UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒ Annual report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the fiscal year ended

December 31, 2021

OR

☐ Transition report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

COMMISSION FILE NUMBER: 0-9376

INNOVATIVE FOOD HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

28411 Race Track Rd.

Bonita Springs, Florida 34135

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

(239) 596-0204

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(B) OF THE ACT:

NONE

SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(G) OF THE ACT:

COMMON STOCK, $0.0001 PAR VALUE PER SHARE

(Title of class)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

Indicate by checkmark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting stock held by non-affiliates was approximately $8,421,120 as of June 30, 2021, based upon a closing price of $0.33 per share for the registrant’s common stock on such date.

On March 28, 2022, a total of 46,041,751 shares of our common stock were outstanding.

INNOVATIVE FOOD HOLDINGS, INC.

INDEX TO ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

EXPLANATORY NOTE

As of the date of filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Report”), there are many uncertainties regarding the current Novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, including the scope of scientific and health issues, the anticipated duration of the pandemic, and the extent of local and worldwide social, political, and economic disruption it may cause. To date, the COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts on many aspects of the operations of Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”, “we,” “our” or “us”), directly and indirectly, including on consumer behavior, customer store traffic, production capabilities, timing of product availability, our people, and the market generally. The scope and nature of these impacts continue to evolve each day. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in, and may continue to result in, regional quarantines, labor stoppages and shortages, changes in consumer purchasing patterns, mandatory or elective shut-downs of restaurants, retail locations and other public gatherings, disruptions to supply chains, including the inability of our suppliers and service providers to deliver materials and services on a timely basis, or at all, severe market volatility, liquidity disruptions, and overall economic instability, which, in many cases, have had, and we expect will continue to have, adverse impacts on our business, financial condition and results of operations. This situation is changing rapidly, and additional impacts may arise that we are not aware of currently.

In light of the uncertain and rapidly evolving situation relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken certain precautionary measures intended to help minimize the risk to our Company, employees, and customers, including the following:

Each of the remedial measures taken by the Company has had, and we expect will continue to have, adverse impacts on our current business, financial condition and results of operations, and may create additional risks for our Company. While we anticipate that the foregoing measures are temporary, we cannot predict the specific duration for which these precautionary measures will stay in effect, and we may elect or need to take additional measures as the information available to us continues to develop, including with respect to our employees, inventory receipts, and relationships with our licensors. We expect to continue to assess the evolving impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our customers, consumers, employees, supply chain, and operations, and intend to make adjustments to our responses accordingly. However, the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic and our precautionary measures in response thereto may impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations will depend on how the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts to continue to develop, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time.

In light of these uncertainties, for purposes of this report, except where otherwise indicated, the descriptions of our business, our strategies, our risk factors, and any other forward-looking statements, including regarding us, our business and the market generally, do not reflect the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or our responses thereto. In addition, the disclosures contained in this report are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. For further information, see “Forward Looking Information.” and “Risk Factors.”

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

MAY PROVE INACCURATE

THIS ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K CONTAINS CERTAIN FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION RELATING TO US THAT ARE BASED ON THE BELIEFS OF MANAGEMENT, AS WELL AS ASSUMPTIONS MADE BY AND INFORMATION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO US. WHEN USED IN THIS DOCUMENT, THE WORDS “ANTICIPATE,” “BELIEVE,” “ESTIMATE,” “SHOULD,” “PLAN,” AND “EXPECT” AND SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS, AS THEY RELATE TO US, ARE INTENDED TO IDENTIFY FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. SUCH STATEMENTS REFLECT OUR CURRENT VIEWS WITH RESPECT TO FUTURE EVENTS AND ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN RISKS, UNCERTAINTIES AND ASSUMPTIONS, INCLUDING THOSE DESCRIBED IN THIS ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K. SHOULD ONE OR MORE OF THESE RISKS OR UNCERTAINTIES MATERIALIZE, OR SHOULD UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS PROVE INCORRECT, ACTUAL RESULTS MAY VARY MATERIALLY FROM THOSE DESCRIBED HEREIN AS ANTICIPATED, BELIEVED, ESTIMATED, PLANNED OR EXPECTED. WE DO NOT INTEND TO UPDATE THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS.

PART I

ITEM 1. Business

Our History

We (or “IVFH”) (or the “Company”) were initially formed in June 1979 as Alpha Solarco Inc., a Colorado corporation. From June 1979 through February 2003, we were either inactive or involved in discontinued business ventures. We changed our name to Fiber Application Systems Technology, Ltd in February 2003. In January 2004, we changed our state of incorporation by merging into Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. (IVFH), a Florida corporation formed for that purpose. As a result of the merger, we changed our name to that of Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. In January 2004, we also acquired Food Innovations, Inc. (“FII” or “Food Innovations”), a Florida corporation, for 500,000 shares of our common stock.

On May 18, 2012, the Company executed a Stock Purchase Agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Artisan Specialty Foods, Inc., an Illinois corporation (“Artisan”), from its owner, Mr. David Vohaska. The purchase price was $1.2 million, with up to another $300,000 (with a fair value of $131,000) payable in the event certain financial milestones are met over the next one or two years. Those milestones have been met.

On November 2, 2012, the Company entered into an asset purchase agreement (the “Haley Acquisition”) with The Haley Group, LLC whereby we acquired all existing assets of The Haley Group, LLC and its customers. The Haley Acquisition was valued at a total cost of $119,645.

On June 30, 2014, pursuant to a purchase agreement, the Company purchased 100% of the membership interest of Organic Food Brokers, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company (“OFB”), for $300,000, 100,000 four year options at a price of $1.46 per share, and up to an additional $225,000 in earn-outs if certain milestones are met.

On August 15, 2014, pursuant to a merger agreement, the Company acquired The Fresh Diet, Inc. (“FD”). Effective February 23, 2016, the Company closed a transaction to sell 90% of its ownership in FD for consideration consisting primarily of a restructuring of our loans, which includes the ability to convert to additional amounts of FD under certain circumstances. There is no continuing cash inflows or outflows from or to the discontinued operations.

Pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement dated as of January 1, 2017 the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Oasis Sales Corp. (“Oasis”), purchased substantially all of the assets of Oasis Sales and Marketing, L.L.C. for $300,000 cash; a $200,000 structured equity instrument which can be paid in cash or shares of the Company stock at the Company’s option, anytime under certain conditions, or is automatically payable via the issuance of 200,000 shares if the Company’s shares close above $1.00 for ten consecutive days; a $100,000 note; and up to an additional $400,000 in earn-outs over two years if certain milestones are met. The Agreement also contains claw-back provisions if certain revenue conditions are not met. The milestones have been met.

Effective January 24, 2018, pursuant to an asset acquisition agreement, our wholly-owned subsidiary, Innovative Gourmet LLC (“Innovative Gourmet”), acquired substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of igourmet LLC and igourmet NY LLC, privately-held New York limited liability companies located in West Pittston, Pennsylvania (collectively, “Sellers”) engaged in the sale, marketing, and distribution of specialty food and specialty food items through www.igourmet.com, online marketplaces, additional direct-to-consumer platforms, distribution to foodservice, retail stores and other wholesale accounts, pursuant to the terms of an Asset Purchase Agreement. The consideration for and in connection with the acquisition consisted of: (i) $1,500,000, which satisfied or reduced secured, priority and administrative debt of Sellers; (ii) in connection with and prior to the acquisition, our wholly-owned subsidiary, Food Funding, LLC (“Food Funding”), funded advances of $325,000 to Sellers on a secured basis, pursuant to certain loan documents and as bridge loans, which loans were reduced by the proceeds of the Asset Purchase Agreement; (iii) the purchase for $200,000 of certain debt owed by Sellers, to be paid out of, if available, Innovative Gourmet’s cash flow; (iv) potential contingent liability allocation for a percentage of Sellers’ approximately $2,300,000 of certain debt, not purchased or assumed by Innovative Gourmet, which under certain circumstances, Innovative Gourmet may determine to pay; and (v) additional purchase price consideration of (a) up to a maximum of $1,500,000, if EBITDA of Innovative Gourmet reaches $800,000 thousand in 2018, (b) up to a maximum of $1,750,000, if EBITDA of Innovative Gourmet in 2019 exceeds its EBITDA in 2018 by at least 20% and if its EBITDA reaches $5,000,000; and (c) up to a maximum of $2,125,000, if EBITDA of Innovative Gourmet in 2020 exceeds its EBITDA in 2019 by at least 20% and if its EBITDA reaches $8,000,000. The EBITDA based earnout shall be paid 37.5% in cash, 25% in IVFH shares valued at the time of the closing of this transaction and 37.5%, at Innovative Gourmet’s option, in IVFH shares valued at the time of the payment of the earnout or in cash. The additional purchase price consideration milestone for 2018 and 2019 and 2020 were not met. In connection with the acquisition, our wholly-owned subsidiary, Food Funding, purchased Seller’s senior secured note at a price of approximately $1,187,000, pursuant to the terms of a Loan Sale Agreement with UPS Capital Business Credit. That note was reduced by the proceeds of the Asset Purchase Agreement. See Item (i) above.

Effective July 6, 2018, pursuant to an asset purchase agreement between Mouth Foods, Inc. (“Mouth”) and our wholly-owned subsidiary M Innovations LLC (“M Innovations”) (the “MFI APA”), the Company acquired certain assets of Mouth from MFI (assignment for the benefit of creditors), LLC, in connection with a Delaware assignment proceeding. The MFI APA was accounted for as an acquisition of an ongoing business where the Company was treated as the acquirer and the acquired assets and assumed liabilities were recorded by the Company at their preliminary estimated fair values. Mouth, a privately held New York company operating out of Brooklyn, was an expert curator and online retailer of high quality specialty foods from small-batch makers in the US.

The consideration for and in connection with the acquisition consisted of (i) closing related cash payments of $208,355; (ii) additional revenue-based contingent liabilities valued by management at $100,000 related to certain future sales of purchased assets payable under the following terms: payment of 5% of certain revenues, with no payments on the first $500,000 of revenues and no payments on revenues after June 30, 2020; (iii) additional revenue based contingent liabilities of up to $185,000 associated with the purchase of certain debt of the seller; and (iv) additional contingent liability consideration valued by management at approximately $20,000.

