COFFEE HOLDING CO INC - Annual Report: 2022 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022

For the transition period from ____________ to _______________.

Commission file number: 001-32491

COFFEE HOLDING CO., INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (718) 832-0800

Securities registered under Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act: None

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

Indicate by check mark if registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

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 past 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 and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) 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 definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Emerging Growth Company ☐

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. ☐

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

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

The aggregate market value of the common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant, computed by reference to the closing price of the registrant’s common stock on the NASDAQ Capital Market on April 30, 2022, was $15,146,840.

As of January 20, 2023, the registrant had 5,708,599 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, outstanding.

Documents incorporated by reference

None.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

General Overview

Products and Operations. We are an integrated wholesale coffee roaster and dealer located in the United States. Our core products can be divided into three categories:

Our private label and branded coffee products are sold throughout the United States and certain countries in Asia to supermarkets, wholesalers, and individually owned and multi-unit retail customers. Our unprocessed green coffee, which includes over 90 specialty coffee offerings, is primarily sold to specialty gourmet roasters in the United states, Canada and multiple international countries.

We conduct our operations in accordance with strict freshness and quality standards. All of our private label and branded coffees are produced from high quality coffee beans that are deep roasted for full flavor using a slow roasting process that has been perfected utilizing almost 50 years of experience in the coffee industry. In order to ensure freshness, our products are delivered to our customers within 72 hours of roasting. We believe that our long history has enabled us to develop a loyal customer base.

In June 2016, we acquired substantially all of the assets of Coffee Kinetics LLC (doing business as Sonofresco) through our wholly-owned subsidiary Sonofresco, LLC (“Sonofresco” or “SONO”), including equipment, inventory, customer lists, relationships and accounts payable. In addition to our wholesale green coffee, private label coffee and branded coffee product offerings, we currently sell tabletop coffee roasting equipment to our customers through Sonofresco.

On February 23, 2017, we purchased all the outstanding common stock of Comfort Foods, Inc. (“CFI”). CFI is a medium sized regional roaster, manufacturing both branded and private label coffee for retail and foodservice customers located predominantly in the northeast United States marketplace.

On April 24, 2018, pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement, by and among Generations Coffee Company, LLC (“GCC”) the entity formed as a result of the Company’s joint venture with Caruso’s Coffee, Inc. and Steep & Brew, Inc. (“the Seller”) a Wisconsin corporation and the stockholder of the Seller. GCC purchased substantially all the assets, including equipment, inventory, customer lists and relationships of the Seller. As of the fiscal period ended January 31, 2022, the parties to the joint venture have agreed not continue with this joint venture.

On October 15, 2020, we entered into a Contribution and Equity Purchase Agreement (the “Jordre Well Agreement”) to become a 49% owner in The Jordre Well, LLC (“The Jordre Well”), a cannabidiol (“CBD”) beverage company. Under the terms of the Jordre Well Agreement, The Jordre Well was to assist us in the development and commercialization of CBD-infused line extensions for non-coffee CBD-infused beverages and products. However, after further analysis by management, we will no longer pursue this line of products.

We were incorporated on October 9, 1995 under the laws of the State of Nevada under the name Transpacific International Group Corp (“Transpacific”). On April 16, 1998, Transpacific completed a merger with Coffee Holding Co., Inc., a New York corporation. Upon the consummation of the merger, Coffee Holding Co., Inc. was merged into Transpacific and Transpacific changed its name to Coffee Holding Co., Inc.

Our corporate offices are located at 3475 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, New York 10314. Our telephone number is (718) 832-0800 and our website address is www.coffeeholding.com. On our website, investors can obtain, free of charge, a copy of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, our Code of Conduct and Business Ethics, including disclosure related to any amendments or waivers thereto, other reports and any amendments thereto filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such material electronically with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. None of the information posted on our website is incorporated by reference into this Annual Report. The SEC also maintains a website at http://www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding us and other companies that file materials with the SEC electronically

All references in this report to “JVA,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our” mean Coffee Holding Co., Inc. and its subsidiaries unless stated otherwise or the context otherwise indicates.

Recent Developments

On September 29, 2022, Coffee Holding Co., Inc, a Nevada corporation (“JVA”), entered into a Merger and Share Exchange Agreement (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among JVA, Delta Corp Holdings Limited, a Cayman Islands exempted company (“Pubco”), Delta Corp Holdings Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales (“Delta”), CHC Merger Sub Inc., a Nevada corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of Pubco (“Merger Sub”), and each of the holders of ordinary shares of Delta as named therein (the “Sellers”). Upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub will merge with and into JVA, with JVA surviving as a direct, wholly-owned subsidiary of Pubco (the “Merger”). As a result of the Merger, each issued and outstanding share of JVA common stock, $0.001 par value per share (the “JVA Common Stock”), will be cancelled and converted for the right of the holder thereof to receive one ordinary share, par value $0.0001 of Pubco (the “Pubco Ordinary Shares”).

As a condition to the Merger, Pubco shall also acquire all of the issued and outstanding Delta securities from the Sellers in exchange for Pubco Ordinary Shares (the “Exchange” and, collectively with the Merger and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the “Transactions”). As a result of the Transactions, JVA and Delta will each become direct, wholly-owned subsidiaries of Pubco, with JVA stockholders receiving approximately $31.5 million (or 4.79%) worth of Pubco Ordinary Shares (the “Merger Consideration”) and Delta stockholders receiving approximately $625 million (or 95.21%) worth of Pubco Ordinary Shares (the “Exchange Consideration” and collectively with the Merger Consideration, the “Business Combination Consideration”), subject to certain adjustments, at an implied diluted value per share of $5.50. The Business Combination Consideration may be adjusted if Delta closes certain acquisitions prior to the closing of the Transactions. The Merger Agreement also includes an earn-out to existing stockholders of Delta, consisting of $50 million of additional Pubco Ordinary Shares, which will be released to Delta stockholders if and when Delta achieves $70 million or greater of net income for fiscal year ending 2023.

At the effective time of the Merger (the “Merger Effective Time”), each award of options to purchase JVA Common Stock (each, a “JVA Stock Option”) that is outstanding, whether vested or unvested, will be cancelled and substituted with option(s) to purchase Pubco Ordinary Shares to be granted under the Pubco equity plan (the “Substituted Options”). The Substituted Options will represent the right to purchase that number of shares of Pubco Ordinary Shares equal to the number of shares of JVA Common Stock underlying such JVA Stock Option immediately prior to the Merger Effective Time with a per-share exercise price of such Substituted Option equal to the exercise price per JVA Common Stock subject to such JVA Stock Option immediately prior to the Merger Effective Time.

Prior to execution of the Merger Agreement, JVA’s board of directors (the “Board”) unanimously (i) determined that the terms and provisions of the Merger Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein, including the Merger and Transactions, are fair, advisable to and in the best interests of JVA and its stockholders, (ii) approved the Merger Agreement and related Transactions, (iii) directed that the adoption of the Merger Agreement be submitted to a vote at a meeting of the stockholders of JVA, and (iv) resolved to recommend that JVA’s stockholders adopt the Merger Agreement.

JVA, Pubco, Delta and the Sellers have made customary representations and warranties in the Merger Agreement and have agreed to customary covenants regarding the operation of their respective businesses prior to the closing of the transactions contemplated thereby. Consummation of the Merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including, without limitation, (i) approval of the Merger Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereunder by a majority of JVA’s stockholders (the “JVA Stockholder Approval”), (ii) the absence of any law or order that prevents or prohibits the consummation of the Transaction, (iii) obtaining all requisite governmental authorizations, (iv) effectiveness of the Registration Statement of Pubco on Form F-4, and (v) approval of the listing of Pubco Ordinary Shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

From the date of the Merger Agreement until October 19, 2022 (the “Go-Shop Period”), JVA shall have the right to initiate, solicit, facilitate and encourage any inquiry or the making of any proposals or offers that constitute an acquisition proposal involving more than fifteen percent (15%) of JVA’s assets or outstanding shares of common stock or in which the stockholders of JVA immediately preceding the contemplated transaction would hold less than eighty-five percent (85%) of the voting equity interest of the surviving company (each or any combination of the foregoing, a “Takeover Proposal”), including by way of providing access to non–public information to any third party pursuant to a non-disclosure agreement. Following the expiration of the Go-Shop Period, JVA will cease such activities and be subject to customary “no-shop” restrictions on its ability to solicit a Takeover Proposal from third parties and to provide non-public information to and engage in discussions with a third party in relation to a Takeover Proposal, except that JVA may continue to engage in the aforementioned activities with third parties from whom JVA has received a Takeover Proposal that the Board has determined constitutes or is reasonably likely to lead to a Superior Proposal (as defined below) and has determined that the failure to take such actions would be inconsistent with the Board’s fiduciary duties.

Prior to obtaining JVA Stockholder Approval, the Board may change its recommendation that stockholders vote to adopt the Merger Agreement (a “Change in Recommendation”) (i) in response to any material event or change in circumstances with respect to JVA that was not actually known or reasonably foreseeable by JVA prior to the date of the Merger Agreement (an “Intervening Event”) that the Board determines in good faith (after consultation with its financial advisor and outside legal counsel) that the failure to change its recommendation in such circumstances would be reasonably likely to violate its fiduciary duties to the stockholders of JVA under applicable law or (ii) if JVA has received a Takeover Proposal involving more than fifty percent (50%) of JVA’s assets or outstanding shares of common stock or in which the stockholders of JVA immediately preceding the contemplated transaction would hold less than fifty percent (50%) of the voting equity interest of the surviving company, that the Board determines in good faith (after consultation with its financial advisor and outside legal counsel) is reasonably likely to be consummated in accordance with its terms and, among other things, if consummated, would be more favorable from a financial point of view to JVA’s stockholders than the Transactions (a “Superior Proposal”) (in which case JVA may also terminate the Merger Agreement to enter into such Superior Proposal, subject to certain conditions including payment of the JVA Termination Fee, as described below).

Before the Board may change its recommendation in connection with an Intervening Event or a Superior Proposal, or terminate the Merger Agreement to accept a Superior Proposal, JVA must provide Delta prompt written notice of its decision to make a Change in Recommendation and for at least five (5) business days after such notice, JVA will negotiate with Delta to enable Delta to revise the terms of the Merger Agreement so that the Takeover Proposal no longer constitutes a Superior Proposal. Each time modifications to any material term of such alternative acquisition proposal determined to be a Superior Proposal are made, JVA must notify Pubco of such modification and such five (5) business day period will recommence.

The Merger Agreement may be terminated by each of Delta and of JVA under certain circumstances, including, among others by either Delta or JVA if the Merger has not been consummated by June 29, 2023 (the “Outside Date”). If the Merger Agreement is terminated under certain circumstances, including, among others, as a result of breach by either JVA or Delta of their respective representations, warranties or covenants in the Merger Agreement, whereby JVA or Delta, respectively, may be entitled to a termination fee in the amount of $750,000 plus disbursements of all documented, out-of-pocket expenses up to $250,000. In addition, if JVA terminates the Merger Agreement to accept a Takeover Proposal or the Board (i) adversely changes its recommendation to the stockholders of JVA regarding the adoption of the Merger Agreement or (ii) supports the approval of any JVA Takeover Proposal, then Delta shall be entitled to a termination fee of $1.3 million and plus a disbursement of reasonable expenses up to $2 million (the “JVA Termination Fee”).

The equityholders of Delta and JVA will have certain customary registration rights with respect to the Pubco Ordinary Shares to be received in the transaction pursuant to the terms of a registration rights agreement, dated September 29, 2022 (the “Registration Rights Agreement”).

On September 29, 2022, concurrently with the entry into the Merger Agreement, Delta, Pubco and JVA entered into Voting and Support Agreements (the “JVA Voting Agreement”) with Andrew Gordon, President and Chief Executive Officer of JVA, and David Gordon, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of JVA, pursuant to which Messrs. Gordon have agreed to vote in favor of adopting the Merger Agreement and the related transactions as contemplated thereunder. JVA Voting Agreements will terminate upon the earliest to occur of (i) the mutual written consent of each of Delta, Pubco, JVA and Messrs. Gordon, (ii) the Merger Effective Time, and (iii) the date of termination of the Merger Agreement in accordance with its terms.

The foregoing description of the Merger Agreement, the Registration Rights Agreement and JVA Voting Agreements does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of (i) the Merger Agreement, (ii) the Registration Rights Agreement, and (iii) the form of Voting and Support Agreement, copies of which are filed as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and incorporated by reference herein.

Our Competitive Strengths

To achieve our growth objectives described below, we intend to leverage the following competitive strengths:

Positioned to Profitably Grow Through Varying Cycles of the Coffee Market. We believe that we are one of the few coffee companies to offer a broad array of branded and private label roasted ground coffees and wholesale green coffee across the spectrum of consumer tastes, preferences and price points. While many of our competitors engage in distinct segments of the coffee business, we sell products in each of the following areas:

Our branded and private label roasted ground coffees are sold at competitive and value price levels while some of our other branded and specialty coffees are sold predominantly at premium price levels. Premium price level coffee is high-quality gourmet coffee, such as AA Arabica coffee, which sell at a substantial premium over traditional retail canned coffee, while competitive and value price level coffee is mainstream or traditional canned coffee. Because of this diversification, we believe that our profitability is not dependent on any one area of the coffee industry and, therefore, is less sensitive than our competition to potential coffee commodity price and overall economic volatility.

