Your Products, On the Shelf and into the Cart

Vantage Development – Your Partner in Growth Management

V

What We Do

Vantage is a Premier Contract Regional & National

Sales Team We manage the entire process of sales & brand

development Here is how we do it:

Access to retail buyers (supermarket & alternative classes of trade)

Set up & management of Broker Teams, Distributors & Retailers

Go to market strategy and on-going implementation Vantage direct interaction with buyers at every level Sales plus equal high level financial planning analysis

assistance availability Access to growth capital

Sales Marketing Finance Growth

It’s simple – We get your products in stores and off the shelf

The Vantage Difference

Growth begins with distribution However sustained growth requires a strategy that

matches your brand’s growth potential

Vantage integrates the major components of sustainable growth Direct sales involvement, broker & distributor

management Constant focus upon brand development

opportunity Innovative and cost effective sales approach Financial planning, analysis and communication Positioning & access to growth capital

Result is a custom tailored approach to brand development Vantage serves as a direct extension of your

company providing multiple talent and combined focus specifically tailored to brand development needs

Experience and execution ability extremely difficult to match. All achieved at a fraction of the cost

Sales Managemen

t

FP&AMarketing

Sample Economics: Vantage vs. Hiring In-House

Hiring an in-house regional manager is not cost effective All employee costs incurred by your

company Salary/experience/quality direct correlation Even the best individual can’t match a

multiple talent approach with high level experience

Vantage distributes costs across a select group of companies

Relationships enhanced through association with respected other successful brands

Unparalleled industry experience Vast network of multiple channel buyers,

distributors and brokers Vantage can cut your regional management costs

by over 80%

Vantage Program Options

Representation designed to meet your budget and needs Emerging Brand Market Entry Program: ($1,500 per month)

Senior Director assigned to growth development and Implementation Complete go to market strategy, design and cost analysis Total regional market target account identification and tier group priority

ranking Broker and Distributor assignment, retail support, program

implementation and follow through Enhanced Regional Management & Development ($3,000 per

month plus $800 expenses) All features plus… Direct Management, participation and travel, all major

appointments, shows, training, seminars, full staff support. (Equal or exceeding responsibility of any highly active employee regional director.) Note* Industry average travel and business expense for a single employee regional manager is $2,900 per month. Vantage saves $2,100 per month in expenses alone because of ability to allocated across multiple clients.

Senior Level Financial planning, analysis, growth structuring and multi-year modeling

Premium Combined Senior Mgmt. & Full FP&A ($6,000 per month plus $1,600 expenses) All features plus… Two senior directors assigned to your account

providing extensive multiple level involvement, travel and growth initiative implementation

Regular on-sight participation including financial, capital raising and investment allocation

Retail Channel and Brand Development

Vantage gets your brand in distribution, creates take-away and develops category growth.

Large network of buyers and distributors become an extension of your company Access to more stores and best stores in a smart growth approach Enhanced program development and implementation Optimal cost effective placement achievement

We work hard to develop your brand Marketing, Sales, Positioning, Promotions Unique ability to sell and deliver a multitude of consumers to request your brand at retail Training, Seminars, Presentations, Hdqt. & Retail Direct

Implementation

Result: Smart growth development with enhanced consumer touch points

Brand Building

Retail Access

Growth

E-Commerce Channel Development Food and beverage e-commerce sales in the US is growing at

18% annually. Represents a major growth opportunity for emerging & established companies

Vantage has an exclusive partnership with Taste Trunk, generating significant e-commerce, corporate and retail sales. Respected by major retailers as a true industry partner uniquely positioned to support customer acquisition while delivering brand plus category growth to their stores. Taste Trunk is a national level industry leader serving as a product

discovery source Creates immediate consumer touch by the thousands. Educates the

customer to your brand and then directs the passionate customer to local retail for continued fulfillment

Taste Trunk buys large quantities, ships across the nation in an elegant combined presentation that protects your marketplace SRP

Manufacturer generates large orders producing a loyal and informed new customer. Retailer receives a customer seeking your specific product, achieved category growth, and the ultimate goal of capturing a potential new customer’s entire cart dollar ring.

Major sales tool and leverage ability to support your brand development goals at the retail level.