Effective July 23, 2019, P Innovations LLC (“P Innovations”) acquired certain assets of GBC Sub, Inc. (d/b/a The GiftBox) (“GiftBox”) (the “GiftBox Asset Purchase Agreement”). GiftBox, a privately held Nevada corporation controlled by David Polinsky, a director of the Company, was in the business of subscription-based ecommerce. The consideration for the assets purchased was a nominal amount of cash. The GiftBox Asset Purchase Agreement also provides the sellers the option to acquire 30% of P Innovations subject to dilution for a period of thirty-six months following the date of the Giftbox Asset Purchase Agreement; the option will only be exercisable if there is a spinoff of P Innovations to Innovative Food Holdings’ shareholders. The Company is evaluating its preliminary purchase price allocation.

Our Operations

Our business is currently conducted by our wholly owned subsidiaries, some of which are non-operating, Artisan Specialty Foods, Inc. (“Artisan”), Food Innovations, Inc. (“FII”), Food New Media Group, Inc. (“FNM”), Organic Food Brokers, LLC (“OFB”), Gourmet Foodservice Group, Inc. (“GFG”), Gourmet Foodservice Group Warehouse, Inc. (“GFW”), Gourmeting, Inc. (“Gourmeting”), Haley Food Group, Inc. (“Haley”), Oasis Sales Corp. (“Oasis”), 4 The Gourmet, Inc. (d/b/a For The Gourmet, Inc.), (“Gourmet”), Innovative Food Properties LLC (“IFP”), Innovative Gourmet, LLC (“Innovative Gourmet” or “igourmet”), Food Funding, LLC (“Food Funding”), Logistics Innovations, LLC (“L Innovations”), M Innovations, LLC (“M Innovations” or “Mouth”), P Innovations, LLC “P Innovations”), MI Foods, LLC (“MIF”), M Foods Innovations, LLC (“M Foods”), PlantBelly, LLC (“PlantBelly”), Innovative Foods, Inc. (“IFI”), Innovative Gourmet Partnerships, LLC (“IGP”) and Plant Innovations, Inc. (“Plant Innovations”), and collectively with IVFH and its other subsidiaries, the “Company” or “IVFH” have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. All material intercompany transactions have been eliminated upon consolidation of these entities.

Overall, our business activities are focused around the creation and growth of platforms which provides distribution or the enabling of distribution of high quality, unique specialty food and food related products ranging from specialty foodservice products to Consumer-Packaged Goods (“CPG”) products through a variety of sales channels ranging from national partnership based and regionally based foodservice related sales channels to e-commerce sales channels offering products both direct to consumers (“D2C”) and direct to business (“B2B”). In our business model, we receive orders from our customers and then work closely with our suppliers and our warehouse facilities to have the orders fulfilled. In order to maintain freshness and quality, we carefully select our suppliers based upon, among other factors, their quality, uniqueness, reliability and access to overnight courier services.

FII, through its relationship with the producers, growers, and makers of thousands of unique specialty foodservice products and through its relationship with US Foods, Inc. (“U.S. Foods” or “USF”), has been in the business of providing premium restaurants, within 24 – 72 hours, with the freshest origin-specific perishable, and healthcare products shipped directly from our network of vendors and from our warehouses. Our customers include restaurants, hotels, country clubs, national chain accounts, casinos, hospitals and catering houses.

Gourmet has been in the business of providing specialty food via e-commerce through its own website at www.forethegourmet.com and through other ecommerce channels, with unique specialty gourmet food products shipped directly from our network of vendors and from our warehouses within 24 – 72 hours. GFG is focused on expanding the Company’s program offerings to additional customers.

Artisan is a supplier of over 1,500 unique specialty foodservice products to over 500 customers such as chefs, restaurants, etc. in the Greater Chicago area and serves as a national fulfillment center for certain of the Company’s other subsidiaries.

IFP was formed to hold the Company’s real estate holdings including the recently acquired facility in PA.

P Innovations’ focus is to leverage acquired assets to expand the Company’s subscription-based e-commerce business activities.

Plant Innovations is focused on plant-based D2C brands and online retail within the e-commerce space.

L Innovations provides 3rd party warehouse and fulfillment services, out of its first location at the Company’s Mountaintop, Pennsylvania facility.

Haley is a dedicated foodservice consulting and advisory firm that works closely with companies to access private label and manufacturers’ private label food service opportunities with the intent of helping them launch and commercialize new products in the broadline foodservice industry and assists in the enabling of the distribution of products via national broadline food distributors.

OFB and Oasis function as outsourced national sales and brand management teams for emerging organic and specialty food CPG companies of a variety of sizes and business stages and provides emerging and unique CPG specialty food brands with distribution and shelf placement access in all of the major metro markets in the food retail industry.

igourmet has been in the business of providing D2C specialty food via e-commerce through its own website at www.igourmet.com and through other channels including www.amazon.com, and www.walmart.com. In addition, igourmet.com offers a line of B2B specialty foodservice items. Products are primarily shipped directly from igourmet.com’s approximately 100,000 square feet warehouse in Pennsylvania via igourmet.com owned trucks and via third party carrier directly to thousands of customers nationwide.

Mouth (www.mouth.com) is an online retailer of specialty foods, monthly subscription boxes and curated gift boxes to thousands of consumers and corporate customers nationwide. Mouth sources high quality specialty foods mainly crafted in the US by independent and small batch makers, and expertly curates them into standout food gifts for both consumers and corporate customers. Mouth also has launched a private label brand, including several award-winning products.

Our Products

We distribute over 7,000 perishable and specialty food and food related products, including origin-specific seafood, domestic and imported meats, exotic game and poultry, artisanal cheeses, freshly prepared meals, caviar, wild and cultivated mushrooms, micro-greens, organic farmed and manufactured food products, estate-bottled olive oils and aged vinegars and expertly curated food gift baskets, gift boxes and a full of line of food subscription based offerings. Products are sold under the brand of the respective vendor and are also offered under a variety of Company owned brands. In addition, we offer a line of niche specialty healthcare related products. On a regular basis we add additional products including new products from small batch makers and other unique specialty food products. We offer our nationwide customers access to the best food products available from around the world, quickly, most direct, and cost-effectively.

Some of the items we sell include:

Customer Service and Logistics

Our foodservice focused, live chef-driven customer service department is generally available by telephone Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Florida time. Our consumer-focused multi-lingual, customer care specialists are available by live chat and telephone Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 7:00 pm (ET), and on Friday from 9:00 am to 5 pm (ET). Our team is available and can be contacted 7 days a week via email and on social media platforms. The customer service departments are made up of a team of chefs and culinary experts, including a team of culinary trained chefs, who are full-time employees of the Company, and who are experienced in all aspects of perishable and specialty products. By employing chefs and culinary experts to handle customer service, we are able to provide our customers with extensive information about our products, including:

Our logistics team manages the shipping and delivery process of every package to ensure timely delivery of products to our customers. We have developed the web-based capability to allow customers to seamlessly receive and send personal orders and gifts according to their desired schedule. The logistics manager receives shipping information on all products ordered, and packages are monitored from origin to delivery. In the event that delivery service is interrupted, our logistics department begins the process of expediting the package to its destination or potentially reshipping the package with a goal of 100% customer satisfaction for our customers. Our logistics manager works directly with our suppliers on an ongoing basis, to ensure that the appropriate packaging and shipping specifications are in place at all times. At the beginning of March 2020, as early signs were beginning to emerge that Covid-19 might potentially be a significant issue in the United states, we initiated additional preventative safety measure in our facilities and we continued adding additional preventative safety measures including protective gear for employees, temperature testing, ongoing onsite team of cleaning and sanitizing specialists, social distancing, special no contact package handling protocols and we continue to assess and modify as appropriate, measures targeted towards the safety of our employees and the safety of our facilities and our products.

Relationship with U.S. Foods

We have historically sold the majority of our products, $28,415,263 and $20,748,819, respectively, representing 46% and 40% of total sales, respectively, in each of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, through a distributor relationship between FII, one of our wholly-owned subsidiaries, and subsidiaries of U.S. Foods, a leading broadline distributor. On January 26, 2015 we executed a contract directly between FII and U.S. Foods (the “U.S. Foods Agreement”). The term of the U.S. Foods Agreement was from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016 and provided for a limited number of automatic annual renewals thereafter if no party gives the other 30 days’ notice of its intent not to renew. Based on the terms, the U.S. Foods Agreement was extended through December 31, 2018. Effective January 1, 2018 the U.S. Foods Agreement was further amended to remove the cap on renewals, and provide for an unlimited number of additional 12-month terms unless either party notifies the other in writing, 30 days prior to the end date, of its intent not to renew.

Growth Strategy

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States the economic outlook for restaurant-based specialty food remains unclear. According to National Restaurant Association, restaurant and foodservice sales are expected to grow from $799 billion in 2021 to $898 Billion in 2022. This projection would exceed the $846 in restaurant and foodservice sales for pre-Covid 2019 In addition, according to the National Restaurant Association, eating food that is not prepared at home continues to be a strong part of consumers lifestyles with 54% of adults and 72% of millennials saying that take out or food delivery is essential to the way they live.

Credit Suisse Group had also previously estimated that 80% of U.S. household food spend now goes towards food-at-home vs. food-away-from-home. This is greater than the food-at-home spending share in 2018 of 47.6% and post-Great Recession peak of 50%, as per the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. In addition, commentary from Neilsen indicates that with improvements in technology, infrastructure and experience, coupled with a reduction in barriers to trial, such as delivery length or shipping costs, buyer adoption of online CPG shopping has consistently increased over the last two years. Yet while those changes have increased adoption of online ordering, COVID-19 has caused another step change in the way consumers shop. These consumer behaviors have also accelerated e-commerce trends. According to Satisa.com revenue from the e-commerce food and beverage industry in the United States stood at 34.2 billion U.S dollars in 2021. The Statista Digital Market Outlook estimates further that by 2025, this figure will rise to 47.6 billion dollars. In addition, The National Retail Federation predicts online sales will make up 20% of the grocery business within five years.

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, industry trends were very favorable towards market acceptance and continued growth of specialty food brands, which was a trend that boded well for us and our products.

To drive growth within the specialty food space, we intend to focus our efforts in demand driven active sales channels and leverage our ability to offer our products across multiple selling channels including to professional chefs within the restaurant channel as well as directly to consumer at home via ecommerce. We expect to continue offering unique and premium quality products as well as new product introduction and innovation to our customers and potential customers. In addition, we plan on continuing to value and strive for a high level of personalized customer service.