Wholesale Green Coffee Market Presence. As a large roaster-dealer of green coffee, we believe that we are favorably positioned to increase our specialty coffee sales. Since 1998, we have increased the number of our wholesale green coffee customers, including coffee houses, single store operators, mall coffee stores and mail order sellers. We are a charter member of the Specialty Coffee Association of America and one of the largest distributors of Swiss Water Processed Decaffeinated Coffees and Dattera specialty Brazil coffees in the United States. Our almost 50 years of experience as a roaster and a dealer of green coffee allows us to provide our roasting experience as a value added service to our gourmet roaster customers. The assistance we provide to our customers includes training, coffee blending and market identification. We believe that our relationships with wholesale green coffee customers and our focus on selling green coffee as a wholesaler has enabled us to participate in the growth of the specialty coffee market while mitigating the risks associated with the competitive retail specialty coffee environment.

Diverse Portfolio of Differentiated Branded Coffees. We have amassed a portfolio of eight proprietary name brands sold to supermarkets, wholesalers and individually owned stores in the United States, including brands for specialty espresso, Latin espresso, Italian espresso, 100% Colombian coffee and blended and flavored coffees. In addition, we have entered into a licensing agreement with Del Monte Corporation for the exclusive right to use the S&W trademark in the United States and other countries approved by Del Monte Corporation in connection with the production, manufacture and sale of roasted whole bean and ground coffee for distribution to retail customers. Our existing portfolio of differentiated brands combined with our management expertise serve as a platform to add additional name brands through acquisition or licensing agreements which target product niches and segments that do not compete with our existing brands.

Management Has Extensive Experience in the Coffee Industry. Andrew Gordon, our President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and David Gordon, our Executive Vice President – Operations, have worked with Coffee Holding for 41 and 43 years, respectively. During this period, the Company has successfully navigated varying cycles in both the coffee industry and macro economy. David Gordon is an original member of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. We believe that our employees and management are dedicated to our vision and mission, which is to produce high quality products, as well as to provide quality and responsive service to our customers.

Our Growth Strategy

We believe that significant growth opportunities exist by selectively pursuing strategic acquisitions and alliances, increasing penetration with existing customers by adding new products, and developing our Harmony Bay brand and increase the number of our wholesale green coffee customers. By capitalizing on this strategy, we hope to continue to grow our business with our commitment to quality and personalized service to our customers. We do not intend to compete on price alone nor do we intend to expand sales at the expense of profitability.

Selectively Pursue Strategic Acquisitions and Alliances. We have expanded our operations by acquiring coffee companies, entering into strategic alliances and acquiring or licensing brands, which complement our business objectives and we intend to continue to seek such opportunities.

Grow Our Cafe Caribe and Cafe Supremo Products. We believe the Latin population in the United States is the fastest growing and now represents the largest minority demographic in the United States. We believe there is significant opportunity for our Café Caribe and Café Supremo brands to gain market share among Latin consumers in the United States. Café Caribe, which has historically been our leading brand by poundage, is a specialty espresso coffee that targets espresso coffee drinkers and, in particular, Latin consumers. Café Supremo is a specialty espresso coffee which is priced for the more price sensitive Latin espresso coffee drinker.

Further Market Penetration of Our Niche Products. We intend to capture additional market share through our existing distribution channels by selectively adding or introducing new brand names and products across multiple price points, including:

Our Core Products

Our core products can be divided into three categories:

Wholesale Green Coffee. The specialty coffee market remains the fastest growing area of our industry. The number of gourmet coffee houses have been increasing in all areas of the United States. The growth in specialty coffee sales has created a marketplace for higher quality and differentiated products, which can be priced at a premium in the marketplace. As a large roaster-dealer of green coffee, we are favorably positioned to increase our specialty coffee sales. We sell green coffee beans to small roasters and coffee shop operators located throughout the United States and carry over approximately 90 different varieties. Specialty green coffee beans are sold unroasted, direct from warehouses to small roasters and gourmet coffee shop operators, which then roast the beans themselves. We sell from as little as one bag (132 pounds) to a full truckload (44,000 pounds) of specialty green coffee beans, depending on the size and need of the customer. We believe that we can increase sales of wholesale green coffee without an increase in infrastructure as well as without venturing into the highly competitive retail specialty coffee environment. We believe that by utilizing our current strategy we can be as profitable or more profitable than our competitors in this segment by selling “one bag at a time” rather than “one cup at a time.”

Private Label Coffee. We roast, blend, package and sell coffee under private labels for companies throughout the United States and Canada. Our private label coffee is sold in cans, brick packages and instants in a variety of sizes. We produce private label coffee for customers who desire to sell coffee under their own name but do not want to engage in the manufacturing process. Our private label customers seek a quality similar to the national brands at a lower cost, which represents a better value for the consumer.

Branded Coffee. We roast and blend our branded coffee according to our own recipes and package the coffee at our facilities in La Junta, Colorado, and North Andover, Massachusetts. We then sell the packaged coffee under our brand labels to supermarkets, wholesalers and individually-owned stores throughout the United States.

We hold trademarks for each of our proprietary name brands and have the exclusive right to use the S&W, IL CLASSICO brand names in the United States in connection with the production, manufacture and sale of roasted whole bean and ground coffee for distribution at the retail level. For further information regarding our trademark rights, see “Business—Trademarks.”

Each of our name brands is directed at a particular segment of the coffee market. Our branded coffees are:

Cafe Caribe, a specialty espresso coffee that targets espresso coffee drinkers and, in particular, the Latin consumer market;

Don Manuel, is produced from the finest 100% Colombian coffee beans. Don Manuel is an upscale quality product which commands a substantial premium compared to the more traditional brown coffee blends. We also use this known trademark in our food service business because of the high brand quality;

S&W, an upscale canned coffee established in 1921 and includes Premium, Premium Decaf, French Roast, Colombian, Colombian Decaf, Swiss Water Decaf, Kona, Mellow’d Roast and IL CLASSICO lines;

Cafe Supremo, a specialty espresso that targets espresso drinkers of all backgrounds and tastes. It is designed to introduce coffee drinkers to the tastes of dark roasted coffee;

Via Roma, an Italian espresso targeted at the more traditional espresso drinker;

Premier Roasters, a line of high quality retail and foodservice products packed in composite cans and poly bags and single serve; and

Harmony Bay, an upscale line of flavored beans in 11oz and 40oz bags, along with single serve offerings in a multitude of unique flavor profiles.

Other Products

We also offer several niche products, including:

Raw Materials

Coffee is a commodity traded on the Commodities and Futures Exchange subject to price fluctuations. Over the past five years, the average price per pound of coffee beans ranged from approximately $0.8635 to $2.6045. The price for coffee beans on the commodities market as of October 31, 2022 and 2021 was $1.7770 and $2.04 per pound, respectively. Specialty green coffee, unlike most coffee, is not tied directly to the commodities cash markets. Instead, it tends to trade on a negotiated basis at a substantial premium over commodity coffee pricing, depending on the origin, supply and demand at the time of purchase. We are a licensed Fair Trade dealer for Fair Trade certified coffee. Fair Trade certified coffee helps small coffee farmers to increase their incomes and improve the prospects of their communities and families by guaranteeing farmers a minimum price of ten cents above the current market price. Our North Andover plant operated by our Comfort Foods division, is certified organic by the Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA). All of our specialty green coffees, as well as all of the other coffees we import for roasting, are subject to multiple levels of quality control.

We purchase our green coffee from dealers located primarily within the United States. The dealers supply us with coffee beans from many countries, including Colombia, Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, Brazil and Uganda. We do not have any formalized, material agreements or long-term contracts with any of these suppliers. Rather, our purchases are typically made pursuant to individual purchase orders. We do not believe that the loss of any one supplier would have a material adverse effect on our operations due to the availability of alternate suppliers.

The supply and price of coffee beans are subject to volatility and are influenced by numerous factors which are beyond our control. Supply and price can be affected by factors such as weather, politics, currency fluctuations and economics within the countries that export coffee. Increases in the cost of coffee beans can, to a certain extent, be passed on to our customers in the form of higher prices for coffee beans and processed coffee. Drastic or prolonged increases in coffee prices may also adversely impact our business as it could lead to a decline in overall consumption of coffee. Similarly, rapid decreases in the cost of coffee beans may force us to lower our sale prices before realizing cost reductions in our purchases.

We subject all of our private unroasted green coffee to both a pre-shipment sample approval and an additional sample approval upon arrival into the United States. Once the arrival sample is approved, we then bring the coffee to one of our facilities to roast and blend according to our own strict specifications. During the roasting and blending process, samples are pulled off the production line and tested on an hourly basis to ensure that each batch roasted is consistent with the others and meets the strict quality standards demanded by our customers and us.

Our Use of Derivatives

The supply and price of coffee beans are subject to volatility and are influenced by numerous factors which are beyond our control. Historically, we have used, and intend to continue to use in a limited capacity, short-term coffee futures and options contracts primarily for the purpose of partially hedging the effects of changing green coffee prices and to reduce our costs of sales. In addition, we acquired, and expect to continue to acquire, futures contracts with longer terms, generally three to four months, primarily for the purpose of guaranteeing an adequate supply of green coffee. Realized and unrealized gains or losses on options and futures contracts are reflected in our cost of sales. Gains on options and futures contracts reduce our cost of sales and losses on options and futures contracts increase our cost of sales. The use of these derivative financial instruments has generally enabled us to mitigate the effect of changing prices. We believe that, in normal economic times, our hedging policies remain a vital element of our business model not only in controlling our cost of sales, but also giving us the flexibility to obtain the inventory necessary to continue to grow our sales while trying to minimize margin compression during a time of high coffee prices. However, no strategy can entirely eliminate pricing risks and we generally remain exposed to losses on futures contracts when prices decline significantly in a short period of time, and we would generally remain exposed to supply risk in the event of non-performance by the counterparties in any one of our physical contracts. Although we have had net gains on options and futures contracts in the past, we have incurred significant losses on options and futures contracts during some reporting periods. In these cases, our cost of sales has increased, resulting in a decrease in our profitability or increase our losses. Such losses have and could in the future materially increase our cost of sales and materially decrease our profitability and adversely affect our stock price. See “Item 1A – Risk Factors - If our hedging policy is not effective, we may not be able to control our coffee costs, we may be forced to pay greater than market value for green coffee and our profitability may be reduced.” Failure to properly design and implement an effective hedging strategy may materially adversely affect our business and operating results. If the hedges that we enter do not adequately offset the risks of coffee bean price volatility or our hedges result in losses, our cost of sales may increase, resulting in a decrease in profitability or increased losses. As previously announced, as a result of the volatile nature of the commodities markets, we have and are continuing to scale back our use of hedging and short-term trading of coffee futures and options contracts, and intend to continue to use these practices in a limited capacity going forward. See “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk—Commodity Price Risks.”

Trademarks and Tradename

We hold trademarks, registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, for all eight of our proprietary coffee brands and an exclusive license for S&W, IL CLASSICO brands for sale in the United States. Trademark registrations are subject to periodic renewal and we anticipate maintaining our registrations. We believe that our brands are recognizable in the marketplace and that brand recognition is important to the success of our branded coffee business.

Customers

We sell our private label and our branded coffee to some of the largest retail and wholesale customers in the United States (according to Supermarket News).

Although our agreements with wholesale customers generally contain only pricing terms, our contracts with certain customers also contain minimum and maximum purchase obligations at fixed prices. Because our profits on a fixed-price contract could decline if coffee prices increased, we acquire futures contracts with longer terms (generally three to four months) primarily for the purpose of guaranteeing an adequate supply of green coffee at favorable prices. Although the use of these derivative financial instruments has generally enabled us to mitigate the effect of changing prices, no strategy can entirely eliminate pricing risks or increased losses and we generally remain exposed to losses on futures contracts when prices decline significantly in a short period of time, and we would generally remain exposed to supply risk in the event of non-performance by the counterparties to any futures contracts. See “Our Use of Derivatives.”

Marketing

We market our private label and wholesale coffee through trade shows, industry publications, face-to-face contact and through the use of our internal sales force and non-exclusive independent food and beverage sales brokers. We also use our web site (www.coffeeholding.com) as a method of marketing our coffee products and ourselves.

For our private label and branded coffees, we will, from time to time in conjunction with retailers and with wholesalers, conduct in-store promotions, such as product demonstrations, coupons, price reductions, two-for-one sales and new product launches to capture changing consumer taste preferences for upscale canned, bagged and single cup coffees.

We evaluate opportunities for growth consistent with our business objectives. In addition, we have established relationships with independent sales brokers to market our products across the United States, in areas of the country where we have not had a high penetration of sales and Canada. We utilize our in-house sales personnel to market our private label brands. We intend to capture additional market share in our existing distribution channels by selectively adding or introducing new brand names and products across multiple price points, including niche specialty blends, private label “value” blends and tea and our own brands, filter packages, and peripheral products.

Charitable Activities

We are also a supporter of several coffee-oriented charitable organizations and during fiscal 2022 and 2021, we donated approximately $38,000 and $49,000, respectively, to charities.