Vantage also pursues sales and awareness through other online partners:

Retailer, Home delivery, Subscription, Box, Gift Basket, Catalog, Flash Sales sites, CPC Ads, Affiliate programs, Blog partnerships, Food Editors

Sales Management

Managing a broker network internally is not ideal for small companies Cost and resource prohibitive Detracts from other management duties Difficulty in accessing the best brokers

Vantage manages this process for you, more efficiently and in a more cost effective way. We lead through direct sales involvement and provide brokers, distributors and buyers with the support to succeed

Our extensive broker network will enhance your brand footprint Wider distribution of your products Higher touch with retailers Experienced field sales team at the local level Loyalty to existing proven brokers with ability to secure the best, if needed, new broker match from a wide selection in each respective region.

Your Company

Brokers Buyers Distributors

Vantage

Financial Planning and Analysis Vantage helps optimize your distribution channels

Growth is important, but cash flow and profitability is King

Optimization begins with an assessment of channel economics Certain channels can provide more volume, but also require greater up-front

investment This is a cost/benefit tradeoff We subscribe to the smart growth approach, achieved through experience and

extensive account knowledge

We analyze the cost/benefit relative to your production and cash constraints Financial projections act as a blueprint for growth Budgeting models ensure that your company remains profitable We implement, analyze and achieve

Projections

Budgeting

Growth+ Cash

Flow

An Integrated Approach to Growth

Vantage integrates the major growth components required to build or expand a brand Sales Marketing Channel Development Financial planning and analysis Access to capital

The result is a synergistic approach to provide powerful sales channels access, experience, relationships and growth capabilities tailored to your specific needs. All achieved in an extremely cost effective format

Because we work on a contract basis, Vantage can deliver large company resources within a small company budget

We can bring your brand to the next level regionally, nationally and internationally

Marketing

Finance

Our Team and Their Story

Mike R. (33 years experience) Education: CA State University Hayward- Business / Military Service: USMC Veteran

After military service and college, Mike joined a respected food brokerage firm in Northern California, followed by a regional director position at Georgia Pacific. Starting in 1986, Shipley- Network Marketing Sales carved out a respected reputation as a Northern California broker renowned for market growth of high quality and emerging brands. After sale of the company to a national broker organization, Vantage Development started over a decade ago. Vantage Development is dedicated to a much more intense management level of brand development. Proving many times over and over again to be a tremendous cost effective alternative to an employee regional manager, Vantage provides more and achieves for less. The foundation of success has been built upon extensive knowledge, and relationships while providing exceptional professional levels of team commitment to your line.

Mike W. (9 years experience) Education: Williams College – Economics / Masters - Hass Business School UC Berkeley

After graduation Mike was among a national handful of candidates sought after by Goldman Sachs. He worked in both New York and San Francisco before joining Parthenon Capital Group, managing a 2 Billion dollar fund. Mike’s extensive growth development, acquisition, sale structuring and funding experience led him to a position as Vice President of Marketing and Finance for Picaboo Inc., where sales revenue achievement exceeded 50 million annually. Attracting Mike to join Vantage Development starting 2014 has brought our organization to an new level in terms of capability. He is a foundation piece and contributor to every aspect of Vantage Development, providing out clients resources and levels of expertise simply not usually accessible or attainable.

Gwendolyn (27 years experience) Education: Chabot College – Sales & MarketingGwen’s extensive experience started with Safeway, followed by working for one of the largest

national brokers managing lines such as Smucker’s. She was a co-founder of Shipley Network Marketing Sales for fourteen years, renowned for developing emerging brands, before joining CytoSport. Over the five year period while at CytoSport the business grew approximately1,000% to 400 million in annual sales. Vantage was extremely fortunate to attract Gwen to join our team in late 2012. Gwen maintains in-depth loyal relationships and knowledge of account specifics extending across multiple retailers and channels on a regional and national level.

Our Team and Their Story - Continued

Dawn (2 years experience) Education: American University Paris – International Business / Saint Mary’s College – Business

Dawn serves Vantage Development as director of e-commerce and retail partnerships. Dawn is a founder of Taste Trunk, growing the business by over a million dollars in sales the first year. She is instrumental providing synergies utilizing one of the fastest growing e-commerce platforms nationally to benefit corporate and retail establishment customer opportunity.

Shawna (4 years experience) Education: UC Santa Barbara – Law & Society / University Queensland Australia - Business

Shawna serves Vantage Development on a part-time basis conducting retail audit and merchandising support throughout the greater California region extending into Nevada. Shawna also serves as a Firefighter/Paramedic for the city of Oakland CA.