We anticipate attempting to grow our business through:

In addition to attempting to grow our current business, we believe that there are lateral opportunities in the food industry and related markets. We may consider the possibility of acquiring specialty food manufacturers, specialty food distributors, small specialty food brands especially digitally native D2C brands, or e-commerce retailers and other business. We anticipate that, given our current cash flow levels, any acquisition could potentially involve the issuance of additional shares of our common stock or third party financing, which may not be available on acceptable terms. No acquisition will be consummated without thorough due diligence. No assurance can be given that we will be able to identify and successfully conclude negotiations with any potential target.

Competition

While we face intense competition in the marketing of our products and services, it is our belief that there are few companies offering a platform similar to ours, which include expansive backend and front end capabilities in both ecommerce and foodservice in addition there are few companies offering a broad range of customer service oriented, quality, chef driven products and specialty gourmet products, for nationwide delivery from same day, depending on market location to 72 hours. Our primary competition is from local purveyors that supply a limited local market and have a limited range of products and from the other specialty gourmet distributors and specialty food retail stores or ecommerce stores, and from the national, regional or local expansion of specialty and non-specialty food distributers and food stores and food focused ecommerce sites. In addition, many purveyors are well established, have reputations for success in the development and marketing of these types of products and services and have significantly greater financial, marketing, distribution, personnel and other resources. These financial and other capabilities permit such companies to implement extensive advertising and promotional campaigns, both generally and in response to efforts by additional competitors such as us, to enter into new markets and introduce new products and services.

Insurance

We maintain a Business Owners Policy with a general liability per occurrence limit of $1,000,000 and aggregate policy covering $2,000,000 of liability for all entities. The Company carries an Auto Policy with non-owned automobile bodily injury and property damage coverage with a limit of $1,000,000 for all entities. The Company also carries an Umbrella policy of up to $14,000,000 which covers all entities, along with two excess umbrella policies that sit over the BOP and Umbrella policies. The excess umbrella policies have limits of $5,000,000 and $6,000,000. The Company carries a Cyber policy of up to $2,000,000 which insures the Company and its subsidiaries. The Company carries two Commercial Property Policies, for its buildings in PA and FL, with a limit of up to $12,490,000 for PA and a limit of up to $1,630,000 for FL . Such insurance may not be sufficient to cover all potential claims against us and additional insurance may not be available in the future at a reasonable price.

Government Regulation

Various federal and state laws currently exist, and more are sure to be adopted, regulating the delivery of fresh food products. We require specialty foodservice third-party vendors to certify that they maintain at least $3,000,000 liability insurance coverage in aggregate and compliance with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), an FDA- and USDA-mandated food safety program, or a similar standard. Any changes in the government regulation of delivering of fresh food products that hinders our current ability and/or cost to deliver fresh products, could adversely impact our net revenues and gross margins and, therefore, our profitability and cash flows could also be adversely affected.

Employees

We currently employ 127 full-time employees, including 8 chefs and 2 executive officers. We believe that our relations with our employees are satisfactory. None of our employees are represented by a union.

Transactions with Major Customers

Transactions with a major customer and related economic dependence information is set forth (1) following our discussion of Liquidity and Capital Resources, (2) Under the heading Major Customer in Note 18 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, (3) in Business – Relationship with U.S. Foods, (4) as the third item under Risk Factors.

How to Contact Us

Our executive offices are located at 28411 Race Track Rd., Bonita Springs, Florida 34135; our Internet address is www.ivfh.com; and our telephone number is (239) 596-0204. The contents of our website are not incorporated in or deemed to be a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

ITEM 1A. Risk Factors

We face risks related to health epidemics and other widespread outbreaks of contagious disease, which could significantly disrupt our sales and supply chain and impact our operating results.

Significant outbreaks of contagious diseases, and other adverse public health developments, could have a material impact on our business operations and operating results. In December 2019, a strain of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) causing respiratory illness and death emerged in the city of Wuhan in the Hubei province of China. The coronavirus was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization and has been spreading throughout the world, including the United States, resulting in emergency measures, including travel bans, closure of retail stores, and restrictions on gatherings of more than a maximum number of people. Included in these emergency measures is the mandated full or partial closure of restaurants and other foodservice establishments across the United States. These foodservice establishments represent a significant portion of our revenues and their continued closure and/or operation with capacity limits would likely continue to have a detrimental effect on our business.

In addition, in the relatively short period with which the world has been dealing with this pandemic, significant economic turmoil has already impacted world markets. Should a recession occur, either as a result of the pandemic, lack of stability, armed conflicts in various countries or for any other reason, we can expect that our sales, net income and cash flows will be negatively impacted. While the governmental organizations of the United States, as well as governments across the world, are implementing emergency economic measures and announcing the consideration of additional emergency economic assistance packages, it is unclear what impact they are having, and will have, on the economy in the United States and worldwide. Great uncertainty surrounds the length of time this disease will continue to spread, the potential effect the disease, or the fear of the disease, could have on any area of our business operations, the number of people it will impact, directly and indirectly, and the extent governments will continue to impose, or add additional, quarantines, curfews, travel restrictions and closures of restaurants and other foodservice establishments. In addition, even following control of the disease and the end of the pandemic, the economic dislocation caused by the disease to so many people may linger and be so significant that consumers’ focus could be directed away from spending for products such as ours for an extended period of time. In addition, if the economy does not begin recovering and foodservice revenues do not continue to increase or if there are changes in any of the markets which we sell into or in any of our relationships , there could be financial stress on the Company which may require the Company to take additional measures appropriate under those circumstances. For all of these reasons, the impact on sales, net income and cash flows can be significant depending on the items mentioned above but at this time we cannot quantify the specific extent of the impact this disease or other market factors will have on our sales, net income and cash flows.

We Have a History of Losses Requiring Us to Seek Additional Sources of Capital.

As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $33,116,124. We cannot assure you that we can achieve profitability on a quarterly or annual basis in the future. If revenues grow more slowly than we anticipate, or if operating expenses exceed our expectations or cannot be adjusted accordingly, or other extraordinary events occur, we will incur losses. Our possible success is dependent upon the successful development and marketing of our services and products, as well as continued expansion of our products and customers, as to which we can give no assurance. Any future success that we might enjoy will depend upon many factors, including factors out of our control or which cannot be predicted at this time. These factors may include changes in or increased levels of competition, including the entry of additional competitors and increased success by existing competitors, changes in general economic conditions, increases in operating costs, including costs of supplies, personnel, marketing and promotions, reduced margins caused by competitive pressures and other economic and non-economic factors. These conditions may have a materially adverse effect upon us or may force us to curtail operations. In addition, we could require additional funds to sustain and expand our sales and marketing activities, particularly if a well-financed competitor emerges. We can give no assurance that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Our inability in such instance to obtain sufficient funds from our operations or external sources could require us to curtail operations.

We Have Historically Derived Substantially Most of Our Revenue From One Client and if We Were to Lose Such Client and Be Unable to Generate New Sales to Offset Such Loss, We May Be Forced to Cease or Curtail Our Operations.

In 2003, Next Day Gourmet initially contracted with our subsidiary, Food Innovations, to handle the distribution of over 3,000 perishable and specialty food products to customers of USF. Effective January 1, 2018, we executed a contract amendment between Food Innovations, Inc., our wholly-owned subsidiary, and U.S. Foods which provides for no limit on automatic annual renewals thereafter if no party gives the other 30 days’ notice of its intent not to renew. Our sales through USF’s sales force generated gross revenues for us of $28,415,263 in the year ended December 31, 2021, and $20,748,819 in the year ended December 31, 2020. Those amounts contributed 46% and 40% of our total sales for each of 2021 and 2020, respectively. Our sales efforts within specialty foodservice are for the most part substantially dependent upon the efforts of the USF sales force. Although we have generated revenues from additional customers other than USF, if our relationship with USF were to be materially changed and we are unable to generate substantial new sales to offset such loss, we may be forced to significantly curtail our operations.

A Variety of Factors, Including Seasonality and the Economic Environment, May Cause Our Quarterly Operating Results to Fluctuate, Leading to Volatility in Our Stock Price.

Our quarterly results have fluctuated in the past and may fluctuate in the future, depending upon a variety of factors, including changes in economic conditions, including both COVID-19 related and non-related conditions, and shifts in the timing of holiday related purchases. While our annual sales have always had a significant seasonal aspect, this has increased with our acquisition of substantially all of the assets of igourmet LLC and Mouth Foods, Inc, as further described below. As a result of the seasonal nature of our business, we would be significantly and adversely affected, in a manner disproportionate to the impact on a company with sales spread more evenly throughout the year, by unforeseen events such as a terrorist attack or economic shock (including shock caused by world-wide pandemic or otherwise) that harm the retail environment or consumer buying patterns during our key selling season, or by events such as pandemic, strikes or weather related delays that interfere with the shipment of goods, during the critical period of the holiday season.

The Loss of Availability of our Bank Loans Could Adversely Impact our Business and Financial Condition.

We currently have multiple loans with Fifth Third Bank. All of these contain cross-default provisions which means that all outstanding borrowings can be accelerated and can become immediately due and payable in the event of a default in any of such loans, which includes, among other things, failure to comply with certain financial covenants, one of which was not met at year end, or breach of representations contained in the loan documents, defaults under other loans or obligations or involvement in bankruptcy proceedings (as such terms are defined in the loan documents). We are also subject to negative covenants which, during the life of the loans, prohibit and/or limit us from, among other things, incurring certain types of other debt, acquiring other companies, making certain expenditures or investments, and changing the character of our business. Any material change to the business and economic landscape negatively impacting our business, including among other things, an outbreak of infectious disease, a pandemic or a similar public health threat, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, could adversely impact our ability to comply with such covenants. Our failure to comply with such covenants or any other breach of the loan documents could cause a default and we may then be required to repay all of such borrowings with capital from other sources. Under these circumstances, other sources of capital may not be available or may be available only on unfavorable terms. In the event of a default, it is possible that our assets and certain of our subsidiaries’ assets may be attached or seized by the lenders. Any (i) failure by us to comply with the covenants or other provisions of the loan documents, (ii) difficulty in securing any required future financing, or (iii) any such seizure or attachment of assets could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

The Acquisition of Substantially All of the Assets of igourmet LLC and Mouth Foods, Inc. Could Create Additional Risks to Our Business.

On January 23, 2018, our subsidiary, Innovative Gourmet LLC, acquired substantially all of the assets of igourmet, LLC. On July 6, 2018, our subsidiary, M Innovations LLC, acquired substantially all of assets of Mouth Foods, Inc. These businesses are very seasonal in nature, which generates certain operational considerations and could exacerbate the seasonality of our business. To wit, if Innovative Gourmet or Mouth does not have a strong holiday season, it likely will not be successful. In addition, while our subsidiary acquired only certain discrete liabilities of igourmet LLC, creditors of igourmet or Mouth may seek to impose liability on us or our subsidiaries, the payment of which, if required, could impair our cash flow and even if there may be no actual liability or responsibility to pay such claims, our challenge to such claims could involve significant legal fees and be a distraction to our management. The business model of the assets acquired from igourmet LLC and Mouth differ from our current businesses and operations, and therefore the success of its operations and its business model may create unforeseen complications requiring the use of our limited resources to resolve.