Competition

The coffee market is highly competitive. We compete in the following areas:

Wholesale Green Coffee. There are many green coffee dealers throughout the United States. Many of these dealers have greater financial resources than we do. However, we believe that we have both the knowledge and the capability to assist small specialty gourmet coffee roasters with developing and growing their businesses. Our over 40 years of experience as a roaster and a dealer of green coffee allows us to provide our roasting experience as a value added service to our gourmet roaster customers. While other coffee merchants may be able to offer lower prices for coffee beans, we market ourselves as a value-added supplier to small roasters, with the ability to help them market their specialty coffee products and develop a customer base. The assistance we provide our customers includes training, coffee blending and market identification. Because specialty green coffee beans are sold unroasted to small coffee shops and roasters that market their products to local gourmet customers, we do not believe that our specialty green coffee customers compete with our private label or branded coffee lines of business. We believe that the addition of Organic Products Trading Company, LLC (“OPTCO”), Sonofresco, CFI as well as our external green coffee salespeople allows us to compete more effectively throughout the country and Canada.

Private Label Competition. There are several major producers of coffee for private label sales in the United States. Many other companies produce coffee for sale on a regional basis. Our main competitor is the Massimo Zanetti Beverage Company. The Massimo Zanetti Beverage Company is larger and has more financial and other resources than we do and, therefore, is able to devote more resources to product development and marketing. We believe that we remain competitive by providing a higher level of quality and customer service. This service includes ensuring that the coffee produced for each label maintains a consistent taste and is delivered on time and in the proper quantities.

Branded Competition. Our proprietary brand coffees compete with many other brands that are sold in supermarkets and specialty stores, primarily in the Northeastern United States. The branded coffee market in both the Northeast and elsewhere is dominated by two large companies: Kraft Foods, Inc. (owner of the Maxwell House brand), and J.M. Smucker Co. (owner of the Folgers and Café Bustelo brands). Our large competitors have greater access to capital and a greater ability to conduct marketing and promotions. We believe that, while our competitors’ brands may be more nationally recognizable, our Café Caribe and Café Supremo brands are competitive in the fast growing Latin demographic, our Harmony Bay has a strong regional presence in the northeast and our S&W brand has been a popular and recognizable brand on the west coast for over 80 years.

Government Regulation

Our coffee roasting operations are subject to various governmental laws and regulations, which require us to obtain licenses relating to customs, health and safety, building and land use and environmental protection. Our roasting facility is subject to state and local air-quality and emissions regulation. If we encounter difficulties in obtaining any necessary licenses or if we have difficulty complying with these laws and regulations, then we could be subject to fines and penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on our profitability. In addition, our product offerings could be limited, thereby reducing our revenues.

We believe that we are in compliance in all material respects with all such laws and regulations and that we have obtained all material licenses and permits that are required for the operation of our business. We are not aware of any environmental regulations that have or that we believe will have a material adverse effect on our operations.

Employees

We have 79 full-time employees. None of our employees are represented by unions or collective bargaining agreements. Our management believes that we maintain good working relationships with our employees. To supplement our internal sales staff, we sometimes engage independent national and regional sales brokers as independent contractors who work on a commission basis.

An investment in our common stock is subject to risks inherent in our business. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below together with all of the other information included in this report. In addition to the risks and uncertainties described below, other risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The value or market price of our common stock could decline due to any of these identified or other risks, and you could lose all of your investment.

Risks affecting our Company

Because our business is highly dependent upon a single commodity, coffee, any decrease in demand for coffee could materially adversely affect our revenues and profitability. Our business is centered on essentially one commodity: coffee. Our operations have primarily focused on the following areas of the coffee industry:

Demand for our products is affected by:

Because we rely on a single commodity, any decrease in demand for coffee would harm our business more than if we had more diversified product offerings and could materially adversely affect our revenues and operating results.

The COVID-19 pandemic has, and may continue to have, an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), first identified in Wuhan, China, a pandemic in March 2020. Our business, financial condition and results of operations have been and are expected to continue to be adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly all regions of the world, and preventative measures taken to contain or mitigate the outbreak have caused, and are continuing to cause, business slowdown or shutdown in affected areas. This has and could continue to negatively affect the global economy, including reduced consumer spending and disruption of global supply chains. We cannot predict the degree to which our business, financial condition and results of operations will be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the effects could be material.

In addition to the factors above, the COVID-19 pandemic has subjected our business to additional risk, including, but not limited to:

At this time, we cannot assess the ultimate economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, operations or financial performance, which will be determined by, among other things, the duration, severity and magnitude of such circumstances and governmental responses and requirements relating to the pandemic, nor can we predict the long-term effects of governmental and public responses to changing conditions. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will impact our operations, liquidity or financial results in subsequent periods is uncertain, but such impact could be material. If the COVID-19 pandemic becomes prolonged, and/or more severe, it could exacerbate the negative impacts on our business and results of operations and may also heighten many of the other risks described in this section entitled “Risk Factors.”

Unfavorable global economic conditions and adverse developments with respect to financial institutions and associated liquidity risk could adversely affect our business, financial condition and stock price.

The global credit and financial markets are currently, and have from time to time experienced extreme volatility and disruptions, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, rising interest and inflation rates, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates and uncertainty about economic stability. The financial markets and the global economy may also be adversely affected by the current or anticipated impact of military conflict, including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism or other geopolitical events. Sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries in response to such conflicts, including the one in Ukraine, may also adversely impact the financial markets and the global economy, and any economic countermeasures by the affected countries or others could exacerbate market and economic instability. More recently, the closures of Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, and Signature Bank and their placement into receivership with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC created bank-specific and broader financial institution liquidity risk and concerns. Although the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC jointly released a statement that depositors at SVB and Signature Bank would have access to their funds, even those in excess of the standard FDIC insurance limits, under a systemic risk exception, future adverse developments with respect to specific financial institutions or the broader financial services industry may lead to market-wide liquidity shortages, impair the ability of companies to access near-term working capital needs, and create additional market and economic uncertainty. There can be no assurance that future credit and financial market instability and a deterioration in confidence in economic conditions will not occur. Our general business strategy may be adversely affected by any such economic downturn, liquidity shortages, volatile business environment or continued unpredictable and unstable market conditions. If the equity and credit markets deteriorate, or if adverse developments are experienced by financial institutions, it may cause short-term liquidity risk and also make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult, more costly, more onerous with respect to financial and operating covenants and more dilutive. Failure to secure any necessary financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our growth strategy, financial performance and stock price and could require us to delay or abandon clinical development plans. In addition, there is a risk that one or more of our current service providers, financial institutions, manufacturers and other partners may be adversely affected by the foregoing risks, which could directly affect our ability to attain our operating goals on schedule and on budget.

Adverse global conditions, including economic uncertainty, may negatively impact our financial results.

Global conditions, dislocations in the financial markets, any negative financial impacts affecting United States corporations operating on a global basis as a result of tax reform or changes to existing trade agreements or tax conventions, or inflation, could adversely impact our business in a number of ways, including longer sales cycles, lower prices for our products, reduced licensing renewals, customer disruption or foreign currency fluctuations.

In addition, the global macroeconomic environment could be negatively affected by, among other things, the COVID-19 pandemic or other epidemics, instability in global economic markets, increased U.S. trade tariffs and trade disputes with other countries, instability in the global credit markets, supply chain weaknesses, instability in the geopolitical environment as a result of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting prolonged conflict and other political tensions, and foreign governmental debt concerns. Such challenges have caused, and may continue to cause, uncertainty and instability in local economies and in global financial markets.

If we are unable to geographically expand our branded and private label products, our growth will be impeded which could result in reduced sales and profitability. Our business strategy emphasizes, among other things, geographic expansion of our branded and private label products as opportunities arise. We may not be able to implement successfully this portion of our business strategy. Our ability to implement this portion of our business strategy is dependent on our ability to:

Our sales and profitability may be adversely affected if we fail to successfully expand the geographic distribution of our branded and private label products. In addition, our expenses could increase and our profits could decrease as we implement our growth strategy.

If our hedging policy is not effective, we may not be able to control our coffee costs, we may be forced to pay greater than market value for green coffee and our profitability may be reduced. The supply and price of coffee beans are subject to volatility and are influenced by numerous factors which are beyond our control. We have used and expect to continue to use to a lesser extent short-term coffee futures and options contracts for the purpose of hedging the effects of changing green coffee prices. In addition, we have acquired and expect to continue to acquire to a lesser extent futures contracts with longer terms, generally three to four months, for the purpose of guaranteeing an adequate supply of green coffee. Realized and unrealized gains or losses on options and futures contracts are reflected in our cost of sales. Gains on options and futures contracts reduce our cost of sales and losses on options and futures contracts increase our cost of sales.

The use of these derivative financial instruments has generally enabled us to mitigate the effect of changing prices. However, no strategy can entirely eliminate pricing risks and we generally remain exposed to losses on futures contracts when prices decline significantly in a short period of time, and we would generally remain exposed to supply risk in the event of non-performance by the counterparties in any one of our physical contracts. Historically, we generally have been able to pass green coffee price increases through to customers, thereby maintaining our gross profits, however, we may not be able to pass price increases through to our customers in the future. Failure to properly design and implement an effective hedging strategy may materially adversely affect our business and operating results. If the hedges that we enter do not adequately offset the risks of coffee bean price volatility or our hedging results in losses, our cost of sales may increase, resulting in a decrease in profitability or an increase in losses. Although we have had net gains on options and futures contracts in the past, we have incurred losses on options and futures contracts during some reporting periods. In these cases, our cost of sales has increased, resulting in a decrease in our profitability or an increase in losses. Such losses have and could in the future materially increase our cost of sales and materially decrease our profitability or increase losses and adversely affect our stock price.

Any inability to successfully implement our strategy of growth through selective acquisitions, licensing arrangements and other strategic alliances, including joint ventures, could materially affect our revenues and profitability. Part of our growth strategy utilizes the selective acquisition of coffee companies, the selective acquisition or licensing of additional coffee brands and other strategic alliances including joint ventures, presents risks that could result in increased expenditures and could materially adversely affect our revenues and profitability, including:

In addition, any such acquisitions, licensing arrangements or strategic alliances may result in:

As has been our practice in the past, we will continuously evaluate any such acquisitions, licensing opportunities or strategic alliances as they arise. However, we have not reached any new agreements or arrangements with respect to any such acquisition, licensing opportunity or strategic alliance (other than those described herein) at this time and we may not be able to consummate any acquisitions, licensing arrangements or strategic alliances on terms favorable to us or at all. The failure to consummate any such acquisitions, licensing arrangements or strategic alliances may reduce our growth and expansion. In addition, if these acquisitions, licensing opportunities or strategic alliances are not successful, our earnings could be materially adversely affected by increased expenses and decreased revenues.

Our revenues and profitability could be adversely affected if our joint ventures or acquisitions are not successful. We have historically utilized joint ventures and acquisitions to grow our business and we intend to continue to seek opportunities for new joint ventures and acquisitions that will be complimentary to our business. While we believe that our joint ventures will be successful, losses in our joint ventures or any future joint ventures would hurt our profitability. In addition, we generally will not be in a position to exercise sole decision-making authority regarding our joint ventures. Investments in joint ventures may under certain circumstances, involve risks not present when a third party is not involved, including the possibility that joint venture partners might become bankrupt or fail to fund their share of the required capital contributions. Joint venture partners may have business interests, strategies or goals that are inconsistent with our business interests, strategies or goals and may be, in cases where we have a minority interest, in a position to take actions contrary to our policies, strategies or objectives. Any disputes that may arise between us and our joint venture partners may result in litigation or arbitration that could increase our expenses and could prevent our officers and/or directors from focusing their time and effort exclusively on our business strategies. In addition, we may in certain circumstances be liable for the actions of our third-party joint venture partners.

Acquisitions including strategic investments or alliances entail numerous risks, which may include:

Our failure to successfully complete the integration of any acquired business, and any adverse consequences associated with our acquisition activities, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

The loss of any of our key customers, could negatively affect our revenues and decrease our earnings. No one customer accounted for greater than 10% of our net sales during our 2022 fiscal year. We generally do not enter long-term contracts with most of our customers. Accordingly, some of our customers can stop purchasing our products at any time without penalty and are free to purchase products from our competitors. The loss of, or reduction in sales to any of our other customers to which we sell a significant amount of our products or any material adverse change in the financial condition of such customers would negatively affect our revenues and decrease our earnings.

If we lose our key personnel, including Andrew Gordon and David Gordon, our revenues and profitability could suffer. Our success depends to a large degree upon the services of Andrew Gordon, our President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and David Gordon, our Executive Vice President – Operations and Secretary. We also depend to a large degree on the expertise of our coffee roasters. We do not have employment contracts with our coffee roasters. Our ability to source and purchase a sufficient supply of high quality coffee beans and to roast coffee beans consistent with our quality standards could suffer if we lose the services of any of these individuals. As a result, our business and operating results would be adversely affected. We may not be successful in obtaining and retaining a replacement for either Andrew Gordon or David Gordon if they elect to stop working for us. In addition, we do not have key-person insurance on the lives of Andrew Gordon or David Gordon.

If our goodwill, indefinitely lived intangible assets, or amortizable intangible assets become impaired, then we could be required to record a significant charge to earnings. GAAP requires us to test for goodwill and indefinite lived intangible asset impairment at least annually. In addition, we review our goodwill, indefinitely lived intangible assets, and amortizable intangible assets for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Factors that may be considered a change in circumstances indicating that the carrying value of our goodwill, indefinite lived intangible assets, or amortizable intangible assets may not be recoverable include declines in stock price, market capitalization or cash flows, and slower growth rates in our industry. Depending on the results of our review, we could be required to record a significant charge to earnings in our consolidated financial statements during the period in which any impairment of our goodwill, indefinite lived intangible assets, or amortizable intangible assets were determined, negatively impacting our results of operations.

