources, investments, capital, debt, and all aspects related to cash. In parallel, we have gained nearly a 20% increase in our total points of distribution, improved our price mix by nearly 16%, and have created momentum in our top line, as evidenced by the most recent 12-week spins data, where we have delivered nearly 35% growth in measured channels. The amount of progress aggregately is impressive. I am immensely appreciative of my teammates. We are energized and committed to the next phase of our journey, delivering growth and profitability. In mid-July, we provided preliminary financial highlights for the second quarter of 2023 and announced a reverse stock split that was effective on July 14th. In line with our second quarter sales range, we reported net sales of $6 million for the company's second fiscal quarter that ended June 30th. We knew at the beginning of the year we'd face challenges forecasting with precision given our SKU rationalization, renovation, innovation agenda, and distribution plans for 2023 juxtaposed with retailer and category dynamics. Lots of moving parts. and our transformation over the 12 months. The new stride has already started to demonstrate momentum in our business with meaningful opportunities in front of us. Our changes and improvements in strategy, structure, process, culture, and capabilities have cleared the way for us growing sequentially. We continue to execute against multiple sizable opportunities in front of us, advancing into the next phase of our plan, growth. which leads to profitability. Since our last earnings call, we have been executing on two important and meaningful accomplishments. Recall our innovation launch of the Vacadillo's brand, where we expanded our fast-growing lineup of carne seca with a new flavor of chipotle honey, hoping to make it the fastest-growing brand in the jerky segment. We also entered into the large and growing meat stick segment with Vacadillo's. introducing two terrific, great-tasting offerings, chili lime and habanero beef sticks. Baccadillo's air-dried beef sticks deliver important consumer benefits. Higher grams of protein, 14 grams, with no sugar, no preservatives, only ingredients that consumers can pronounce, versus the Category Leader, which delivers only 6 grams of protein with a very different ingredient panel. With these attributes, it's no surprise that we are encouraged by the consumer's response. Q2 was driven by innovative platforms and extensions, our Folds of Honor partnership on the Strive brand, our new brand positioning with a new package starting to transition in-store. Our portfolio has been rationalized and optimized simultaneously, and we created and are now implementing and executing the strategic imperatives. We have been aggressively managing costs, investments, cash, and more. Our performance management plan supports the objectives, goals, strategies, and metrics, and the organization is executing as one team. Enterprise-wide alignment is a key component as we become a true operating company. I continue to be very pleased about the response from our retail partners to our new category growth strategy. focus on assortment optimization. Many retailer category reviews are underway. Additional distribution wins are being awarded across all classes of trade. We will continue to experience increases in distribution and velocity. As always, we will share those once active in-store. Our new strategy is working, and we are just getting started. We are focused on driving trial with better in-store tactics along with a new compelling marketing campaign inclusive of Folds of Honor Patriotic Pact. We have built a foundation. We are proving that we are building a great company, one that responsibly manages costs, drives productivity, expands margins, improves cash, builds brands, builds consumer loyalty, collaborates with retailers, earns greater market share, and invests strategically for return. We are growing and we will grow faster and we will deliver profit with that growth. We are starting to see the impact the chains are having in our numbers. We expect to grow at a rate well above the meat snack category with accelerating consumption, ultimately earning more gain in market share. We will not grow at all costs. We are partnering with retailers collaboratively executing on the fundamentals, distribution, shelving, merchandising, and pricing. We will enhance margins with operational improvement. We will keep costs down, and we are committed to delivering a profitable, innovative, growing company with the very best tasting, better for you offerings this category has ever seen. We continue to beat the drum about a zero-waste culture. We now have several value-generating initiatives where the team has discovered and are implementing ways to eliminate and monetize what was formerly known as waste, providing solutions that enhance our economic outcome and our environmental impact. In addition to Two Tails Pet Treats, we are now selling shelf-stable ingredients to manufacturers of ready-to-eat kits or MRE kits, Both of these initiatives are proving to be incremental to our core business. As many of you know, prior to Strive, I had the privilege to be a part of successful turnarounds and have learned what it takes. Ownership, clarity, focus, discipline, engagement, teamwork, patience, and consistency. The speed that we have progressed and are executing on cost, cash management, productivity, combined with optimizing the portfolio, including the rationalization renovation and innovation of our multi-brand portfolio has been truly impressive we are delivering on each and everything i said we would as i outlined our new strategy we continue to set new quarterly records for company performance and we have demonstrated that we deliver on our commitments our second quarter was our fourth consecutive quarter of improved year-over-year operational and financial results with narrow losses and improved adjusted EBITDA. Transformations of this magnitude, ones that require fixing, creating, and building for a company our size, undoubtedly will create trappiness on timing of each and every metric, especially revenues, given our stage distribution is and will be a significant growth driver, which creates variability in the timing and scale of revenue flows. As we continue to gain scale, better visibility will be an outgrowth, leading to increased predictability over time. With that being said, we continue to accelerate improvements in all we do, significantly narrowing the rate of losses with promised and expectations of profitability in the near future. With that, I'll turn the call over to Al.