Computer System Disruption and Cyber Security Attacks or a Data Breach Could Damage Our Relationships With Our Customers, Harm Our Reputation, Expose Us To Litigation And Adversely Affect Our Business.

Our systems are subject to damage or interruption from computer viruses, malicious attacks and other security breaches. The possibility of a cyberattack on any one or all of these systems is a serious threat.

As part of our business model, we collect, retain, and transmit confidential information over public networks. In addition to our own databases, we use third party service providers to store, process and transmit this information on our behalf. Although we contractually require these service providers to implement and use reasonable security measures, we cannot control third parties and cannot guarantee that a security breach will not occur in the future either at their location or within their systems. We have confidential security measures in place to protect both our physical facilities and digital systems from attacks. Despite these efforts, we may be vulnerable to targeted or random security breaches, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors, or other similar events.

Given the growing nature of our e-commerce presence and digital strategy, it is imperative that we and our partners maintain uninterrupted and secure operation of our: (i) computer hardware, (ii) software systems, (iii) customer marketing databases and other customer information, and (iv) ability to email our current and potential customers.

If our systems are damaged or fail to function properly or reliably, we may incur substantial repair or replacement costs, experience data loss or theft and impediments to our ability to conduct our operations. Any material disruptions in our e-commerce presence or information technology systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A Failure to Establish and Maintain Strategic Online and Social Media Relationships, and Other Relationships Targeted Towards Driving Web Traffic to our Websites, that Generate a Significant Amount of Traffic Could Limit the Growth of the Assets Acquired from igourmet LLC and Mouth Foods Inc.

We rely on third party websites, search engines and affiliates with which we have strategic relationships for traffic. If these third parties do not attract a significant number of visitors, we may not receive a significant number of online customers from these relationships and our revenues from these relationships may remain flat or decrease. There continues to be strong competition to establish or maintain relationships with leading Internet companies, and we may not successfully enter into additional relationships, or renew existing ones beyond their current terms. We may also be required to pay significant fees to maintain and expand existing relationships or possibly not achieve the desired results with existing relationships. Our online revenues may suffer if we do not enter into new relationships or maintain existing relationships or if these relationships do not result in traffic sufficient to justify their costs.

If a Significant Number of Customers are not Satisfied with their Purchase, We will be Required to Incur Substantial Costs to Issue Refunds, Credits or Replacement Products.

If customers are not satisfied with the products they receive, we may either replace the product for the customer or issue the customer a refund or credit. Ours net income would decrease if a significant number of customers request replacement products, refunds or credits and we are unable to pass such costs onto the supplier.

If We Fail to Continuously Improve Our Website, it May Not Attract or Retain Customers.

If potential or existing customers do not find our websites including www.igourmet.com, www.mouth.com or any of the company’s other websites, a convenient place to shop, we may not attract or retain customers and our sales may suffer. To encourage the use of our website, we must continuously improve its accessibility, mobile capabilities, content and ease of use. In addition, customer traffic and our business would be adversely affected if competitors’ websites are perceived as easier to use or better able to satisfy customer needs. Furthermore, e-commerce conversion rates could be adversely affected by a variety of website related factors.

Our Marketing Efforts to Help Grow Our Business May Not be Effective.

Maintaining and promoting awareness of our websites, including www.igourmet.com is important to our ability to attract and retain visitors. Generating a meaningful return on our investments in marketing initiatives may be difficult. The marketing efforts we implement may not succeed for a variety of reasons, including our inability to execute and implement our plans. External factors beyond our control may also impact the success of our marketing initiatives. Search engines frequently change the algorithms that determine the ranking and display of results of a user’s search and may make other changes to the way results are displayed, which can negatively affect the placement of links to our websites and, therefore, reduce the number of visits to our websites.

The growing use of online ad-blocking software, including on mobile devices, may also impact the success of our marketing efforts because we may reach a smaller audience and fail to bring more visitors to our websites. In addition, ongoing privacy regulatory changes may impact the scope and effectiveness of marketing and advertising services generally, including those used related to our websites. We also seek to obtain website visitors through email. If we are unable to successfully deliver emails to potential customers or customers do not open our emails, whether by choice or because those emails are marked as low priority or spam, or for other reasons, our business could be adversely affected. Social networking websites, such as Facebook and others are another source of visits to our websites. As ecommerce and social networking evolve, we must continue to evolve our marketing tactics accordingly and, if we are unable to do so, our business could be adversely affected.

If We Do Not Accurately Predict Customer Demand for Our Products, We May Lose Customers or Experience Increased Costs.

As we expand the volume of products offered to our customers, we may be required or may elect for business purposes, to increase inventory levels and the number of products maintained in our warehouses. If we overestimate customer demand for our products, excess inventory and outdated merchandise could accumulate, tying up working capital and potentially resulting in reduced warehouse capacity and inventory losses due to damage, theft and obsolescence. If we underestimate customer demand, it may disappoint customers who may turn to our competitors.

The Laws with Respect to Taxes Have Changed and May Change Again Which Could Impact Our Operating Results.

The U.S. Congress has enacted legislation that significantly reforms the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The new legislation, among other things, includes changes to U.S. federal tax rates, imposes significant additional limitations on the deductibility of interest and net operating losses, and allows for the expensing of certain capital expenditures. Our net deferred tax assets and liabilities will be revalued at the newly enacted U.S. corporate rate, and the impact will be recognized in our tax expense in the year of enactment. We have adjusted our deferred tax assets and liabilities at December 31, 2018, using the new corporate rate of 21 percent; however, we base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable in the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. it is possible that the application of these new rules may have a material and adverse impact on our operating results, cash flows and financial condition. Furthermore, the recent Supreme Court Ruling in South Dakota V. Wayfair, Inc, in which the Court upheld South Dakota’s economic nexus law, which requires companies to collect sales tax when their sales or the number of transactions with the state exceed certain thresholds. could have an adverse on our business. In addition, any other changes to applicable tax laws, whether on a federal or state level, could also decrease our ability to compete with traditional retailers, and otherwise harm our business.

If We Fail to Attract and Retain Key Personnel, Our Business and Operating Results May be Harmed.

Our future success depends to a significant degree on the skills, experience and efforts of key personnel in our senior management, whose vision for our company, knowledge of our business and expertise would be difficult to replace. If any one of our key employees leaves, is unable to work, or fails to perform and we are unable to find a qualified replacement, we may be unable to execute our business strategy.

We May Be Unable to Manage Our Growth Which Could Result in Our Being Unable to Maintain Our Operations.

Our strategy for growth is focused on continued enhancements and expansion to our existing business model, offering a broader range of services and products, affiliating with additional vendors and through possible joint ventures. Pursuing this strategy presents a variety of challenges. We may not experience an increase in our services to our existing customers, and we may not be able to achieve the economies of scale, or provide the business, administrative and financial services, required to sustain profitability from servicing our existing and future customer base. Should we be successful in our expansion efforts, the expansion of our business would place further demands on our management, operational capacity and financial resources. To a significant extent, our future success will be dependent upon our ability to maintain adequate financial controls and reporting systems to manage a larger operation and to obtain additional capital upon favorable terms. We can give no assurance that we will be able to successfully implement our planned expansion (whether due to the impact of COVID-19 or other unrelated reasons), finance its growth, or manage the resulting larger operations, if any. In addition, we can give no assurance that our current systems, procedures or controls will be adequate to support any expansion of our operations. Our failure to manage our growth effectively could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Specialty Food and Foodservice Industry is Very Competitive, Which May Result in Decreased Revenue for Us as Well as Increased Expenses Associated with Marketing Our Services and Products.

The specialty food and foodservice businesses are highly competitive. We compete against other providers of quality foods, some of which sell their services globally, and some of these providers have considerably greater resources than we have. These competitors may have greater marketing and sales capacity, established distribution networks, significant goodwill and global name recognition. Our e-commerce and product catalog websites and paper mailings compete with other e-commerce websites and other catalogs, and other specialty foodservice providers that market lines of products similar to ours. We compete with national, regional and local businesses utilizing a similar strategy, as well as traditional specialty food and foodservice distributors. The substantial sales growth in the direct-to-customer industry within the last decade has encouraged the entry of many new competitors, new business models, and an increase in competition from established companies. Furthermore, it may become necessary for us to reduce our prices in response to competition. This could negatively impact our ability to be profitable.

We Rely Upon Outside Vendors and Shippers for Our Specialty Food Products and Interruption in the Supply of Our Products or their Failure to Adhere to Our Quality Standards May Negatively Impact Our Revenues.

Shortages in supplies of the food products we sell may impair our ability to provide our services. Our vendors are independent and we cannot guarantee their future ability to source the products that we sell. Many of our products are wild-caught, and we cannot guarantee their availability in the future. Unforeseen strikes and labor disputes as well as adverse weather conditions may result in our inability to deliver our products in a timely manner. Also, if our suppliers fail to supply quality product in a timely and effective manner it could lead to an increase in recalls and customer litigation against us which could harm our brands’ images and negatively affect our business and operating results. The success of our business depends, in part, on our ability to timely and effectively deliver merchandise (e.g. fresh products) to our customers. We cannot control all of the various factors that might affect our fulfillment rates in direct-to-customer sales. We are heavily dependent upon one national carrier for the delivery of our fresh products to our customers. Accordingly, we are subject to risks, including labor disputes, union organizing activity, inclement weather, technology breakdowns, natural disasters, the closure of their offices or a reduction in operational hours due to an economic slowdown or health related crisis, possible acts of terrorism, their ability to provide delivery services to meet our shipping needs, disruptions or increased fuel costs, and costs associated with any regulations to address climate change. Since our customers rely on us to deliver their orders daily or within 24-72 hours, delivery delays could significantly harm our business.

In Order to be Successful, We Must be able to Enhance Our Existing Products and Develop and Introduce New Products and Services to Respond to Changing Market Demand.