Our indebtedness may adversely affect our ability to obtain additional funds and may increase our vulnerability to economic or business downturns. From time to time, we utilize borrowings under our credit facility in connection with operations. Outstanding debt could have important negative consequences to the holders of our securities, including the following:

Our ability to make payments on our indebtedness and to fund our operations depends on our ability to generate cash in the future. Our future operating performance is subject to market conditions and business factors that are beyond our control. If we are unable to make payments on our debt, we may have to reduce or delay capital expenditures, sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our debt.

Our credit facility contains covenants that place annual restrictions on our operations, including covenants relating to debt restrictions, capital expenditures, minimum deposit restrictions, tangible net worth, net profit, leverage, employee loan restrictions, distribution restrictions (common stock and preferred stock), dividend restrictions and restrictions on intercompany transactions. The credit facility also requires that we maintain a minimum working capital at all times. There can be no assurance that we will be in compliance with all covenants in the future or that we will be able to modify the terms of the credit facility should that become necessary. Failure to comply with any of these covenants and restrictions would result in an event of default under the loan agreement.

If we fail to promote, enhance and maintain our brands, the value of our brands could decrease and our revenues and profitability could be adversely affected. We believe that promoting and enhancing our brands is critical to our success. If our brand-building strategy is unsuccessful, these expenses may never be recovered, and we may be unable to increase awareness of our brands or protect the value of our brands. If we are unable to achieve these goals, our revenues and ability to implement our business strategy could be adversely affected.

Our success in promoting and enhancing our brands will also depend on our ability to provide customers with high quality products and service. Although we take measures to ensure that we sell only fresh roasted coffee, we have no control over our roasted coffee products once they are purchased by our customers. Accordingly, wholesale customers may store our coffee for longer periods of time or resell our coffee without our consent, in each case, potentially affecting the quality of the coffee prepared from our products. Although we believe we are less susceptible to quality control problems than many of our competitors because our products are processed in-house under strict quality control guidelines which have been in place for more than 40 years, if consumers do not perceive our products and service to be of high quality, then the value of our brands may be diminished and, consequently, our operating results and ability to implement our business strategy may be adversely affected.

Our roasting methods are not proprietary, so competitors may be able to duplicate them, which could harm our competitive position. If our competitive position is weakened, our revenues and profitability could be materially adversely affected. We consider our roasting methods essential to the flavor and richness of our roasted coffee and, therefore, essential to our brands of coffee. Because we do not hold any patents for our roasting methods, it may be difficult for us to prevent competitors from copying our roasting methods if such methods become known. If our competitors copy our roasting methods, the value of our coffee brands may be diminished, and we may lose customers to our competitors. In addition, competitors may be able to develop roasting methods that are more advanced than our roasting methods, which may also harm our competitive position.

The success of our brand also depends in part on our intellectual property. We rely on a combination of trademarks, copyrights, service marks, trade secrets and similar rights to protect our intellectual property. The success of our growth strategy depends on our continued ability to use our existing trademarks and service marks in order to increase brand awareness and further develop our brand in both domestic and international markets. If our efforts to protect our intellectual property are not adequate, or if any third party misappropriates or infringes on our intellectual property, the value of our brand may be harmed, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. We may become engaged in litigation to protect our intellectual property, which could result in substantial costs to us as well as diversion of management attention.

Since we rely heavily on common carriers to ship our coffee on a daily basis, any disruption in their services or increase in shipping costs could adversely affect our relationship with our customers, which could result in reduced revenues, increased operating expenses, a loss of customers or reduced profitability. We rely on a number of common carriers to deliver coffee to our customers and to deliver coffee beans to us. We have no control over these common carriers and the services provided by them may be interrupted as a result of labor shortages, contract disputes and other factors. If we experience an interruption in these services, we may be unable to ship our coffee in a timely manner, which could reduce our revenues and adversely affect our relationship with our customers. In addition, a delay in shipping could require us to contract with alternative, and possibly more expensive, common carriers and could cause orders to be cancelled or receipt of goods to be refused. Any significant increase in shipping costs could lower our profit margins or force us to raise prices, which could cause our revenue and profits to suffer.

If there was a significant interruption in the operation of our Colorado or Massachusetts facilities, we may not have the capacity to service all of our customers and we may not be able to service our customers in a timely manner, thereby reducing our revenues and earnings. We are dependent on the continued operations of our Colorado and Massachusetts coffee roasting and distribution facilities. Our ability to maintain our computer and telecommunications equipment in effective working order and to protect against damage from fire, natural disaster, power loss, telecommunications failure or similar events. In addition, growth of our customer base may strain or exceed the capacity of our systems and lead to degradations in performance or systems failure. Although we continually review and consider upgrades to our order fulfillment infrastructure and provide for system redundancies to limit the likelihood of systems overload or failure, substantial damage to our systems or a systems failure that causes interruptions for a number of days could adversely affect our business. Additionally, if we are unsuccessful in updating and expanding our order fulfillment infrastructure, our ability to grow may be constrained. As a result, our revenues and earnings could be materially adversely affected.

There may be limitations on the effectiveness of our internal controls, and a failure of our control systems to prevent error or fraud may materially harm our company. We are required, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to furnish a report by our management on, among other things, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. This assessment includes disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

Effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable and timely financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to reasonably detect and prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Undetected material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting could lead to financial statement restatements and require us to incur the expense of remediation.

Moreover, we do not expect that disclosure controls or internal control over financial reporting will prevent all error and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. Failure of our control systems to detect or prevent error or fraud could materially adversely impact us.

Our remediation efforts may not enable us to avoid a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting in the future. Any of the foregoing occurrences, should they come to pass, could negatively impact the public perception of our company, which could have a negative impact on our stock price. During the years ended October 31, 2020, 2021 and 2022, we identified material weaknesses in our financial reporting, as set forth in Item 9A. Controls and Procedures. As of the date of this Annual Report, these material weaknesses have not been remediated.

The failure of our suppliers or customers to adhere to the quality standards that we set for our products could lead to investigations, litigation, write-offs, recalls or boycotts of our products, which could damage our reputation and our brand, increase our costs, and otherwise adversely affect our business. Unfavorable allegations, government investigations and legal actions surrounding our products and/or our business could harm our reputation, impair our ability to grow or sustain our business, and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. We do not control the operations of our suppliers or customers and we cannot guarantee that our suppliers or customers will comply with applicable laws and regulations or operate in a legal, ethical and responsible manner. Additionally, it is possible that we may not be able to identify noncompliance by our suppliers or customers notwithstanding any precautionary measures we implement. Violation of applicable laws and regulations by our suppliers or customers, or their failure to operate in a legal, ethical or responsible manner, could expose us to legal risks, cause us to violate laws and regulations and reduce demand for our products if, as a result of such violation or failure, we attract negative publicity. In addition, the failure of our suppliers and customers to adhere to the quality standards that we set for our products could lead to government investigations, litigation, write-offs and recalls, which could damage our reputation and our brand, increase our costs, and otherwise adversely affect our business.

We rely on our reputation for offering great value, superior service and a broad assortment of high-quality, safe products. If we become subject to unfavorable allegations, government investigations or legal actions involving our products or us, such circumstances could harm our reputation and our brand and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. If this negative impact is significant, our ability to grow or sustain our business could be jeopardized.

As disclosed further herein, we have been named as a defendant in one class action lawsuit, and we have agreed to indemnify a client named in another class action lawsuit, alleging that our products were mislabeled and thus violate consumer protection and false advertising statutes, among others. These lawsuits, which generally allege that our coffee products do not make the number of servings as stated on the label, are affecting the entire coffee industry and numerous similar lawsuits have been filed against numerous private label coffee manufacturers and retailers.

Negative publicity surrounding product matters, including publicity about other retailers, may harm our reputation and affect the demand for our products. In addition, if more stringent laws or regulations are adopted in the future, we may have difficulty complying with the new requirements imposed by such laws and regulations, and in turn, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be adversely affected. Moreover, regardless of whether any such changes are adopted, we may become subject to claims or governmental investigations alleging violations of applicable laws and regulations. Any such matter may subject us to fines, penalties, and/or litigation. Any one of these results could negatively affect our business, financial condition, and operating results and impair our ability to grow or sustain our business.

Risks related to the coffee industry

Increases in the cost of high quality Arabica or Robusta coffee beans could reduce our gross margin and profit. Green coffee is our largest single cost of sales. Coffee is a traded commodity and, in general, its price can fluctuate depending on:

If the cost of wholesale green coffee increases due to any of these factors, our margins could decrease and our profitability could suffer accordingly. It is expected that coffee prices will remain volatile in the coming years. Although we have historically attempted to raise the selling prices of our products in response to increases in the price of wholesale green coffee, when wholesale green coffee prices increase rapidly or to significantly higher than normal levels, we are not always able to pass the price increases through to our customers on a timely basis, if at all, which adversely affects our operating margins and cash flow. We may not be able to recover any future increases in the cost of wholesale green coffee. Even if we are able to recover future increases, our operating margins and results of operations may still be materially and adversely affected by time delays in the implementation of price increases.

Disruptions in the supply of green coffee could result in a deterioration of our relationship with our customers, decreased revenues or could impair our ability to grow our business. Green coffee is a commodity and its supply is subject to volatility beyond our control. Supply is affected by many factors in the coffee growing countries including weather, pest damage, economic conditions, acts of terrorism, as well as efforts by coffee growers to expand or form cartels or associations. In addition, the political situation in many of the Arabica coffee growing regions, including Africa, Indonesia, and Central and South America, can be unstable, and such instability could affect our ability to purchase coffee from those regions. If Arabica coffee beans from a region become unavailable or prohibitively expensive, we could be forced to discontinue particular coffee types and blends or substitute coffee beans from other regions in our blends. Frequent substitutions and changes in our coffee product lines could lead to cost increases, customer alienation and fluctuations in our gross margins.

Some of the Arabica coffee beans of the quality we purchase do not trade directly on the commodity markets. Rather, we purchase the high-end Arabica coffee beans that we use on a negotiated basis. We depend on our relationships with coffee brokers, exporters and growers for the supply of our primary raw material, high quality Arabica coffee beans. If any of our relationships with coffee brokers, exporters or growers deteriorate, we may be unable to procure a sufficient quantity of high quality coffee beans at prices acceptable to us or at all. In such case, we may not be able to fulfill the demand of our existing customers, supply new retail stores or expand other channels of distribution. A raw material shortage could result in a deterioration of our relationship with our customers, decreased revenues or could impair our ability to expand our business.

Increases in shipping costs, long lead times, supply shortages, and supply changes could disrupt our supply chain and factors such as wage rate increases and inflation can have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. We may experience supply delays and shortages due to a variety of macroeconomic factors, including disruptions on the global supply chain as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant disruption to the operations of certain suppliers and the related transportation of their goods to the United States that are parts of our global supply chain. We have been able to make alternative delivery arrangements for limited quantities of goods, at increased cost.

While we have not yet experienced material shortages in supply as a result of these disruptions and our alternative delivery arrangements, if they were to be prolonged or expanded in scope, there could be resulting supply shortages that could impact our ability to deliver our products to our customers. Accordingly, such supply shortages and delivery limitations could have and material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Furthermore, increases in compensation, wage pressure, and other expenses for our employees and the employees of our suppliers, may adversely affect our profitability. These cost increases may be the result of inflationary pressures that could further reduce our sales or profitability. Increases in other operating costs, including changes in energy prices and lease and utility costs, may increase our cost of products sold or selling, general, and administrative expenses. Our competitive price model and pricing pressures in the industry may inhibit our ability to reflect these increased costs in the prices of our products, in which case such increased costs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Increased severe weather patterns may increase commodity costs, damage our facilities and disrupt our production capabilities and supply chain. There is increasing concern that a gradual increase in global average temperatures due to increased concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have caused and will continue to cause significant changes in weather patterns around the globe and an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Major weather phenomena are dramatically affecting coffee growing countries. The wet and dry seasons are becoming unpredictable in timing and duration, causing improper development of the coffee cherries. Decreased agricultural productivity in certain regions as a result of changing weather patterns may affect the quality, limit the availability or increase the cost of key agricultural commodities, which are important ingredients for our business. Increased frequency or duration of extreme weather conditions could damage our facilities, impair production capabilities, disrupt our supply chain or impact demand for our products. As a result, the effects of climate change could have a long-term adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

The coffee industry is highly competitive and if we cannot compete successfully, we may lose our customers or experience reduced sales and profitability. The coffee markets in which we do business are highly competitive and competition in these markets could become increasingly more intense due to the increasing popularity and growth of the coffee industry. The industry in which we compete is particularly sensitive to price pressure, as well as quality, reputation and viability for wholesale and brand loyalty for retail. To the extent that one or more of our competitors becomes more successful with respect to any key competitive factor, our ability to attract and retain customers could be materially adversely affected. Our private label and branded coffee products compete with other manufacturers of private label coffee and branded coffees. These competitors, such as Kraft Foods, Inc. (owner of the Maxwell House brand), and J.M. Smucker Co. (owner of the Folgers and Café Bustelo brands), have much greater financial, marketing, distribution, management and other resources than we do for marketing, promotions and geographic and market expansion. In addition, there are a growing number of specialty coffee companies who provide specialty green coffee and roasted coffee for retail sale. If we are unable to compete successfully against existing and new competitors, we may lose our customers or experience reduced sales and profitability.