Carolyn (15 years Experience) Hayward High school – General Carolyn first started with Oscar Meyer Corp. She has been providing part and full time retail audit plus merchandising support throughout the Northern California region extending into Oregon. Her service with Vantage Development proceeds back to prior service for Shipley Network Marketing Sales

Sample Clients

Opening for a Quality Products Opportunity

Your Brand & Products

What People are Saying

Tony Patterson – Vice President of Sales – SerVaas Laboratories, Indianapolis IN.“We have been using Vantage and their services for twenty eight years. Bar Keepers Friend has grown to the number two national cleanser and number three brand in the entire tub/tile category with more points of distribution than the national leading brand. As the market growth leader with seven consecutive years of double digit growth, a portion of Bar Keepers Friend success is attributed to the efforts of Mike and the Vantage Development team. One recent new placement was at Safeway, generating approximately five- hundred thousand dollars in additional sales.”

Safeway / Albertson’s National Procurement Team – Executive Team, Pleasanton CA., Boise ID., Phoenix AZ.“Our national and regional procurement team and executives regard Mike Shipley and Vantage Development highly. To sustain the position as an industry leader must always seek association with innovative individuals, plus companies of integrity and quality. We always welcome Mike Shipley because he knows our operations well while producing quality programs and support achieving opportunity for our customers.”

Ray Burtner - Executive Director – Unified Grocers/ Market Centre, Livermore CA.“Mike Shipley and Vantage Development has always been a valued vendor. Over the years their represented companies have developed a high degree of success through Unified Grocers and Market Centre. It remains extremely important for our vendors to know the industry well, our operations and needs of our retail partners. They are a driving force delivering quality and success.”

Ashley Read – International Sales Director, Boundary Bend Olives, Lara Victoria, Australia“Not only do I consider Mike Shipley’s team as our “go to” organization in the states, he is also a good mate and quality person. They took on the very difficult task of fully developing an international brand within an extremely difficult retail category. This requires more than simply serving as a sales organization. Their account relationships and knowledge has always been amazing. Often we chat wee hours of the day or night. It seems they are always working pursuing sales opportunity. He will always remain on my speed dial as any needs arise.”

Testimonials - Continued (All requested testimonials as provided from each source. Please feel free to contact each individually)

Matthew Gee – Vice President and General Manager – Cost Plus World Markets, Oakland, CA.“I have been associated with Mike Shipley and Vantage Development for many years. In a past professional life we helped transform a National Tea Company into a more valuable acquisition qualified entity, ultimately achieving a substantially increased sale price. Currently at Cost Plus World Markets the infuses is to continued growth of a national category leading retailer. Cost Plus World Markets is a global sourcing supplier of great products. Many sales organizations serve only as order takers and brand maintainers. Success through CPWM requires a truly creative quality eye for the most exciting products from around the globe. Vantage Development continues to deliver.” Pete Horne – Senior Vice President – Sunwest Sales, Tustin, CA“Sunwest Sales is a market leading sales organization throughout the greater Southern California market. Our history is rich as we strive to always remain extremely selective and focus on brands possessing potential for growth. Our success is partly built upon the belief it is imperative to consistently provide an all-out sales approach. Partnering with the manufacturer and regional director we deliver programs worthy of consideration. Vantage Development subscribes to this very same philosophy. Together we have achieved numerous team successes over the years. When Vantage brings us a line opportunity consideration, even if it’s a new emerging brand, we know tools for success will be part of the building formula.”Susan Hogan – President – Green Tomato Foods, Newport Beach, CA“Vantage Development is simply the best! As a more recent market entry product line they have been there for us since practically the beginning. As a small producer we cannot afford all kinds of services and personnel. Vantage development has always been amazing in the totality of what they do for us, They are the one stop shop for everything needed to build a brand properly. Without them we never would have achieved so much distribution and high quality broker representation.”Jarrett Eggers – General Manager, Fiona’s Natural Foods – Longmont, CO.“With an impressive talented team, Vantage Development has worked with us over the past year. They have participated in practically every aspect of our growth. They delivered and manage the best regional brokers and distributors while achieving new account gains, including e-commerce through Taste Trunk. The future is extremely bright at Fiona’s.”

Contact Us

Vantage Development GroupYour Partner in Growth ManagementContact:Mike R. Shipley

Managing Partner

Phone: (925) 679-7152 or (925) 516-7741Email: mikes@vantagedg.com570 Valdry Court, C-2Brentwood, CA. 94513

Visit Us: www.vdgbrands.com