The markets in which we operate are characterized by frequently changing customer demand and the introduction of new “flavors of the month” as certain foods become more and less popular. Changes in customer preferences and buying trends may also affect our products differently. We must be able to stay current with preferences and trends in specialty food and address the customer tastes for each of our target customer demographics. We must also be able to identify and adjust products to cater to customer demands and dietary needs. For example, a change in customer preferences for gluten free items may not correlate to a similar change in buying trends for other specialty food. In order to be successful, we must be able to enhance our existing products and anticipate and develop and introduce new products and services to respond to changing market demand for new tastes. The development and enhancement of services and products entails significant risks, including:

o the inability to effectively adapt new food types to our business;

o the failure to conform our services and products to evolving industry standards;

o the inability to develop, introduce and market enhancements to our existing services and products or new services and products on a timely basis; and

o the non-acceptance by the market of such new service and products.

If we misjudge either the market for our products or our customers’ purchasing habits, our sales may decline significantly which would negatively impact our business and operating results.

Any Acquisitions We Make or Have Made Could Result in Difficulties in Successfully Managing Our Business and Consequently Harm Our Financial Condition.

We seek to expand by acquiring complementary businesses or assets in our current or ancillary markets. We cannot accurately predict the timing, size and success of our acquisition efforts and the associated capital commitments that might be required. We expect to face competition for acquisition candidates, which may limit the number of acquisition opportunities available to us and may lead to higher acquisition prices. There can be no assurance that we will be able to identify, acquire or profitably manage additional businesses or successfully integrate acquired businesses, if any, without substantial costs, delays or other operational or financial difficulties. In addition, acquisitions involve a number of other risks, including:

Client dissatisfaction or performance problems at a single acquired business could negatively affect our reputation. The inability to acquire businesses on reasonable terms or successfully integrate and manage acquired companies, or the occurrence of performance problems at acquired companies, both prior and after acquisition, could result, or has resulted, in dilution, potential violations of bank covenants, unfavorable accounting treatment or one-time charges, and difficulties in successfully managing our business, requiring us to expend additional effort and expense in obtaining waivers, settling matters and otherwise addressing any such issues.

Our Future Results Depend on Continued Evolution of the Internet and its Use by Consumers and Businesses for Buying Our Products.

Our future results can depend on the use of the Internet for information, publication, distribution and commerce. Our growth may also be dependent on increasing availability to business consumers of broadband Internet access which will allow such persons to access higher-capacity content through the Internet. Our business could suffer if Internet usage and broadband availability does not continue to grow and evolve. In addition, the concept of ordering food, including ingredients, while it has recently grown, is a relatively new concept and represents a change from the way it had been previously done.

If We are Unable to Effectively Manage Our IT Dependent Business Our Reputation and Operating Results May be Harmed.

The success of our business depends, in part, on third parties and factors over which we have limited control. We are also vulnerable to certain additional risks and uncertainties associated with our e-commerce and product catalog websites, our internal IT systems and IT integration with our partners, including: changes in required technology interfaces; system issues and limitations, website downtime and other technical failures; internet connectivity issues; costs and technical issues as we upgrade our website software; computer viruses; changes in applicable federal and state regulations; security breaches; and consumer privacy concerns. In addition, we must keep up to date with competitive technology trends, including the use of new or improved technology, creative user interfaces and other e-commerce marketing tools such as paid search and mobile applications, among others, which may increase our costs and which may not succeed in increasing sales or attracting customers. Our failure to successfully respond to these risks and uncertainties might adversely affect our sales, as well as damage our reputation and brands.

We May be Exposed to Risks and Costs Associated with Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft that could Cause Us to Incur Unexpected Expenses and Loss of Revenue.

An increasing portion of our customer orders are placed through our e-commerce websites and a significant portion of our orders are submitted via networked applications. In addition, a significant portion of sales made through our retail channel require the collection of certain customer data, such as credit card information. In order for our sales channels to function and develop successfully, we and other parties involved in processing customer transactions must be able to transmit confidential information, including credit card information, securely over public networks. Third parties may have the technology or knowledge to breach the security of customer transaction data. Although we take the security of our systems and the privacy of our customers’ confidential information extremely seriously, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will effectively prevent others from obtaining unauthorized access to our information and our customers’ information. Any person who circumvents our security measures could destroy or steal valuable information or disrupt our operations. Any security breach could cause consumers to lose confidence in the security of our websites and choose not to purchase from us. Any security breach could also expose us to risks of data loss, litigation and liability and could seriously disrupt our operations and harm our reputation, any of which could harm our business.

In addition, states and the federal government are increasingly enacting laws and regulations to protect consumers against identity theft. Compliance with these laws will likely increase the costs of doing business and, if we fail to implement appropriate safeguards or to detect and provide prompt notice of unauthorized access as required by some of these new laws, we could be subject to potential claims for damages and other remedies, which could harm our business.

Earthquakes, Inclement Weather or Other Events Out of Our Control May Damage or Limit Production from Our Facilities and Our Ability to Timely Deliver Products Thereby Adversely Affecting Our Results of Operations.

We have significant operations in Florida, Illinois, and in other areas where weather or other events such as an earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, flood, fire, high winds, extreme heat or cold, or other natural or manmade events, could disrupt our operations and impair production or distribution of our products, damage inventory, interrupt critical functions, or otherwise affect our business negatively, adversely affecting our results of operations.

Declines in General Economic Conditions and the Resulting Impact on Consumer Confidence and Consumer Spending Could Adversely Impact Our Results of Operations.

Our financial performance is subject to declines in general economic conditions and the impact of such economic conditions on levels of consumer confidence and consumer spending. Consumer confidence and consumer spending may deteriorate significantly and could remain depressed for an extended period of time, whether due to COVID-19 or other unrelated reasons. Consumer purchases of discretionary items, including specifically our merchandise, generally decline during periods when disposable income is limited, unemployment rates increase, and consumer perceptions of personal well-being and security declines or there is economic uncertainty. An uncertain economic environment could adversely impact our business and operating results.

We Are and May Be Subject to Regulatory Compliance and Legal Uncertainties.

Changes in government regulation and supervision or proposed Department of Agriculture or other regulatory agency reforms or rule changes could impair our sources of revenue and limit our ability to expand our business. In the event any future laws or regulations are enacted which apply to us, we may have to expend funds and/or alter our operations to ensure compliance. New legislation or regulation, or the application of existing laws and regulations to the areas related to our business could add additional costs and risks to doing business. In addition, we are subject to regulations applicable to businesses generally and laws and regulations directly applicable to communications over the Internet and access to e-commerce. In addition, it is possible that a number of laws and regulations may be adopted with respect to the Internet and other areas of our business, covering issues such as user privacy, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, antitrust, taxation and characteristics and quality of products and services.

Since we do Not Intend to Pay Any Cash Dividends on Our Shares of Common Stock, Our Stockholders Will Not be Able to Receive a Return on Their Shares Unless They Sell Them.

We intend to retain any future earnings to finance the development and expansion of our business. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Unless we pay dividends, our stockholders will not be able to receive a return on their shares unless they sell them at a price higher than that which they initially paid for such shares.

We may be Subject to Legal Proceedings that Could be Time Consuming, Result in Costly Litigation, Require Significant Amounts of Management Time and Result in the Diversion of Significant Operational Resources.

We are involved in lawsuits, claims and proceedings incident to the ordinary course of our business. Litigation is inherently unpredictable. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly arbitration or litigation, require significant amounts of management time and result in the diversion of significant operational resources. Even if we believe that we have meritorious defenses against these actions, and we resolve to vigorously defend against them, the cost of defending against all these types of claims against us or the ultimate resolution of such claims, whether by settlement or adverse court decision, may harm our business and operating results and may be in excess of any amounts previously reserved for legal expenses. In addition, the increasingly regulated business environment and the nature of our products may result in a greater number of enforcement actions and private litigation. This could subject us to increased exposure to stockholder lawsuits. Also, we (and our affiliates) may be subject to attempts to bring legal claims by creditors and other third parties related to the liabilities or potential liabilities, of our former subsidiary, FD, or of igourmet LLC, or of the liabilities related to any company whose assets we acquired or do business with.

We are a Smaller Reporting Company, and We Cannot be Certain if the Reduced Reporting Requirements Applicable to Smaller Reporting Companies Will Make our Common Stock Less Attractive to Investors.

We are a smaller reporting company, as defined in the Securities Act of 1933. For as long as we continue to be a smaller reporting company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not smaller reporting companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, reduced disclosure obligations regarding historical financial statements, executive compensation in our periodic reports, registration statements, and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding nonbinding advisory votes on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

We will remain a smaller reporting company until the beginning of a year in which we had a public float of $250 million held by non-affiliates or revenues below $100 million and a public float below $700 million, in each case as determined as of the last business day of the second quarter of the prior year.

Our Common Stock is Subject to the “Penny Stock” Rules of the SEC and the Trading Market in our Securities is Limited, Which Makes Transactions in Our Stock Cumbersome and May Reduce the Value of an Investment in Our Stock.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted Rule 15g-9 which establishes the definition of a “penny stock,” for the purposes relevant to us, as any equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or with an exercise price, for warrants or options or conversion price for convertible notes, of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. For any transaction involving a penny stock, unless exempt, the rules require:

●that a broker or dealer approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks; and

●the broker or dealer receives from the investor a written agreement to the transaction, setting forth the identity and quantity of the penny stock to be purchased.

In order to approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks, the broker or dealer must:

●obtain financial information and investment experience objectives of the person; and

●make a reasonable determination that the transactions in penny stocks are suitable for that person and the person has sufficient knowledge and experience in financial matters to be capable of evaluating the risks of transactions in penny stocks.

The broker or dealer must also deliver, prior to any transaction in a penny stock, a disclosure schedule prescribed by the Commission relating to the penny stock market, which, in highlight form:

●Sets forth the basis on which the broker or dealer made the suitability determination, and

●that the broker or dealer received a signed, written agreement from the investor prior to the transaction.

Disclosure also has to be made about the risks of investing in penny stocks in both public offerings and in secondary trading and about the commissions payable to both the broker-dealer and the registered representative, current quotations for the securities and the rights and remedies available to an investor in cases of fraud in penny stock transactions. Finally, monthly statements have to be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.

Generally, brokers may be less willing to execute transactions in securities subject to the “penny stock” rules. This may make it more difficult for investors to dispose of our common stock and cause a decline in the market value of our stock.

ITEM 2. Properties

On March 8, 2013, we purchased a building and property located at 28411 Race Track Road, Bonita Springs, Florida 34135. The property consists of approximately 1.1 acres of land and close to 10,000 square feet of combined office and warehouse space. The purchase price of the property was $770,000 and was financed in part by a five year mortgage in the amount of $546,000. In March 2018, the remaining balance under this mortgage was extended to February 28, 2023. The company relocated all of its Florida-based office and warehouse facilities into this facility on July 15, 2013.