Besides coffee, we face exposure to other commodity cost fluctuations, which could impair our profitability. In addition to the increase in coffee costs discussed in the risk factor above, we are exposed to cost fluctuation in other commodities, including, in particular, steel, natural gas and gasoline. In addition, an increase in the cost of fuel could indirectly lead to higher electricity costs, transportation costs and other commodity costs. Much like coffee costs, the costs of these commodities depend on various factors beyond our control, including economic and political conditions, foreign currency fluctuations, and global weather patterns. To the extent we are unable to pass along such costs to our customers through price increases, our margins and profitability will decrease.

Adverse public or medical opinion about caffeine may harm our business. Coffee contains caffeine and other active compounds, the health effects of some of which are not fully understood. A number of research studies conclude or suggest that excessive consumption of caffeine may lead to increased heart rate, nausea and vomiting, restlessness and anxiety, depression, headaches, tremors, sleeplessness and other adverse health effects. An unfavorable report on the health effects of caffeine or other compounds present in coffee could significantly reduce the demand for coffee, which could harm our business and reduce our sales and profits. In addition, we could become subject to litigation relating to the existence of such compounds in our coffee; litigation that could be costly and could divert management attention.

Risks related to our common stock

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly, which makes our results of operations difficult to predict and could cause our results of operations to fall short of expectations. Our operating results may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and year to year as a result of a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control. These fluctuations could be caused by a number of factors including:

As a result of the foregoing, period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not necessarily be meaningful and those comparisons should not be relied upon as indicators of future performance. Accordingly, our operating results in future quarters may be below market expectations. In this event, the price of our common stock may decline.

The Gordon family has the ability to influence action requiring stockholder approval. Members of the Gordon family, including Andrew Gordon, our President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and David Gordon, our Executive Vice President and Secretary, own, in the aggregate, approximately 21.2% of our outstanding shares of common stock. As a result, the Gordon family is able to influence the actions that require stockholder approval, including:

As a result, our other stockholders may have reduced influence over matters submitted for stockholder approval. In addition, the Gordon family’s influence could preclude any unsolicited acquisition of us and consequently materially adversely affect the price of our common stock.

The market price of our common stock has been volatile over the year and may continue to be volatile. The market price and trading volume of our common stock has been volatile over the past year and it may continue to be volatile. Over the past fiscal year, our common stock has traded as low as $2.14 and as high as $5.35 per share. We cannot predict the price at which our common stock will trade in the future and it may decline. The price at which our common stock trades may fluctuate significantly and may be influenced by many factors, including our financial results, developments generally affecting the coffee industry, general economic, industry and market conditions, the depth and liquidity of the market for our common stock, fluctuations in coffee prices, investor perceptions of our business, reports by industry analysts, negative announcements by our customers, competitors or suppliers regarding their own performances, and the impact of other “Risk Factors” discussed in this Annual Report.

Provisions in our articles of incorporation, bylaws and of Nevada law have anti-takeover effects that could prevent a change in control that could be beneficial to our stockholders, which could depress the market price of shares of our common stock. Our articles of incorporation, bylaws and Nevada corporate law contain provisions that could delay, defer or prevent a change in control of us or our management that could be beneficial to our stockholders. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for our stockholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. These provisions might also discourage a potential acquisition proposal or tender offer, even if the acquisition proposal or tender offer is at a price above the then current market price for shares of our common stock. These provisions:

We are also subject to certain anti-takeover provisions under Nevada law. Under Nevada law, a corporation may not, in general, engage in a business combination with any “interested stockholder” for two (2) years after the date the person first became an interested stockholder, unless the combination meets all of the requirements of our articles of incorporation and (i) the purchase of shares by the interested stockholder is approved by our board of directors before that date or (ii) the combination is approved by our board of directors and, at or after that time, the combination is approved at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of the holders of stock representing at least sixty percent (60%) of our outstanding voting power not beneficially owned by the interested stockholder or the affiliates or associates of the interested stockholder.

Risks Related to the Merger

Completion of the Merger is subject to a number of conditions and if these conditions are not satisfied or waived, such transactions will not be completed.

Our obligation and the obligation of Delta to complete the Merger are subject to satisfaction or waiver of a number of conditions, including, among others:

There can be no assurance that the conditions to closing set forth in the Merger Agreement will be satisfied or waived or that the Merger itself will be completed.

Failure to complete the Merger could negatively impact our stock price, future business or operations.

If the Merger is not completed, JVA and Delta may be subject to a number of material risks, including the following:

Further, if the Merger is terminated and either company’s board of directors determines to seek another merger or business combination, there can be no assurance that it will be able to find a partner on terms as attractive as those provided for in the Merger Agreement. In addition, while the Merger Agreement is in effect and subject to very narrowly defined exceptions, we are prohibited from soliciting, initiating or encouraging or entering into certain extraordinary transactions, such as a merger, sale of assets or other business combination, other than with Delta.

None.

We are headquartered at 3475 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, New York, where we lease office and warehouse space. We pay annual rent ranging from $182,749 to $297,864 under the terms of the lease, which expires on September 30, 2036.

We lease production, warehouse and office space in North Arlington, MA. We pay annual rent of $168,288 under the terms of a lease, which expires in May 2028.

We own a 50,000 square foot facility located at 27700 Frontage Road in La Junta, Colorado.

We also use a variety of independent, bonded commercial warehouses to store our green coffee beans. Our management believes that our facilities are adequate for our current operations and for our contemplated operations in the foreseeable future.

The Company was named as a defendant in a putative class action lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (the “Court”) on or about December 21, 2020. The plaintiffs, Eileen Brodsky and Rhonda Diamond, purported to represent a class of individuals who purchased coffee products at Aldi, Inc. (“Aldi”), a supermarket chain, generally allege that Aldi sold private label coffee products manufactured by us and by Pan American Coffee Co., LLC (“Pan American”), which falsely described the number of cups of coffee that could be made from the amount of product purchased. Aldi and Pan American were also named as defendants in the action. The complaint asserted a variety of claims under New York and California consumer protection laws, and sought unspecified monetary damages, including disgorgement and restitution, as well as other forms of relief including class certification, declaratory and injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees, and interest. On September 28, 2021, the Court entered an order granting the Company’s motion to dismiss with prejudice (the “Dismissal Order”). In the Dismissal Order, the Court stated that no reasonable coffee drinker would be deceived by the Company’s packaging. The plaintiffs filed an appeal with the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals (the “Appeal”). After the Appeal was filed, the Company and the plaintiffs’ settled the matter during mediation in late January 2022 and the Appeal was dismissed.

A significant customer of the Company was named as a defendant in a putative class action lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (the “Massachusetts District Court”) on or about February 2, 2021, concerning the labeling on private label coffee productions we sold to the customer. The plaintiff, David Cohen, purporting to represent a class of individuals who purchased coffee products from our customer, generally allege that the customer sold private label coffee products manufactured by the Company which falsely described the number of cups of coffee that could be made from the amount of product purchased. The Company is not named as a defendant in the action, but has agreed to indemnify the customer for the costs and expenses incurred in defending the lawsuit and for any liability the customer may suffer as a result. The complaint asserts a variety of claims under Massachusetts consumer protection laws, and seeks unspecified monetary damages as well as other forms of relief including class certification, declaratory and injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees, and interest. The Company believes the allegations in the complaint are wholly without merit and that the claims asserted are legally deficient, and intends to vigorously support the customer in defending the action. On February 28, 2022,the Company and the plaintiff, in his individual capacity and not on behalf of a presumptive class, resolved the matter in principle and have reported the agreement in principle to the Massachusetts District Court. After the end of the period, the parties finalized the details of a settlement agreement. The final settlement amount was immaterial to the Company’s operations and results of operations.

Not applicable.

PART II

Our common stock trades on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “JVA.” We do not currently pay cash dividends on our common stock. Our board of directors does not have any intention of paying a dividend in the future.

As of March 15, 2023, we had 167 holders of record.

Reserved.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the matters discussed under the caption “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation,” “Business,” “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this annual report include forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We have based these forward-looking statements upon information available to management as of the date of this Form 10-K and management’s expectations and projections about future events, including, among other things:

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “future,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate” and similar expressions (or the negative of such expressions). Any or all of our forward looking statements in this annual report and in any other public statements we make may turn out to be wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions we might make or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. In addition, we undertake no responsibility to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances, that occur after the date of this annual report.

Overview

We are an integrated wholesale coffee roaster and dealer in the United States and one of the few coffee companies that offers a broad array of coffee products across the entire spectrum of consumer tastes, preferences and price points. As a result, we believe that we are well-positioned to increase our profitability and endure potential coffee price volatility throughout varying cycles of the coffee market and economic conditions.

Our operations have primarily focused on the following areas of the coffee industry:

Our operating results are affected by a number of factors including:

Our net sales are driven primarily by the success of our sales and marketing efforts and our ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers. For this reason, we have made, and will continue to evaluate, strategic decisions to invest in measures that are expected to increase net sales. These transactions include our acquisition of Premier Roasters, LLC, including equipment and a roasting facility in La Junta, Colorado, the addition of a west coast sales manager to increase sales of our private label and branded coffees to new customers and the transaction with OPTCO. On June 29, 2016, we purchased substantially all the assets, including equipment, inventory, customer lists and relationships of Coffee Kinetics, LLC., a Washington limited liability company. On February 24, 2017, we acquired 100% of the capital stock of Comfort Foods, Inc. (“CFI”), a Massachusetts based medium sized coffee roaster, manufacturing both branded and private label coffee for retail and foodservice customers. In April 2018, Generations Coffee Company, the entity formed as a result of our joint venture with Caruso’s Coffee, Inc., purchased substantially all the assets of Steep & Brew, Inc. As of the fiscal period ending January 31, 2022, we agreed with Generations to no longer move forward with this joint venture.

In October 2020, we entered into the Jordre Well Agreement to become a 49% owner in The Jordre Well, a CBD beverage company. Under the terms of the Jordre Well Agreement, The Jordre Well was to assist us in the development and commercialization of CBD-infused line extensions for the existing coffee brands within our portfolio, as well as launch new brands of non-coffee CBD-infused beverages and products. However, after further analysis, management has decided not to pursue commercialization or development of any beverages or products of this nature.

Our net sales are affected by the price of green coffee. We purchase our green coffee from dealers located primarily within the United States. The dealers supply us with coffee beans from many countries, including Colombia, Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, Brazil and Uganda. The supply and price of coffee beans are subject to volatility and are influenced by numerous factors which are beyond our control. For example, in Brazil, which produces approximately 40% of the world’s green coffee, the coffee crops are historically susceptible to frost in June and July and drought in September, October and November. However, because we purchase coffee from a number of countries and are able to freely substitute one country’s coffee for another in our products, price fluctuations in one country generally have not had a material impact on the price we pay for coffee. Accordingly, price fluctuations in one country generally have not had a material effect on our results of operations, liquidity and capital resources. Historically, because we generally have been able to pass green coffee price increases through to customers, increased prices of green coffee generally result in increased net sales, irrespective of sales volume.

The supply and price of coffee beans are subject to volatility and are influenced by numerous factors which are beyond our control. Historically, we have used, and intend to continue to use in a limited capacity, short-term coffee futures and options contracts primarily for the purpose of partially hedging the effects of changing green coffee prices, as further explained in Note 2 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Report. In addition, we acquired, and expect to continue to acquire, futures contracts with longer terms, generally three to four months, primarily for the purpose of guaranteeing an adequate supply of green coffee. Realized and unrealized gains or losses on options and futures contracts are reflected in our cost of sales. Gains on options and futures contracts reduce our cost of sales and losses on options and futures contracts increase our cost of sales. The use of these derivative financial instruments has generally enabled us to mitigate the effect of changing prices. We believe that, in normal economic times, our hedging policies remain a vital element to our business model not only in controlling our cost of sales, but also giving us the flexibility to obtain the inventory necessary to continue to grow our sales while trying to minimize margin compression during a time of historically high coffee prices. However, no strategy can entirely eliminate pricing risks and we generally remain exposed to losses on futures contracts when prices decline significantly in a short period of time, and we would generally remain exposed to supply risk in the event of non-performance by the counterparties to any of our futures contracts. Although we have had net gains on options and futures contracts in the past, we have incurred significant losses on options and futures contracts during some recent reporting periods. In these cases, our cost of sales has increased, resulting in a decrease in our profitability or increase our losses. Such losses have and could in the future materially increase our cost of sales and materially decrease our profitability and adversely affect our stock price. See “Item 1A – Risk Factors - If our hedging policy is not effective, we may not be able to control our coffee costs, we may be forced to pay greater than market value for green coffee and our profitability may be reduced.” Failure to properly design and implement an effective hedging strategy may materially adversely affect our business and operating results. If the hedges that we enter do not adequately offset the risks of coffee bean price volatility or our hedges result in losses, our cost of sales may increase, resulting in a decrease in profitability or increased losses. As previously announced, as a result of the volatile nature of the commodities markets, we have and are continuing to scale back our use of hedging and short-term trading of coffee futures and options contracts, and intend to continue to use these practices in a limited capacity going forward.

