Available at Target

BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages Amplifies Its Social Impact Model through National Distribution Partnership with Target

The specialty coffee brand dedicates a portion of profits to support domestic at-risk youth initiatives

Des Moines, IA (January 1, 2020) - BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages is pleased to formally announce that the brand’s specialty coffees are now available nationwide across +200 Target retail stores and soon-to-be online at Target.com, with further expansion later in January 2020. The product lineup consists of four 12oz whole bean coffees retailing at $12.99 with features ranging from medium and dark roast blends, single origin light roasts, and fair trade or direct
trade sourcing integrity.

The brand’s assortment proposition is to make the specialty coffee experience approachable to everyday consumers while still differentiating itself amongst other shelved specialty brands. Headlining its offerings is a natural processed (sun-dried) light roast coffee, from Limu, Ethiopia. “Though natural processed coffees have minimal water waste and best retains original flavor notes, they hadn’t been commonly considered as ‘scalable enough’ relative to other processing methods. However, to us, the quality and values shared from this method are too important to not bring to everyday consumers,” says co-founder and CEO Pernell Cezar.

BLK & Bold is well-positioned to provide both an enhanced product experience as well as a fresh perspective in an established industry via its “5% For Our Youth” business model. The model serves as a vehicle for consumers to reinvest in their communities as 5% of BLK & Bold’s
profits are dedicated to supporting initiatives that directly and positively affect domestic at-risk youth, at scale. In conjunction with the Target launch, BLK & Bold is announcing a new round of national pledge partners within its respective expanded distribution markets, all which serve the common purpose of empowering disadvantaged domestic youth (see list below). Resourcing these
organizations lets anyone with a shared purpose to participate in this altruistic cycle without altering their daily routine. “Creating a pathway for everyday people to become contributors to our most vulnerable communities is as fulfilling as it is motivating,” says co-founder Jarrhod
“Rod” Johnson.

 “It’s bigger than us; as a for-profit company founded in today’s “conscious consumer" landscape, we believe it's simply smart business to sustainably support the communities of ourconsumers. We humbly welcome the opportunity to further our product and domestic impact
purpose through our new Target partnership,” says Cezar.

LIST OF “5% For Our Youth” NEW PLEDGE PARTNERSHIPS

Youth Guidance, Chicago, IL https://www.youth-guidance.org/
Urban Growers Collective, Chicago, IL https://urbangrowerscollective.org/
Los Angeles Conservation Corps, Los Angeles, CA https://www.lacorps.org/
Acta Non Verba, Oakland, CA https://anvfarm.org/
Sunset Youth, San Francisco, CA https://www.sunsetyouthservices.org/
City Growers, New York, NY https://citygrowers.org/our-impact/
Comp-U-Dopt, Houston, TX https://www.compudopt.org/
Greening Youth Foundation, Atlanta, GA https://gyfoundation.org/
Code Fever Miami, Miami, FL https://www.codefevermiami.com/
Juxtaposition, INC, Minneapolis, MN http://juxtapositionarts.org/
Urbanstead, Philadelphia, PA https://www.urbanstead.org/

ABOUT BLK & BOLD, LLC

Founded in 2017 out of Des Moines, IA, BLK & Bold, LLC is a coffee micro-roastery and wholesalers of specialty coffee and loose leaf teas. Centered by its domestic social impact
model, the company brings both local access to its specialty products and local impact to consumer communities. BLK & Bold, LLC is a nationally certified Minority Business Enterprise and is also Certified B Corp Pending.

ABOUT PERNELL “PJ” CEZAR & JARRHOD “ROD” JOHNSON

As childhood friends and enthusiastic consumers of coffee & tea respectively, Pernell & Rod felt unfulfilled by legacy brands and opted to build one that represented their core values, the communities they identified with, and the opportunity to allow anyone to partake in realizing a
greater shared societal purpose.