On May 14, 2015, we purchased a building and property located at 2528 S. 27th Avenue, Broadview, Illinois 60155. The property consists of approximately 1.33 acres of land and approximately 28,711 square feet of combined office and warehouse space. The purchase price of $914,350 was initially financed primarily by a draw-down of $900,000 on the Company’s credit facility with Fifth Third Bank. On May 29, 2015, a permanent financing facility was provided by Fifth Third Bank in the form of a loan in the amount of $980,000. $900,000 of this amount was used to pay the balance of the credit facility; the additional $80,000 was used for refrigeration and other improvements at the property. The interest on the loan is at the LIBOR rate plus 3.0%. The building is used for office and warehouse space primarily for the Company’s Artisan subsidiary. We have also recently completed an additional property improvement and upgrade buildout at the Artisan building which include a fully functional commercial test kitchen and training center and conference room. The test kitchen and training room will be used by Artisan and other subsidiaries of the Company for the purposes of new product testing and development and approval, Quality Assurance and Quality Control as well as sales presentations and customer demonstrations. In addition, we recently added a packaging room to the Artisan building, which is built to FDA, FSMA and SQF food safety standards and purchased new, technologically advanced semi-automated fillers for the packaging room. The packaging room addition will allow for expansion of proprietary private label product lines as well as packing of organic, non GMO, diet specific and other specialty foods. The test kitchen, packaging room and additional improvements were financed by a loan from Fifth Third Bank.

On November 8, 2019 the Company, through a newly formed wholly-owned subsidiary, purchased a logistics and warehouse facility (the “Facility”) for $4.5 million. The Facility is approximately 200,000 square feet and is situated on approximately 15 acres in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. The Facility’s appraised value by a third party appraisal firm in 2022 was $16,400,000.   Related to the Facility purchase, the Company entered into a commercial loan agreement for both the purchase price and planned improvements to the Facility. The amount of the loan was $5,500,000, of which the Company drew down $3,600,000 for the acquisition of the Facility; the lender was Fifth Third Bank and the loan is secured by a mortgage on the property and other Company assets. The interest on the loan is LIBOR plus 2.75%, with interest only payments due through September 30, 2020, thereafter with principal amortized over 20 years and maturity on September 2, 2025. Related to Facility purchase, the Company also acquired certain leases from certain tenants of the Facility, all of which were in good standing at the time of purchase.

On October 5, 2020, the Company completed work to upgrade the Facility at a cost of $2,231,458 in order to better support the Company’s focus on e-commerce and logistics.

ITEM 3. Legal Proceedings

On September 16, 2019, an action (the “PA Action”) was filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Trial Division, against, among others, the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Innovative Gourmet LLC and Food Innovations, Inc. Since that time, other parties involved in the incident have joined as plaintiffs in the PA Action.  The complaint in the PA Action alleges, inter alia, wrongful death and negligence by a driver formerly employed by Innovative Gourmet, and plaintiffs filed a demand and offer to settle for fifty million dollars. We expect that should a settlement occur, the amount to resolve the Action would be substantially lower. The Company, its subsidiaries, and their employees had auto and umbrella insurance policies, among others, that were in effect for the relevant period. The Company and its subsidiaries’ insurers have agreed to defend the Company, its subsidiaries and the driver in the PA Action (and related actions), subject to a reservation of rights. The Company believes that the likely outcome would result in the liabilities being covered by its insurance carriers. However, if the Company was found responsible for damages in excess of its available insurance coverage, such damages in excess of the coverage could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s operations. On July 16, 2020, the court granted the Company's motion to stay the case through the final adjudication of an additional pending legal proceeding against the driver in connection with the events related to the case. It is not anticipated that the Company and its subsidiaries will be a party to any other legal proceedings in connection with this matter. Because the statute of limitations on the incident has now run, it is not anticipated that any new plaintiffs involved in the incident will come forward against the Company and its subsidiaries.

From time to time, the Company has become and may become involved in certain lawsuits and legal proceedings which arise in the ordinary course of business, or as the result of current or previous investments, or current or previous subsidiaries, or current or previous employees, or current or previous directors, or as a result of acquisitions and dispositions or other corporate activities.  The Company intends to vigorously defend its positions. However, litigation is subject to inherent uncertainties, and an adverse result in these or other matters may arise from time to time that may harm our financial position or our business, and the outcome of these matters cannot be ultimately predicted.

ITEM 4. Mine Safety Disclosure

Not Applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. Market For Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information

Prices for our common stock are quoted on the OTCQB. Since March 2004, our common stock has traded under the symbol “IVFH”. Prior thereto, our common stock traded under the symbol “FBSN”. 46,041,751 shares of our common stock were outstanding as of March 1, 2022.

Security Holders

On March 1, 2022, there were approximately 55 record holders of our common stock. In addition, we believe there are at least several hundred additional beneficial owners of our common stock whose shares are held in “street name.”

Dividends

We have not paid dividends during the three most recently completed fiscal years and have no current plans to pay dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all earnings, if any, for use in our business.

Recent Sales and Other Issuances of Our Equity Securities

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company had the following equity related, nonregistered transactions:

On August 26, 2021 the Company issued 9,375,000 shares of common stock to investors with a fair value of $3,580,372 for cash.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued the amount of $385,000 representing 961,897 shares of common stock issuable at an average price of $0.4177 per share to its Chief Executive Officer pursuant to his compensation agreement.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued the amount of $17,116 representing 59,016 shares of common stock issuable at an average price of $0.29 per share to its Chief Strategy Officer pursuant to his compensation agreement.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued the amount of $90,000 representing 200,282 shares of common stock issuable to two Directors.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company issued 74,076 shares with a fair value of $31,861 as a bonus.

All of the issuances described above were exempt from registration pursuant to Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 for the following reasons: (1) none of the issuances involved a public offering or public advertising for the payment of any commissions or fees; (2) the issuances to investors were to “accredited investors”; (3) the issuances upon conversion of notes were for notes held at least 12 months and did not involve the payment of any other consideration; and (4) all issuances to affiliates and to non-affiliates holding the securities for less than six months carried restrictive legends.

Dilutive Securities

December 31, 2021

The following table summarizes the options outstanding and the related prices for the options to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock issued by the Company at December 31, 2021:

December 31, 2020

The following table summarizes the options outstanding and the related prices for the options to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock issued by the Company as of December 31, 2020:

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

As of December 31, 2021, the following shares are issuable pursuant to outstanding stock options, warrants, and rights issued under the 2011 Stock Option Plan:

ITEM 6. [Reserved]

ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto, as well as all other related notes, and financial and operational references, appearing elsewhere in this document.

Certain information contained in this discussion and elsewhere in this report may include “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is subject to the safe harbor created by that act. The safe harbor created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act will not apply to certain “forward looking statements” because we issued “penny stock” (as defined in Section 3(a)(51) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 3(a)(51-1) under the Exchange Act) during the three year period preceding the date(s) on which those forward looking statements were first made, except to the extent otherwise specifically provided by rule, regulation or order of the Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution readers that certain important factors may affect our actual results and could cause such results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements which may be deemed to have been made in this Report or which are otherwise made by or on our behalf. For this purpose, any statements contained in this report that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “believe”, “explore”, “consider”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “could”, “estimate”, “plan”, “propose” or “continue” or the negative variations of those words or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that may affect our results include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties associated with:

We are also subject to other risks detailed from time to time in our other filings with the SEC and elsewhere in this report. Any one or more of these uncertainties, risks and other influences could materially affect our results of operations and whether forward-looking statements made by us ultimately prove to be accurate. Our actual results, performance and achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether from new information, future events or otherwise.

Critical Accounting Policy and Estimates

Use of Estimates in the Preparation of Financial Statements

The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. These estimates include certain assumptions related to doubtful accounts receivable, stock-based services, valuation of financial instruments, operating right to use assets and liabilities, and income taxes. On an on-going basis, we evaluate these estimates, including those related to revenue recognition and concentration of credit risk. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Accounts subject to estimate and judgements are accounts receivable reserves, income taxes, intangible assets, contingent liabilities, and equity-based instruments. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. We believe our estimates have not been materially inaccurate in past years, and our assumptions are not likely to change in the foreseeable future.

(a) Warrants:

There were no warrants outstanding at December 31, 2021 and 2020.

(b) Embedded conversion features of notes payable:

There were no outstanding convertible notes outstanding at December 31, 2021 and 2020:

(c) Stock options:

The Company accounts for options in accordance with FASB ASC 718-40. Options are valued upon issuance utilizing the Black-Scholes valuation model. Option expense is recognized over the requisite service period of the related option award. The following table illustrates certain key information regarding our options and option assumptions at December 31, 2021 and 2020:

Doubtful Accounts Receivable

The Company maintained an allowance in the amount of $375,931 and $343,832 for doubtful accounts receivable at December 31, 2021 and 2020. The Company has an operational relationship of several years with our major customers, and we believe this experience provides us with a solid foundation from which to estimate our expected losses on accounts receivable. Should our sales mix change or if we develop new lines of business or new customers, these estimates and our estimation process will change accordingly. These estimates have been accurate in the past.

Income Taxes

The Company has a history of losses, and as such has recorded no liability for income taxes. Until such time as the Company begins to provide evidence that a continued profit is a reasonable expectation, management will not determine that there is a basis for accruing an income tax liability. These estimates have been accurate in the past. At December 31, 2021, the Company has a net operating loss carryforward of approximately $15,800,000.

Background

We were initially formed in June 1979 as Alpha Solarco Inc., a Colorado corporation. From June 1979 through February 2003, we were either inactive or involved in discontinued business ventures. We changed our name to Fiber Application Systems Technology, Ltd in February 2003. In January 2004, we changed our state of incorporation by merging into Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. (“IVFH”), a Florida corporation formed for that purpose. As a result of the merger, we changed our name to that of Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. In January 2004, we also acquired Food Innovations, Inc. (“FII” or “Food Innovations”), a Delaware corporation, for 500,000 shares of our common stock.