Recent Events

On September 29, 2022, we entered into the Merger Agreement, Upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement, Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company, with the Company surviving as a direct, wholly-owned subsidiary of Pubco. As a result of the Merger, each issued and outstanding share of our common stock will be cancelled and converted for the right of the holder thereof to receive one Pubco Ordinary Share.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”). Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies to our consolidated financial statements attached hereto. We believe the following critical accounting policies involve the most significant judgements and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

The Company recognizes revenue in accordance with the five-step model as prescribed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Codification (“ASC”) Topic 606 (“ASC 606”) in which the Company evaluates the transfer of promised goods or services and recognizes revenue when its customer obtains control of promised goods or services in an amount that reflects the consideration which the Company expects to be entitled to receive in exchange for those goods or services. To determine revenue recognition for the arrangements that the Company determines are within the scope of ASC 606, the Company performs the following five steps: (1) identify the contract(s) with a customer, (2) identify the performance obligations in the contract, (3) determine the transaction price, (4) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract and (5) recognize revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies a performance obligation.

We have intangible assets consisting of our customer lists and relationships and trademarks acquired from Comfort Foods, OPTCO and SONO. At October 31, 2022 our balance sheet reflected intangible assets as set forth below:

Goodwill and the trademarks which are deemed to have indefinite lives are subject to annual impairment tests. Goodwill impairment tests require the comparison of the fair value and carrying value of reporting units. We assess the potential impairment of goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets annually and on an interim basis whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. Upon completion of such review, if impairment is found to have occurred, a corresponding charge will be recorded. The value assigned to the customer list and relationships is being amortized over a twenty year period and a recoverability test is performed whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable.

Because the Company is a single reporting unit, the company used a hybrid approach to determine the fair market value of the Company, which included an income approach to conduct the annual impairment assessment. Goodwill and the indefinite lived intangible assets are tested annually at the end of each fiscal year to determine whether they have been impaired. Upon completion of each annual review, there can be no assurance that a material charge will not be recorded. Impairment testing is required more often than annually if an event or circumstance indicates that an impairment or decline in value may have occurred.

For the year ending October 31, 2022, an impairment charge of $2,488,785 was recorded as the market capitalization was substantially lower than the carrying amount of the Company. For the year ending October 31, 2022, we also took an $81,000 impairment charge for trademark, and a $199,767 impairment charge for customer lists and non-compete. For the year ended October 31, 2021, no impairment charges were recorded to the carrying value of goodwill and the reporting unit has a fair value in excess of its carrying value by approximately 4% as of October 31, 2021. For the year ended October 31, 2021, we recorded impairment on two of our trademarks totaling $1,080,000 as the carrying amount of these trademarks exceeded the respective fair values on the test date which were determined using a relief from royalty method.

Year Ended October 31, 2022 (Fiscal Year 2022) Compared to the Year Ended October 31, 2021 (Fiscal Year 2021)

Net Sales. Net sales totaled $65,706,879 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, an increase of $1,784,477, or 3%, from $63,922,402 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. The increase in net sales was due to an increase of sales to our legacy customers along with incremental sales to several significant new customers during the second half of the year.

Cost of Sales. Cost of sales for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 was $54,692,933, or 83% of net sales, as compared to $47,901,126, or 75% of net sales, for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. Cost of sales consists primarily of the cost of green coffee and packaging materials and realized and unrealized gains or losses on hedging activity. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the net result of our hedging activities resulted in a loss of approximately $100,000, and for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021, the net result of our hedging activities resulted in a gain of approximately $1.8 million. The increase in cost of sales was due to increased prices of green coffee, freight, salaries and packaging materials and the balance of our losses from our Generations/Steep N Brew subsidiary, which included obsolete inventory write-off of approximately $718,000.

Gross Profit. Gross profit for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 was $11,013,946, a decrease of $5,007,330 from $16,021,276 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales decreased to 17% for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 from 25% for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. The decrease in gross profit percentage was attributable to higher raw material costs and the impact of losses from our Generations/Steep N Brew subsidiary.

Operating Expenses. Total operating expenses increased by $1,776,725 to $16,352,846 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 from $14,576,121 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. Selling and administrative expenses increased $105,704, to $12,989,032 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 from $12,883,328 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. The recording of $2,769,552 of goodwill and other intangible impairment during fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 increased by $1,689,552 as compared to $1,080,000 of trademark impairment during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. We also had increases in professional fees due to the Delta deal. Officers’ salary decreased by $18,531 or 3% to $594,262 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 from $612,793 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021.

Other Income (Expense). Other expense for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 was $258,750, an increase of $21,452 from other expense of $237,298 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. The increase in other expense was attributable to an increase in interest expense of $139,248, partially offset by an increase in interest income of $6,436 and a decrease in our loss from equity investment of $111,360, during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Income (Loss) Before Provision For Income Taxes And Non-Controlling Interest In Subsidiary. We had a loss of $5,597,650 before income taxes and non-controlling interest in subsidiary for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 compared to income of $1,207,857 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021, resulting in a net change of $6,805,507 for the year ended October 31, 2022.

Income Taxes. Our benefit for income taxes for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 totaled $995,793 compared to a provision of $340,180 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. The change was attributable to the difference in the income for the year ended October 31, 2022 versus fiscal year ended October 31, 2021.

Net Income (Loss). We had a net loss of $3,744,785 or $0.66 per share basic and diluted, for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 compared to net income of $1,255,354, or $0.22 per share basic and diluted for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. The decrease in net income was due to our results as described above.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of October 31, 2022, we had working capital of $25,262,224, which represented a $1,477,939 increase from our working capital of $23,784,285 as of October 31, 2021. Our working capital increased primarily due to increases of $3,290,348 in inventory, $790,203 in prepaid and refundable taxes, $93,892 in due from broker, decreases of $1,232,776 in accounts payable and accrued expenses, $416,449 in income taxes payable and $119,666 in lease liability – current portion, partially offset by decreases of $1,056,550 in cash, $1,483,505 in accounts receivable, $110,098 in prepaid expenses and other current assets and an increase of $815,242 in due to broker and an increase in cash overdraft of $876,148. As of October 31, 2022, the outstanding balance on our line of credit was $8,314,000 compared to $3,800,850 as of October 31, 2021.

On April 25, 2017, we and OPTCO (collectively, the “Borrowers”) entered into an Amended and Restated Loan and Security Agreement (the “A&R Loan Agreement”) and Amended and Restated Loan Facility (the “A&R Loan Facility”) with Sterling National Bank (“Sterling”, now Webster Bank, “Webster Bank”)), which consolidated (i) the financing agreement between us and Sterling, dated February 17, 2009, as modified, (the “Company Financing Agreement”) and (ii) the financing agreement between us, as guarantor, OPTCO and Sterling, dated March 10, 2015 (the “OPTCO Financing Agreement”), amongst other things.

On March 13, 2020, we reached an agreement for a new loan modification agreement and credit facility with Sterling. The terms of the new agreement among other things: (i) provides for a new maturity date of March 31, 2022 and (ii) decreases the interest rate per annum to LIBOR plus 1.75% (with such interest rate not to be lower than 3.50%). On June 28, 2022, we reached an agreement for a new loan modification agreement and credit facility with Webster Bank. The terms of the new agreement, among other things: (i) provided for a new maturity date of June 30, 2024, and (ii) changed the interest rate per annum to SOFR plus 1.75% (with such interest rate not to be lower than 3.50%). All other terms of the A&R Loan Agreement and A&R Loan Facility remain the same.

Each of the A&R Loan Facility and the A&R Loan Agreement is secured by all of our tangible and intangible assets. Other than as amended and restated by the A&R Loan Agreement, the Company Financing Agreement and the OPTCO Financing Agreement remain in full force and effect.

Each of the A&R Loan Facility and A&R Loan Agreement contain covenants, subject to certain exceptions, that place annual restrictions on the Borrowers’ operations, including covenants relating to debt restrictions, capital expenditures, indebtedness, minimum deposit restrictions, tangible net worth, net profit, leverage, employee loan restrictions, dividend and repurchase restrictions (common stock and preferred stock), and restrictions on intercompany transactions.

On March 17, 2022, the Company reached an agreement for a new loan modification agreement and credit facility which extended the maturity date to June 29, 2022. All other terms of the A&R Loan Agreement and A&R Loan Facility remained the same.

On June 28, 2022, the Company reached an agreement for a new loan modification agreement and credit facility with Webster Bank. The terms of the new agreement, among other things: (i) provided for a new maturity date of June 30, 2024, and (ii) changed the interest rate per annum to SOFR plus 1.75% (with such interest rate not to be lower than 3.50%). All other terms of the A&R Loan Agreement and A&R Loan Facility remained the same.

The Company was not in compliance with the net profit and non-affiliate borrower covenants as of October 31, 2022. The Company requested a waiver from the Lender and the waiver was granted and received on March 15, 2023. The Lender also extended the due date of the October 31, 2022 financial statements until April 15, 2023. The loan agreement was also modified on March 15, 2023. The amendment, among other things: (i) requires for subordination agreements to be executed with the Lender prior to the issuance of any subordinate debt of the Company, if necessary, (ii) allows for transactions with Affiliates (as defined in the Loan Agreement) in the ordinary course of business, (iii) establishes a new debt to tangible net worth ratio covenant, and (iv) establishes a fixed charge coverage ratio covenant.

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, our operating activities used net cash of $5,437,508 as compared to the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021 when operating activities provided net cash of $4,709,519. The decreased cash flow from operations for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 was primarily due to our net loss, and the increase in our inventory.

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, our investing activities used net cash of $1,059,205 as compared to the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021 when net cash used by investing activities was $3,887,317. The decrease in our uses of cash in investing activities was due to our decreased outlays for purchases of machinery and equipment and our other investment during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, our financing activities provided net cash of $5,316,311 compared to net cash used in financing activities of $1,047 for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021. The change in cash flow from financing activities for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 was due to our decreased principal reductions on our line of credit.

We expect to fund our operations, including paying our liabilities, funding capital expenditures and making required payments on our indebtedness, through October 31, 2023 with cash provided by operating activities and the use of our credit facility. In addition, an increase in eligible accounts receivable and inventory would permit us to make additional borrowings under our line of credit.

We believe that if the Merger with Delta closes, the A&R Loan Agreement and A&R Loan Facility with Webster Bank will continue in the ordinary course.

Not applicable.

See pages F-1 through F-23 following the Exhibit Index of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

None.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures. Management, which includes our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based upon that evaluation, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that the disclosure controls and procedures were not effective. We believe the financial information presented herein is materially correct and fairly presents the financial position and operating results of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Management Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over our financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our executive management and effected by our board of directors, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparations of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Based on this assessment, our management has determined that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of October 31, 2022 and the periods covered under this Annual Report on Form 10-K due to the material weaknesses described below. A material weakness is a control deficiency or combination of deficiencies in internal control, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the entity’s financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis.

During the year ended October 31, 2020, our controls were inadequate to prevent and detect misstatements of stock based compensation awards and quantities of inventory at one of our subsidiaries. Accordingly, management has determined that this control deficiency constituted a material weakness.

During the year ended October 31, 2021, we identified inappropriate system access controls over the financial reporting system. These controls were not designed to prevent or detect unauthorized changes to source information, or implement an appropriate level of segregation of duties. Accordingly, management has determined that this control deficiency constituted a material weakness.

Further, during the year ended October 31, 2021, we determined that we lacked adequate controls with respect to identifying and accounting for material contracts. This was evidenced by our failure to properly identify and account for a material lease amendment. Accordingly, management has determined that this was a control deficiency that constituted a material weakness.

Further, during the year ended October 31, 2021, we determined that we lacked adequate controls with respect to physical custody of certain hardware, electronic and hard copy records of Generations Coffee and its component operation known as Steep and Brew following the Company relocation or vacating of certain premises used in the operations of that business unit. Accordingly, management has determined that this is a control deficiency that constituted a material weakness.

Additionally, on January 24, 2023, we concluded, after discussion with management, that our financial statements inaccurately accounted for certain intercompany eliminations in our consolidated statements of operations for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020. As a result, we determined that there was an overstatement of net sales and cost of sales in the consolidated statement of operations of approximately $8.3 million in our financial statements during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020 which required a restatement of the previously issued financial statements for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2020. This was due to inadequate design and implementation of controls to evaluate and monitor the presentation and compliance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America related to the statement of operations. Accordingly, management has determined that this control deficiency constituted a material weakness.

Further, during the year ended October 31, 2022, we concluded that we lacked adequate controls with respect to the preparation and review of journal entries and account reconciliations during the year-end financial statement closing process. Accordingly, management has determined that this control deficiency constituted a material weakness.

Notwithstanding these material weaknesses, management has concluded that our audited financial statements included in the fiscal year 2022 form 10-K are fairly stated in all material respects in accordance with GAAP for each of the periods.

Remediation Plan for the Material Weakness

To remediate the material weaknesses identified above, we are initiating controls and procedures in order to:

The material weaknesses identified above will not be considered remediated until our remediation efforts have been fully implemented and we have concluded that these controls are operating effectively.

Management does not expect that our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control systems are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, no evaluation of internal control over financial reporting can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been or will be detected.

Changes in Control Over Financial Reporting. Based on the evaluation of our management we believe that there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the quarter ended October 31, 2022 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Attestation Report of the Registered Public Accounting Firm. This annual report does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by our registered public accounting firm pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Protection Act that permits us to provide only management’s report in this annual report.

None.

None.

PART III

Information About our Board of Directors and Management

(1) As of March 23, 2023

The principal occupation and business experience of each director are set forth below. Unless otherwise indicated, each of the following persons has held his present position for at least the last five years.