On November 2, 2012, the Company entered into an asset purchase agreement (the “Haley Acquisition”) with The Haley Group, LLC whereby we acquired all existing assets of The Haley Group, LLC and its customers. The Haley Acquisition was valued at a total cost of $119,645. On June 30, 2014, pursuant to a purchase agreement, the Company purchased 100% of the membership interest of Organic Food Brokers, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company (“OFB”), for $300,000, 100,000 four year options at a price of $1.46 per share, and up to an additional $225,000 in earn-outs if certain milestones are met. Pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement dated as of January 1, 2017 the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Oasis Sales Corp. (“Oasis”), purchased substantially all of the assets of Oasis Sales and Marketing, L.L.C. for $300,000 cash; a $200,000 structured equity instrument which can be paid in cash or shares of the Company stock at the Company’s option, anytime under certain conditions, or is automatically payable via the issuance of 200,000 shares if the Company’s shares close above $1.00 for ten consecutive days; a $100,000 note; and up to an additional $400,000 in earn-outs over two years if certain milestones are met. The Agreement also contains claw-back provisions if certain revenue conditions are not met.

On August 15, 2014, pursuant to a merger agreement, the Company acquired The Fresh Diet, Inc. (“FD”). Effective February 23, 2016, the Company closed a transaction to sell 90% of our ownership in FD for consideration consisting primarily of a restructuring of our loans, which includes the ability to convert to additional amounts of FD under certain circumstances. There is no continuing cash inflows or outflows from or to the discontinued operations.

Effective January 24, 2018, pursuant to an asset acquisition agreement (the “igourmet Asset Acquisition Agreement”), our wholly-owned subsidiary, Innovative Gourmet, LLC acquired substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of igourmet LLC and igourmet NY LLC, privately-held New York limited liability companies located in West Pittston, Pennsylvania and engaged in the sale, marketing, and distribution of specialty food and specialty food items through www.igourmet.com, online marketplaces, additional direct-to-consumer platforms, distribution to foodservice, retail stores and other wholesale accounts, pursuant to the terms of an Asset Purchase Agreement. The consideration for and in connection with the acquisition consisted of: (i) $1,500,000, which satisfied or reduced secured, priority and administrative debt of Sellers; (ii) in connection with and prior to the acquisition, our wholly-owned subsidiary, Food Funding, LLC (“Food Funding”), funded advances of $325,000 to Sellers on a secured basis, pursuant to certain loan documents and as bridge loans, which loans were reduced by the proceeds of the Asset Purchase Agreement; (iii) the purchase for $200,000 of certain debt owed by Sellers, to be paid out of, if available, Innovative Gourmet’s cash flow; (iv) potential contingent liability allocation for a percentage of Sellers’ approximately $2,300,000 of certain debt, not purchased or assumed by Innovative Gourmet, which under certain circumstances, Innovative Gourmet may determine to pay; and (v) additional purchase price consideration of (a) up to a maximum of $1,500,000, if EBITDA of Innovative Gourmet reaches $800,00 in 2018, (b) up to a maximum of $1,750,000, if EBITDA of Innovative Gourmet in 2019 exceeds its EBITDA in 2018 by at least 20% and if its EBITDA reaches $5,000,000; and (c) up to a maximum of $2,125,000, if EBITDA of Innovative Gourmet in 2020 exceeds its EBITDA in 2019 by at least 20% and if its EBITDA reaches $8,000,000. The EBITDA based earnout shall be paid 37.5% in cash, 25% in IVFH shares valued at the time of the closing of this transaction and 37.5%, at Innovative Gourmet’s option, in IVFH shares valued at the time of the payment of the earnout or in cash. The 2018, 2019 and 2020 earnout milestones were not met. In connection with the acquisition, our wholly-owned subsidiary, Food Funding, purchased Seller’s senior secured note at a price of approximately $1,187,000, pursuant to the terms of a Loan Sale Agreement with UPS Capital Business Credit. That note was reduced by the proceeds of the Asset Purchase Agreement. See Item (i) above.

Effective July 6, 2018, pursuant to an asset purchase agreement between Mouth Foods, Inc. (“Mouth”) and our wholly-owned subsidiary M Innovations LLC (“M Innovations”) (the “MFI APA”), the Company acquired certain assets of Mouth from MFI (assignment for the benefit of creditors), LLC, in connection with a Delaware assignment proceeding. The MFI APA was accounted for as an acquisition of an ongoing business where the Company was treated as the acquirer and the acquired assets and assumed liabilities were recorded by the Company at their preliminary estimated fair values. Mouth, a privately held New York company operating out of Brooklyn, was an expert curator and online retailer of high quality specialty foods from small-batch makers in the US.

The consideration for and in connection with the acquisition consisted of (i) closing related cash payments of $208,355; (ii) additional revenue-based contingent liabilities valued by management at $100,000 related to certain future sales of purchased assets payable under the following terms: payment of 5% of certain revenues, with no payments on the first $500,000 of revenues and no payments on revenues after June 30, 2020; (iii) additional revenue based contingent liabilities of up to $185,000 associated with the purchase of certain debt of the seller; and (iv) additional contingent liability consideration valued by management at approximately $20,000.

Effective July 23, 2019, P Innovations acquired certain assets of GBC Sub, Inc. (d/b/a The GiftBox) (“GiftBox”) (the “GiftBox Asset Purchase Agreement”). GiftBox, a privately held Nevada corporation controlled by David Polinsky, a director of the Company, was in the business of subscription-based ecommerce. The consideration for the assets purchased was a nominal amount of cash. The GiftBox Asset Purchase Agreement also provides the sellers the option to acquire 30% of P Innovations subject to dilution for a period of thirty-six months following the date of the Giftbox Asset Purchase Agreement; the option will only be exercisable if there is a spinoff of P Innovations to Innovative Food Holdings shareholders.

Transactions With a Major Customer

Transactions with a major customer and related economic dependence information is set forth (1) following our discussion of Liquidity and Capital Resources, (2) under the heading Major Customer in Note 18 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, and (3) in Business – Relationship with U.S. Foods, and (4) as the second item under Risk Factors.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

This discussion may contain forward looking-statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our future results could differ materially from the forward looking-statements discussed in this report. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements, the notes thereto and other financial information included elsewhere in the report.

Year Ended December 31, 2021 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2020

Revenue

Revenue increased by $10,536,120 or approximately 20% to $62,212,148 for the year ended December 31, 2021 from $51,676,028 prior year. The increase in revenues is primarily attributable to an increase in specialty foodservice revenues which was driven by the nationwide opening of restaurants and other foodservice establishments previously affected by COVID-19. As more foodservice establishments and restaurants have re-opened we have experienced improving foodservice revenues, although revenues still remain slightly below historical levels. The increase in specialty foodservice revenue was partially offset with decreases mainly associated with e-commerce revenues. Though e-commerce revenue remains significantly above historical levels, the decreases during the current period were the result of decreases in COVID-19 driven demand in 2021 compared to 2020.

We continue to assess the potential of new revenue sources from the manufacture and sale of proprietary food products, private label products and additional sales channel opportunities in both the foodservice and consumer space and will implement a strategy which based on our analysis provides the most beneficial opportunity for growth.

Any changes in the food distribution and specialty foods operating landscape that materially hinders our current ability and/or cost to deliver our products to our customers could potentially cause a material impact on our net revenue and gross margin and, therefore, our profitability and cash flows could be adversely affected.

Currently, a small portion of our revenues comes from imported products or international sales. Our current sales from such markets may be hampered and negatively impacted by any economic tariffs that may be imposed in the United States or in foreign countries.

See “Transactions with Major Customers” and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) mandated FR-60 disclosures following the “Liquidity and Capital Resources” section for a further discussion of the significant customer concentrations, loss of significant customer, critical accounting policies and estimates, and other factors that could affect future results.

Cost of goods sold

Our cost of goods sold for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $45,261,401, an increase of $7,401,901 or approximately 20% compared to cost of goods sold of $37,859,500 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in cost of goods sold is attributed mainly to increases in revenues. Cost of goods sold was made up of the following expenses for the year ended December 31, 2021: cost of goods of specialty, meat, game, cheese, seafood, poultry and other sales categories in the amount of $30,492,406; shipping, delivery, handling, and purchase allowance expenses in the amount of $14,208,233; and cost of goods associated with logistics of $560,762. Total gross margin was approximately 27.2% of sales in 2021 compared to approximately 26.7% of sales in 2020.   Gross margins as a percentage of sales improved slightly during the current period to 27.2% compared to 26.7% during the comparable period, primarily due to variation in product and revenue mix across our various selling channels. 

In 2022, we continue to price our products in order to increase sales, gain market share and increase the number of our end users and customers. We currently expect, if market conditions, overall economic conditions, and our product revenue mix remain constant, that our cost of goods sold may increase and may result in a decrease in profit margin.

Selling, general, and administrative expenses

Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased by $1,008,411 or approximately 5% to $20,540,229 during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $19,531,818 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses was primarily due to an increase in payroll and related costs of approximately $915,262 (net of an increase in non-cash compensation in the amount of $142,815), an increase in advertising and marketing costs of $550,770, an increase in insurance costs of $118,119, an increase in office, facilities, and vehicles costs $47,374, and an increase in taxes of $26,868. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in bad debt expense of $223,143, a decrease in amortization and depreciation of $177,087, a decrease in banking and credit card fees of $125,877, a decrease in professional fees of $48,434, a decrease in IT and computer costs of $44,021. The increases were driven mainly by additional costs including increases in costs including warehouse fulfillment costs associated with COVID-19, increased costs associated with additional personnel mainly related to warehouse operations, overall employee costs and insurance costs, increased legal, accounting, facility and IT costs including costs associated with the planned launch of new websites, and increased advertising associated with increased spending in digital marketing related to certain of the Company’s e-commerce websites.

Gain on forgiveness of debt

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recorded a gain on forgiveness of debt in connection with the PPP Loans in the amount of $3,425,015, consisting of $3,398,635 of principal and $26,380 of accrued interest.

Impairment of goodwill and intangible assets

During the year-ended December 31, 2020, the Company performed impairment tests of our goodwill and intangible assets that incorporated the use of a discounted cash flow model that involves many management assumptions that are based upon future growth projections which include estimates of COVID-19’s impact on our business. Assumptions include estimates of future revenues, growth rates which take into account estimated inflation rates, estimates of future levels of gross profit and operating profit, projected capital expenditures and discount rates based upon industry and competitor analyses. As a result of impairment tests, the Company was required by applicable accounting rules to record an impairment of goodwill and intangible assets in the aggregate amount of $1,698,952. There was no such comparable charge during the current period. At December 31, 2021, the net carrying value of other amortizable and unamortizable assets on the Company’s balance sheet is $1,605,040.

Impairment of Investment

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the founder of one of the food related companies passed away in an untimely tragic accident, and as a result the food related company ceased operations and the Company recognized an impairment in the amount of $209,850 in connection with that investment.

Other leasing income

On November 8, 2019 the Company purchased a logistics and warehouse facility located in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania and leased portions of this facility to a third party for a cell tower installation. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recognized revenue in the amount of $10,840 in connection with the lease of space in this facility compared to $43,810 during the year ended December 31, 2020 The decrease was due to (i) the Company recognized income in the amount of $22,380 in the current period as revenues in connection with customers for whom the Company provides other logistical services; this category of income was classified as other leasing income during the prior year; (ii) On January 18, 2021, the Company entered into a 50 year easement agreement for total proceeds of $380,000.  The 2021 revenue represents the recognition of the proceeds of the easement over the term of the agreement; the Company recognized additional revenues in the amount of  $10,879 from the previous short-term cell tower leasing agreement in the prior year.

Gain on disposal of fixed assets

During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company recorded a gain on the sale of warehouse equipment in the amount of $7,984, compared to a gain on sale of equipment of $0 during the current period. This type of transaction occurs infrequently.

Interest expense, net

Interest expense, net of interest income, increased by $51,160 or approximately 17% to $353,854 during the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $302,576 during the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was due primarily to an increase in interest accrued or paid on the Company’s commercial loans and notes payable in the amount of $296,897 during the year ended December 31, 2020 to $348,864 during the year ended December 31, 2021. The Company also recorded interest expense in connection with the amortization of prepaid loan fees in the amount of $12,525 during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $12,560 during the prior period.

Net loss

For the reasons above, the Company had a net loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 of $716,331 compared to a net loss of $7,665,024 during the year ended December 31, 2020. The loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 includes a total of $1,449,236 in non-cash charges, including amortization of intangible assets in the amount of $8,912; depreciation expense of $517,942; charges for non-cash compensation in the amount of $668,251; impairment of investment of $209,850; amortization of prepaid loan fees of $12,525; and provision for doubtful accounts of $31,756. These non-cash losses were offset by a gain on forgiveness of debt in the amount of $3,425,015. The loss for the year ended December 31, 2020 includes a total of $3,159,751 in non-cash charges, including impairment of intangible assets in amount of $1,698,952; amortization of intangible assets in the amount of $212,902; depreciation expense of $491,039; charges for non-cash compensation in the amount of $525,436; and amortization of prepaid loan fees of $12,560, and allowance for doubtful accounts of $218,862.

Liquidity and Capital Resources at December 31, 2021

As of December 31, 2021, the Company had current assets of $12,803,526, consisting of cash and cash equivalents of $6,122,671; trade accounts receivable of $3,256,764 inventory of $3,109,984; and other current assets of $314,107. Also at December 31, 2021, the Company had current liabilities of $10,197,532, consisting of trade payables and accrued liabilities of $5,702,905, accrued interest of $29,349, deferred revenue of $1,631,406, line of credit of $2,000,000, current portion of notes payable (net of discount) of $412,961, current portion of operating leases of $74,088, current portion of financing leases of $159,823, and current portion of contingent liabilities of $187,000.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company had cash used in operating activities of $3,661,569. Cash flow used in operations consisted of the Company’s consolidated net loss of $716,331 subtracted by the depreciation and amortization of $526,854, non-cash compensation in the amount of $668,251, amortization of right-of-use assets of $102,715, provision for doubtful accounts of $31,756, and amortization of prepaid loan fees in the amount of $12,525. These amounts were partially offset by a gain on the forgiveness of debt of $3,425,015, and proceeds from the sale of common stock. The Company’s cash position increased by $1,072,174 as a result of changes in the components of current assets and current liabilities.

The Company had cash used in investing activities of $24,511 for the year ended December 31, 2021, which consisted of cash paid for the acquisition of property and equipment in the amount of $24,511.

The Company had cash provided by financing activities of $4,748,736 for the year ended December 31, 2021, which consisted of proceeds from a PPP loan in the amount of $1,748,414 and proceeds from the sale of common stock, net of issuances costs of $3,580,372; these amounts were partially offset by principal payments on loans and notes payable in the amount of $433,087 and principal payments on financing leases in the amount of $146,963.

The Company had net working capital  of $2,605,994 as of December 31, 2021. The Company had cash used in operations during the year ended December 31, 2021 in the amount of $3,661,569, compared to cash used in operating activities of $1,759,883 during the year ended December 31, 2020.  The Company intends to continue to focus on increasing market share and cash flow from operations by focusing its sales activities on specific market segments and new product lines and improving operating efficiencies.  Currently, we do not have any material long-term obligations other than those described in Notes 11, 12 and 13 to the financial statements included in this report. As we seek to increase our sales of new items and enter new markets, acquire new businesses as well as identify new food oriented products and services, we may use existing cash reserves, long-term financing, or other means to finance such diversification, although no assurance can be given that such growth will occur. 

If the Company’s cash flow from operations is insufficient to fully implement its business plan, the Company may require additional financing in order to execute its operating plan. The Company cannot predict whether this additional financing will be in the form of equity or debt, or be in another form. The Company may not be able to obtain the necessary additional capital on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all.

In any of these events, the Company may be unable to implement its current plans for expansion, repay its debt obligations as they become due or respond to competitive pressures, any of which circumstances would have a material adverse effect on its business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

2022 Plans

Since 2020 the world has been in the grip of a pandemic which has wreaked havoc on economies world-wide, including in the U.S., which is our primary market. As a result of the pandemic, restaurants, hotels, country clubs, casinos, catering houses and other of our primary customers have either been closed completely or are only partially open with significantly reduced operations. Accordingly, foodservice revenues, which historically have been a significant overall portion of our revenues have been significantly reduced as most foodservice establishments cross the United States closed or had limited operations. As a result, foodservice revenue commencing in the second half of March 2020 and continuing throughout the year and into 2021, experienced unprecedented declines. As the pandemic has begun to decline in the United States and foodservice establishments have begun to reopen, we have experienced improving foodservice revenues although our revenues have not yet reached its previous historical levels for the full year. While the decline in the pandemic and the re-opening of bricks and mortar stores resulted in a decline of e-commerce revenues compared to the comparable quarter in 2020, ecommerce revenues remained significantly above pre-pandemic historical levels.

In April 2020 we applied for and received a loan of approximately $1,650,221 under a program established under a congressionally approved program which is administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 2021 we applied for and received $1,748,414 in new loans under a similar government program administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration. During the year ended December 31, 2021,  the Company received notifications from Fifth Third Bank, N.A. that principal and accrued interest in the aggregate amounts of $3,398,635 and $26,380, respectively, due under the  PPP Loans had been forgiven; at December 31, 2021, the balance due under the PPP loans was $0. Between cash on hand, access to outside capital, and our current expectations of incoming revenues, we believe we have sufficient resources to continue operating for at least the next 12 months. However, inasmuch as we cannot predict the timing and the effect of the pandemic on general economic activities, we cannot predict the trajectory of the pandemic and the amount of economic stress we could experience if the pandemic were to worsen in the United States and worldwide. While we intend to continue to focus on executing on our strategic growth plans, given the current economic conditions, we are not able to determine the exact timeframe in 2022, if at all, that we can then again consider fully implementing portions of the plans described below.

During 2022, we plan to expand our business by expanding our focus to additional specialty foods markets and by leveraging our e-commerce platform to launch and grow, either organically and/or through acquisition, new D2C brands and e-commerce sites within targeted consumer areas, on the Company’s e-commerce platform. In addition, we will continue exploring potential acquisition and partnership opportunities with influencers and other celebrities to continue to extend our focus in the specialty food market through the growth of the Company’s existing sales channels and through a variety of additional potential sales channel relationships. In addition, we are currently exploring the introduction of, or have introduced into the market, a variety of new product categories and new product lines, including private label products and proprietary branded products to leverage our existing foodservice and consumer customer base.

Furthermore, the Company intends to continue to expand its activities in the direct to consumer space and the overall consumer packaged goods (CPG) space through leveraging its overall capabilities in the consumer space, including leveraging its direct to consumer e-commerce platform to reach both additional customers in multiple channels, and to expand availability of its e-commerce capabilities to additional products and markets.

No assurances can be given that any of these plans will come to fruition or that if implemented that they will necessarily yield positive results.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues, or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that is material to investors.

Inflation

In the opinion of management, inflation has not had a material effect on the Company’s financial condition or results of its operations.

Transactions with Major Customers

The Company's largest customer, U.S. Foods, Inc. and its affiliates, accounted for approximately 46% and 40% of total sales in each of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively; and approximately 40% of total sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 32% of total sales in the fourth quarter of 2020.   A contract between our subsidiary, Food Innovations, and USF entered an optional renewal period in December 2012 but was automatically extended for an additional 12 months in each of January 1, 2013 and 2014.  On January 26, 2015 we executed a contract directly between Food Innovations, Inc., our wholly-owned subsidiary, and U.S. Foods, Inc.  The term of the Agreement was from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016 and provided for a limited number of automatic annual renewals thereafter if no party gives the other 30 days' notice of its intent not to renew.  Based on the terms, the Agreement was extended through 2018. Effective January 1, 2018 the Agreement was further amended to remove the cap on renewals, and provide for an unlimited number of additional 12-month terms unless either party notifies the other in writing, 30 days prior to the end date, of its intent not to renew.

ITEM 8. Financial Statements

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of:

Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2021, and the related notes (collectively referred to as “the consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2021, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal controls over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall consolidated financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Contingencies

As described in Note 17 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company is involved in a number of legal proceedings and has made accruals with respect to certain of these matters. Where a liability is reasonably possible and may be material, such matters have been disclosed. Management exercised judgment and assessed the probability of occurrence based on the ability to predict the number of claims that may be filed and whether it can reasonably estimate any loss or range of loss that may arise from that proceeding.

Auditing management’s accounting for, and disclosure of, loss contingencies was highly judgmental as it involved our assessment of the significant judgments made by management when assessing the probability of occurrence or when determining whether an estimate of the loss or range of loss could be made.

To test the Company’s assessment of the probability of occurrence or determination of an estimate of loss, or range of loss, among other procedures, we read the legal documentations, reviewed opinions provided to the Company by certain outside legal counsel, read letters received directly by us from external counsel, and evaluated the current status of contingencies based on discussions with legal counsel. We also evaluated the appropriateness of the related disclosures.

/s/ Liggett & Webb, P.A.

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2012

Boynton Beach, Florida

March 31, 2022

Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Stockholders' Equity

For the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020

See notes to consolidated financial statements.

INNOVATIVE FOOD HOLDINGS, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021 and 2020