Andrew Gordon has been the Chief Executive Officer, President, Treasurer and a director of Coffee Holding since 1997 and its Chief Financial Officer since November 2004. He is responsible for managing Coffee Holding’s overall business and has worked for Coffee Holding for over 36 years, previously as a Vice President from 1993 to 1997. Mr. Gordon has worked in all capacities of Coffee Holding’s business and serves as the direct contact with its major private label accounts. Mr. Gordon received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Emory University. He is the brother of David Gordon. Through his experience as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, as well as his over 35 years of service with the Company, Mr. Gordon has demonstrated the requisite qualifications and skills necessary to serve as an effective director. We believe Mr. Gordon’s extensive experience with, and institutional knowledge of, Coffee Holding and the industry is an integral contribution to Coffee Holding’s current successes and its ability to grow and flourish in the industry.

Daniel Dwyer has served as a director of Coffee Holding since 1998. Mr. Dwyer was the Chief Executive Officer at Rothfos Corporation until 2022, a green coffee bean supplier, and prior to that, had been a senior coffee trader at Rothfos, since 1995. Mr. Dwyer was responsible for our account with Rothfos. We paid Rothfos approximately $3.5 million for green coffee purchases in fiscal 2021. All purchases were made on arms’ length terms. We believe that Mr. Dwyer’s experience with the coffee industry will enable him to provide the Board with beneficial insight for Coffee Holding’s business development and strategy. Mr. Dwyer serves on the board of directors of the National Coffee Association.

Barry Knepper has served as a director of Coffee Holding since 2005. From July 2004 to the present, Mr. Knepper has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of CFO Business Solutions, a management consulting firm. Mr. Knepper was the Chief Financial Officer for TruFoods Corporation, a growth oriented franchise management company from April 2001 through June 2004. From January 2000 through March 2001, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Offline Entertainment, an early stage television and motion picture production company. From 1982 through 1999, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Unitel Video, Inc., a formerly publicly-traded nationwide high tech service company in the television, film and new media fields. We believe that Mr. Knepper’s diversified financial, accounting and business expertise provide him with the qualifications and skills to serve as a director.

Gerard DeCapua has served as a director of Coffee Holding since 1997. Mr. DeCapua has had his own law practice in Rockville Centre, New York since 1986. Mr. DeCapua received his law degree from Pace University. We believe that Mr. DeCapua’s legal experience brings significant knowledge regarding the legal issues Coffee Holding faces and provide him with the skills and qualifications to serve as a director.

George F. Thomas has served as a director of Coffee Holding since February 2016. Mr. Thomas has over 38 years of domestic and international corporate business experience in top management positions. Since February 2007, Mr. Thomas has served as a Principal at Radix Consulting Corporation, a consulting firm which provides specialized advice in the field of electronic payments. From 1981 through 2007, Mr. Thomas served in a number of positions at The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C., a limited liability company which operates electronic payment systems, including such positions as Executive Vice President of the Payments Services Division, President of the Electronic Payments Network, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Information Technology and Vice President of Technical Services and Systems Development. Since 2007, Mr. Thomas has served as a director of eGistics, Inc., a provider of cloud-based document and data management solutions which was acquired by Top Image Systems, Ltd. in 2014. We believe that Mr. Thomas’ financial and business experience provide him with the qualifications and skills to serve as a director.

David Gordon has been the Executive Vice President — Operations, Secretary and a director of Coffee Holding since 1995. He is responsible for managing all aspects of Coffee Holding’s roasting and blending operations, including quality control, and has worked for Coffee Holding for 39 years, previously as an Operating Manager from 1989 to 1995. He is a charter member of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, or SCAA. Mr. Gordon attended Baruch College in New York City. He is the brother of Andrew Gordon. Through his 38 years of service with the Company, Mr. Gordon has demonstrated the requisite qualifications and skills necessary to serve as an effective director. We believe Mr. Gordon’s extensive institutional knowledge and leadership are invaluable to Coffee Holding’s current and future successes. Mr. Gordon’s leadership, as demonstrated by the launch of the Specialty Green segment of the business as well as the founding of the SCAA, is a valuable resource for Coffee Holding’s business development and future strategy.

John Rotelli has served as a director of Coffee Holding since 2005. Mr. Rotelli has over 40 years of experience in the green coffee industry business consisting of procurement from growing countries, every aspect of traffic and warehousing, quality analysis, and knowledge of both suppliers and competitors. Mr. Rotelli is currently the Vice President of L.J. Cooper Company, one of the largest green coffee brokers and agents in North America. He is also a director of the Green Coffee Association. Mr. Rotelli’s industry and business experience provides the Board with valuable expertise within the coffee industry as well as beneficial relationships that can help form new beneficial relationships for Coffee Holding.

Family Relationships

David Gordon and David Gordon are brothers. Other than Messrs. Gordon, there are no family relationships among any of the directors or executive officers.

Corporate Governance

The Board oversees our business and monitors the performance of our management. In accordance with our corporate governance procedures, the Board does not involve itself in the day-to-day operations of Coffee Holding. Our executive officers and management oversee our day-to-day operations. Our directors fulfill their duties and responsibilities by attending meetings of the Board, which are usually held on a quarterly basis. Our directors also discuss business and other matters with other key executives and our principal external advisers (legal counsel, auditors, financial advisors and other consultants).

The Board held six meeting during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and acted by written consent on one occasion. Each director serving during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 attended at least 75 percent of the meetings of the Board, plus meetings of committees on which that particular director served during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Coffee Holding is committed to establishing and maintaining high standards of corporate governance. Our executive officers and the Board have worked together to construct a comprehensive set of corporate governance initiatives that we believe will serve the long-term interests of our stockholders and employees. We believe these initiatives comply fully with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and regulations of the SEC adopted thereunder. In addition, we believe our corporate governance initiatives fully comply with the rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”). The Board will continue to evaluate, and improve upon as appropriate, our corporate governance principles and policies.

Board Leadership Structure and Role in Risk Oversight

Andrew Gordon serves as both our principal executive officer and chairman at the pleasure of the Board. The directors have determined that Mr. Gordon’s experience in our industry and in corporate transactions, and his personal commitment to Coffee Holding as an investor and employee, make him uniquely qualified to supervise our operations and to execute our business strategies. The Board is also cognizant of Coffee Holding’s relatively small size compared to its publicly traded competitors. We do not have a lead independent director. Management’s activities are monitored by standing committees of the Board, principally the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Each of these committees is comprised solely of independent directors. For these reasons, the Board deems this leadership structure appropriate for us.

Code of Ethics

The Board has adopted a Code of Conduct and Ethics that applies to each of our directors, officers and employees. The Code of Conduct and Ethics sets forth our policies and expectations on a number of topics, including:

The Audit Committee of our Board reviews the Code of Conduct and Ethics on a regular basis, and will propose or adopt additions or amendments to the Code of Conduct and Ethics as appropriate. The Code of Conduct and Ethics is available on our website at www.coffeeholding.com under “Investor Relations - Corporate Governance.” A copy of the Code of Conduct and Ethics may also be obtained free of charge by sending a written request to:

David Gordon, Secretary

Coffee Holding Co., Inc.

3475 Victory Boulevard

Staten Island, NY 10314

We intend to satisfy the disclosure requirement under Section 5.05(c) of Form 8-K regarding an amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of our Code of Ethics by posting such information on our website.

Independent Directors

Our Board currently consists of seven directors, four of whom our Board has determined are independent directors. The standards relied on by the Board in affirmatively determining whether a director is “independent,” in compliance with Nasdaq’s rules, are comprised of those objective standards set forth in the rules promulgated by Nasdaq. The Board is responsible for ensuring that independent directors do not have a relationship that, in the opinion of the Board, would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director.

The Board has determined that Gerard DeCapua, Barry Knepper, John Rotelli and George F. Thomas, comprising a majority of the Board, are “independent” directors under Nasdaq’s rules.

Nasdaq’s rules, as well as SEC rules, impose additional independence requirements for all members of the Audit Committee. Specifically, in addition to the “independence” requirements discussed above, “independent” audit committee members must: (1) not accept, directly or indirectly, any consulting, advisory, or other compensatory fees from Coffee Holding or any subsidiary of Coffee Holding other than in the member’s capacity as a member of the Board and any Board committee; (2) not be an affiliated person of Coffee Holding or any subsidiary of Coffee Holding; and (3) not have participated in the preparation of the financial statements of Coffee Holding or any current subsidiary of Coffee Holding at any time during the past three years. In addition, Nasdaq’s rules require that all audit committee members be able to read and understand fundamental financial statements, including Coffee Holding’s balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. The Board believes that the current members of the Audit Committee meet these additional standards.

Furthermore, at least one member of the Audit Committee must be financially sophisticated, in that he or she has past employment experience in finance or accounting, requisite professional certification in accounting, or any other comparable experience or background which results in the individual’s financial sophistication, including but not limited to being or having been a chief executive officer, chief financial officer, other senior officer with financial oversight responsibilities. Additionally, the SEC requires that Coffee Holding disclose whether the Audit Committee has, and will continue to have, at least one member who is a “financial expert.” The Board has determined that Barry Knepper meets the SEC’s definition of an audit committee financial expert.

Committees of the Board

The Board of Coffee Holding has established the following committees:

Audit Committee. The Audit Committee oversees and monitors our financial reporting process and internal control system, reviews and evaluates the audit performed by our registered independent public accountants and reports to the Board any substantive issues found during the audit. The Audit Committee is directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of our registered independent public accountants. The Audit Committee reviews and approves all transactions with affiliated parties. The Board has adopted a written charter for the Audit Committee, which is available on our website at www.coffeeholding.com under “Investor Relations - Corporate Governance.” All members of the Audit Committee are independent directors as defined under Nasdaq’s listing standards. Gerard DeCapua, Barry Knepper and George F. Thomas serve as members of the Audit Committee with Barry Knepper serving as its chairman. The Board has determined that Barry Knepper qualifies as an audit committee financial expert as that term is defined by SEC regulations. The Audit Committee held six meetings during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, and acted by written consent on two occasions.

Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee provides advice and makes recommendations to the Board in the areas of employee salaries, benefit programs and director compensation. The Compensation Committee also reviews the compensation of the President and Chief Executive Officer of Coffee Holding and makes recommendations in that regard to the Board as a whole. The Board has adopted a written charter for the Compensation Committee, which is available on our website at www.coffeeholding.com under “Investor Relations - Corporate Governance.” All members of the Compensation Committee are independent directors as defined under Nasdaq’s listing standards. Barry Knepper, John Rotelli and George F. Thomas serve as members of the Compensation Committee, with John Rotelli serving as its chairman. The Compensation Committee acted by written consent once during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee nominates individuals to be elected to the full Board by our stockholders. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee considers recommendations from stockholders if submitted in a timely manner in accordance with the procedures set forth in Article II, Section 11 of our Bylaws and applies the same criteria to all persons being considered. All members of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee are independent directors as defined under the Nasdaq listing standards. Gerard DeCapua, John Rotelli and George F. Thomas serve as members of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, with Gerard DeCapua serving as its chairman. The Board has adopted a written charter for the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, which is available on our website at www.coffeeholding.com under “Investor Relations - Corporate Governance.” The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee acted by written consent once during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

There are no minimum qualifications that must be met by a Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee-recommended nominee. It is the policy of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee to recommend individuals as director nominees who have the highest personal and professional integrity, who have demonstrated exceptional ability and judgment and who will be most effective, in conjunction with the other members of the Board, in collectively serving the long-term interests of our stockholders.

Stockholder Communication with the Board of Directors and Attendance at Annual Meetings

The Board maintains a process for stockholders to communicate with the Board and its committees. Stockholders of Coffee Holding and other interested persons may communicate with the Board or the chairperson of the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee or Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee by writing to the Secretary of Coffee Holding at 3475 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10314. All communications that relate to matters that are within the scope of the responsibilities of the Board will be presented to the Board no later than the next regularly scheduled meeting. Communications that relate to matters that are within the responsibility of one of the Board committees will be forwarded to the chairperson of the appropriate committee. Communications that relate to ordinary business matters that are not within the scope of the Board’s responsibilities, such as customer complaints, will be forwarded to the appropriate officer. Solicitations, junk mail and obviously frivolous or inappropriate communications will not be forwarded, but will be made available to any director who wishes to review them.

Directors are expected to prepare themselves for and attend all Board meetings, the Annual Meeting of Stockholders and the meetings of the committees on which they serve, with the understanding that, on occasion, a director may be unable to attend a meeting. All of our directors who served as directors during the 2022 fiscal year attended the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The summary compensation table below summarizes information concerning compensation for the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022 and 2021 of the individuals who served as President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer (Andrew Gordon) and Executive Vice President — Operations and Secretary (David Gordon). We refer to these individuals as the “Named Executive Officers.”

SUMMARY COMPENSATION TABLE

The following table sets forth information with respect to the compensation of our Named Executive Officers for services in all capacities to us and our subsidiaries.

Narrative to Summary Compensation Table

Overview

Our Compensation Committee has responsibility for establishing, implementing and monitoring adherence with our compensation philosophy. In that regard, the Compensation Committee provides advice and makes recommendations to the JVA Board in the areas of employee salaries and benefit programs. The Compensation Committee ensures that the total compensation paid to our executive leadership team is fair and reasonable. Generally, the types of compensation and benefits provided to members of the executive leadership team, including the Named Executive Officers, are similar to those provided to our other officers and employees.

Compensation Components

Our compensation program for Named Executive Officers consists generally of base salary and annual bonuses. These elements are intended to provide an overall compensation package that is commensurate with our financial resources, that is appropriate to assure the retention of experienced management personnel, and that aligns their financial interests with those of our stockholders. We pay our Named Executive Officers commensurate with their experience and responsibilities.

Base Salary. Each of our Named Executive Officers receives a base salary to compensate him for services performed during the year. The base salaries of our Named Executive Officers are established annually by the JVA Board upon recommendation by the Compensation Committee. When determining the base salary for each of our Named Executive Officers, the Compensation Committee considers the performance of the Named Executive Officer, the duties of the Named Executive Officer, the experience of the Named Executive Officer in his position and salary levels of the companies in our peer group. Salary levels are also intended to reflect our financial performance. We have entered into employment agreements with each of the Named Executive Officers that provide for minimum annual base salaries. The Named Executive Officers are eligible for annual increases in their base salaries as a result of company performance, individual performance and any added responsibility since their last salary increase.

Annual Bonus. Our Named Executive Officers are eligible to receive annual cash bonuses. These bonuses are intended to reward the achievement of corporate goals and individual performance objectives. The bonus levels are intended to be competitive with those typically paid by the companies in our peer group and commensurate with the Named Executive Officers’ successful execution of duties and responsibilities.

Equity Compensation. At the 2013 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, our stockholders approved the 2013 Equity Compensation Plan. Through the 2013 Equity Compensation Plan, we provide our employees, including our Named Executive Officers, with equity incentives that help align their interests with those of our stockholders by tying the value delivered to our Named Executive Officers to the value of our shares of common stock. We also believe that stock option grants to our Named Executive Officers provide them with long-term incentives that will aid in retaining executive talent by providing opportunities to be compensated through the Company’s performance and rewarding executives for creating shareholder value over the long-term.

During the years ended October 31, 2022, and October 31, 2021 we did not grant any stock option awards to the Named Executive Officers. During the year ended October 31, 2019, we granted stock option awards to the Named Executive Officers to purchase an aggregate of 630,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $5.43 per share. The stock options are fully vested.

Implementation for Fiscal Year 2022

For the 2022 fiscal year, Andrew Gordon received a base salary of $323,863 and did not receive an annual bonus. David Gordon received a base salary of $270,400 and did not receive an annual bonus.

As stated above, on April 18, 2019, Andrew Gordon was granted a stock option to purchase 349,000 shares of common stock, and David Gordon was granted a stock option to purchase 281,000 shares of common stock. The stock options have an exercise price of $5.43 and are completely vested.

Compensation Decision-Making Policies and Procedures

Decision-Making and Policy-Making. As a Nasdaq listed company, we must observe governance standards that require executive officer compensation decisions to be made by the independent director members of our Board or by a committee of independent directors. Consistent with these requirements, our Board has established a Compensation Committee all of whose members are independent directors.

The Compensation Committee provides advice and makes recommendations to our Board in the areas of employee salaries and benefit programs. Compensation may consist of three components: (1) base salary; (2) bonuses; and (3) long-term incentives (e.g., deferred compensation and fringe benefits).

The Compensation Committee generally meets at least once each year or acts by written consent. It considers the expectations of the Chief Executive Officer with respect to his own compensation and his recommendations with respect to the compensation of more junior executive officers, as well as empirical data on compensation practices at peer group companies. The Compensation Committee does not delegate its duties to others.

Employment Agreements

We have entered into employment agreements with Andrew Gordon to secure his continued service as President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and with David Gordon to secure his continued service as Executive Vice President — Operations and Secretary. These employment agreements have rolling five-year terms that began on May 6, 2005. These agreements may be converted to a fixed five-year term by the decision of our Board or the executive. These agreements provide for minimum annual salaries, discretionary cash bonuses, and participation on generally applicable terms and conditions in other compensation and fringe benefit plans. The employment agreements also guarantee customary corporate indemnification and errors and omissions insurance coverage throughout the employment term and thereafter for so long as the executives are subject to liability for such service to the extent permissible by the Nevada Revised Statutes.

The terms of the employment agreements provide that each executive will be entitled to severance benefits if his employment is terminated without “cause” or if he resigns for “good reason” or following a “change in control” (as such terms will be defined in the employment agreements) equal to the value of the cash compensation and fringe benefits that he would have received if he had continued working for the remaining unexpired term of the agreement. The employment agreements also provide uninsured disability benefits. During the term of the employment agreements and, in case of discharge with “cause” or resignation without “good reason,” for a period of one year thereafter, the executives are subject to (1) restrictions on competition with us; and (2) restrictions on the solicitation of our customers and employees. For all periods during and after the term of the employment agreements, the executives are subject to nondisclosure and restrictions relating to our confidential information and trade secrets.

The employment agreements provide that in the event either executive terminates employment in connection with a change in control under circumstances entitling him to severance benefits, and it is determined that the executive would be subject to a 20% excise tax imposed by Section 4999 of the Code which applies to certain “excess parachute payments” (the “Excise Tax”), we will pay the executive a “Tax Indemnity Payment” such that the net amount received by the executive after payment of such Excise Tax, and any federal, Medicare and state and local income taxes and Excise Tax upon the Tax Indemnity Payment, will be equal to the payments the executive would have retained had there been no Excise Tax. The effect of this provision is that we, and not the executives, bear the financial cost of the Excise Tax. In accordance with Section 280G of the Code, we cannot claim a federal income tax deduction for payments subject to the Excise Tax, including the Tax Indemnity Payment.

Potential Payments Upon a Change of Control

Under the 2013 Equity Compensation Plan, in the event of a change in control (as defined in the 2013 Equity Compensation Plan), the Compensation Committee may, at the time of the grant of an award provide for, among other things, the (i) accelerating or extending the time periods for exercising, vesting in, or realizing gain from any award, (ii) eliminating or modifying the performance or other conditions of an award, or (iii) providing for the cash settlement of an award for an equivalent cash value, as determined by the Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee may, in its discretion and without the need for the consent of any recipient of an award, also take one or more of the following actions contingent upon the occurrence of a change in control: (a) cause any or all outstanding options and stock appreciation rights to become immediately exercisable, in whole or in part; (b) cause any other awards to become non-forfeitable, in whole or in part; (c) cancel any option or stock appreciation right in exchange for a substitute option; (d) cancel any award of restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance shares or performance units in exchange for a similar award of the capital stock of any successor corporation; (e) redeem any restricted stock, restricted stock unit, performance share or performance unit for cash and/or other substitute consideration with a value equal to the fair market value of an unrestricted share of our common stock on the date of the change in control; (f) cancel any option or stock appreciation right in exchange for cash and/or other substitute consideration based on the value of our common stock on the date of the change in control, and cancel any option or stock appreciation right without any payment if its exercise price exceeds the value of our common stock on the date of the change in control; or (g) make such other modifications, adjustments or amendments to outstanding awards as the Compensation Committee deems necessary or appropriate. To date, there have been 689,000 options granted under the 2013 Equity Compensation Plan to the Named Executive Officers.

Other than the severance benefits described under “Employment Agreements” and the potential payments described under “Potential Payments Upon a Change of Control” above, we do not maintain contracts, agreements, plans or arrangements that provide for payments to the Named Executive Officers at, following, or in connection with any termination of employment.

Deferred Compensation Plan for Executive Officers

In January 2005, we established the Coffee Holding Co., Inc. Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan for Named Executive Officers. Currently, Andrew Gordon is the only participant in the plan. Each Named Executive Officer who participates in the plan may defer receipt of all or a portion of his annual cash compensation received from Coffee Holding. The deferred amounts are allocated to a deferral account and credited with interest according to the investment classifications made available by the JVA Board. The plan is an unfunded, non-qualified plan that provides for distribution of the amounts deferred to participants or their designated beneficiaries upon the occurrence of certain events. The amounts deferred, and related investment earnings, are held in a corporate account for the benefit of participating Named Executive Officers until such amounts are distributed pursuant to the terms of the plan.

Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End

The following table sets forth information regarding outstanding stock options awarded to each of our Named Executive Officers as of October 31, 2022.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

The following table sets forth information regarding outstanding stock options and rights and shares reserved for future issuance under our existing equity compensation plans as of October 31, 2022.

DIRECTOR COMPENSATION

Non-employee directors receive $800 per Board meeting and committee meeting attended in person and $400 per each JVA Board meeting and committee meeting attended telephonically. Non-employee directors are also reimbursed for travel expenses and other out-of-pocket costs incurred in connection with attendance at Board and committee meetings.

Total directors’ meeting and committee fees for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 were $15,200. We do not compensate our employee directors for service as directors. Directors are also entitled to the protection of certain indemnification provisions in our Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws.

The following table sets forth information regarding compensation earned by our non-employee directors during the 2022 fiscal year.

DIRECTOR COMPENSATION TABLE

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management of JVA

The following table shows the number of shares of Coffee Holding’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, beneficially owned by (i) each person known to be the owner of 5% or more of our common stock, (ii) each director and nominee, (iii) the Named Executive Officers identified in the Summary Compensation Table included elsewhere in this proxy statement and (iv) all directors and executive officers of Coffee Holding as a group, as of March 15, 2023. The percent of common stock outstanding was based on a total of 5,708,599 shares of Coffee Holding’s common stock outstanding as of January 27, 2023. Except as otherwise indicated, each person shown in the table has sole voting and investment power with respect to the shares of common stock listed next to his or her name. The address for each person shown in the table is c/o Coffee Holding Co., Inc., 3475 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, New York 10314, unless otherwise indicated.

The following is a summary of transactions since November 1, 2021 and all currently proposed transactions, to which JVA has been a participant, in which:

Mr. Dwyer, a member of our Board of Directors, was a senior coffee trader for Rothfos Corporation, a coffee trading company (“Rothfos”), during the year ended October 31, 2021. While employed at Rothfos, Mr. Dwyer was responsible for the JVA account. Mr. Dwyer retired from Rothfos on January 1, 2022. JVA paid Rothfos approximately $3.5 million for green coffee purchases in fiscal 2021.

JVA has engaged its 40% partner in Generations Coffee Company, LLC (“GCC”), with which JVA has a joint venture, as an outside contractor. JVA is the 60% equity owner of the joint venture and Caruso’s Coffee Company (“Caruso’s”) owns the other 40% equity interest. Payments to Caruso’s during the years ended October 31, 2022, and October 31, 2021 amounted to $285,696, and $349,760, respectively, for the processing of finished goods.

Fees Billed to the Company in fiscal years 2022 and 2021

The following table summarizes the fees for professional services rendered by Marcum, our independent registered public accounting firm, for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and fees for professional services rendered by Eisner, our independent registered public accounting firm, for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2021 (the only fiscal year Eisner served as our independent registered public accounting firm):

(1) Audit fees consisted of work performed in connection with the audit of the consolidated financial statements as well as work generally only the independent auditors can reasonably be expected to provide, such as quarterly reviews and review of our Annual Reports on Form 10-K for fiscal years ended October 31, 2021 and 2022.

(2) Audit-Related fees consisted of fees paid to Marcum in connection with Marcum’s review of the Registration Statement on Form F-4 in connection with the Merger.

Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policy

The Audit Committee, or a designated member of the Audit Committee, shall preapprove all auditing services and permitted non-audit services (including the fees and terms) to be performed for Coffee Holding by our registered independent public accountants, subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services that are approved by the Audit Committee prior to completion of the audit, provided that: (1) the aggregate amount of all such services provided constitutes no more than five percent of the total amount of revenues paid by Coffee Holding to its registered independent public accountant during the fiscal year in which the services are provided; (2) such services were not recognized by Coffee Holding at the time of the engagement to be non-audit services; and (3) such services are promptly brought to the attention of the Audit Committee and approved prior to the completion of the audit by the Audit Committee or by one or more members of the Audit Committee who are members of the Board to whom authority to grant such approvals has been delegated by the Audit Committee. All of the services set forth in the table above were preapproved by the Audit Committee.

PART IV

The financial statements and related notes, together with the report of Marcum LLP appear at pages F-1 through F-22 following the Exhibit List as required by Part II, Item 8 “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Form 10-K.

None.

The Company has filed with this report or incorporated by reference herein certain exhibits as specified below pursuant to Rule 12b-32 under the Exchange Act.

* Filed herewith

**Furnished herewith

ITEM 16. FORM 10-K SUMMARY

None.

SIGNATURES

In accordance with Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized on March 29, 2023.

In accordance with the Exchange Act, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

COFFEE HOLDING CO., INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of

Coffee Holding Co., Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Coffee Holding Co., Inc. (the “Company”) as of October 31, 2022 and 2021, the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended October 31, 2022, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of October 31, 2022 and 2021, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended October 31, 2022, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s 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 audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the 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 control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the 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 financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

Critical audit matters are matters arising from the current period audit of the 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 financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. We determined that there are no critical audit matters.

/s/ Marcum llp

Marcum llp

We have served as the Company’s auditor from 2013 to 2021 and subsequently reappointed as the Company’s auditor in 2022.

New York, New York

March 29, 2023

COFFEE HOLDING CO., INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

OCTOBER 31, 2022 AND 2021

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

COFFEE HOLDING CO., INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

YEARS ENDED OCTOBER 31, 2022 AND 2021

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

COFFEE HOLDING CO., INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

YEARS ENDED OCTOBER 31, 2022 AND 2021