THE FIRST 25 YEARS A FINE ROMANCE: THE TRUE OUR PROUDEST MOMENTS THANK YOU! LOTUS FOODS ORIGIN STORY

25 years! Yet it feels like only yesterday we were celebrating Most people are by now our rst sales of Bhutanese Red and Forbidden Rice® familiar with Lotus Foods’ 2017 2014 to local Bay Area chefs. What an incredible journey from origin story. How Ken and Ken awarded Caryl those early days. By mid-2020 Lotus Foods will have Caryl, on a 1993 trip to Specialty Foods awarded the imported some 25 million pounds of certied organic rice China, sat down to Association Specialty Foods from a multi-country network of family rice producers steaming bowls of black Association whose lives and communities have been transformed by rice and fell in love. And Leadership Award access to markets and organic and Fair Trade premiums. how when they questioned for Leadership Our commitment to organic and regenerative practices is vendors in the market about the rice, they were told it was Citizenship. Award for generating more rice from less land, preserving valuable called “longevity” rice because of its health benets and Vision. genetic biodiversity, saving hundreds of millions of gallons “tribute” rice because the rice was so prized it was once 2017 of water annually, promoting long-term soil health, and reserved for China’s emperors. And how Ken, during a 2017 First NEXTY removing greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. tour of the Forbidden City, the home of those emperors, First Leadership for Global Gold Award @ Natural came up with the name “Forbidden Rice,” which they then Lotus Foods’ growth and success is a collective accomplish- Products Expo East for trademarked. VOICES FROM THE FIELD Impact Award from ment, due to the support and encouragement we received Conscious Company yearly integrity, innovation from so many people over the years: our loyal customers, Bringing a totally unknown black-colored rice to market Lotus Foods created the model for activist brands, by Media. and inspiration. investors, colleagues in the food industry, supply partners, when most Americans only knew rice to be a starchy white engaging with consumers and the trade to educate them advisors, staff, family and friends. Our gratitude is profound, side dish would seem a longshot to most people. But Ken about the social and environmental dimensions of their and we hope we can count on you in writing the next and Caryl’s partnership brought together unique experi- product. They are true regenerative pioneers. 25-year chapter of Lotus Foods. ences and personalities that are the true origin of Lotus ERROL SCHWEIZER, Former VP of Grocery, Whole Foods; Industry Veteran Foods’ success. An American-born Chinese, Ken grew up So, thank you for being part of our journey! But most helping in his parent’s restaurant. He recalls his dad’s Lotus Foods has inspired women and men farmers and especially we want to thank the women and men who go lessons for making perfect fried rice. Each ingredient has entrepreneurs around the world to promote rice biodiversity. into the elds every day to grow that most essential of all 2018 to be handled according to its particular attributes and LE NGUYET MINH, Global Advisor, Agriculture, Oxfam America 2018 grains, RICE. needs to be respected for its unique avor prole and Whole Foods Market Inaugural National - Caryl and Ken contribution to the whole. “I realized later,” Ken says, “that Lotus Foods’ market incentives are critical to achieving the Supplier of the Year Award Co+op Grocers Climate UN Sustainable Development Goals by boosting farmers’ he was teaching me about life, about the importance of for Environmental Collaborative Award incomes and promoting regenerative rice production. blending in with people, of accommodating different kinds Stewardship. for Outstanding Value of conversations that are inclusive.” TAPAN RAY, CEO, PraTithi Organic Foods 2019 Chain Engagement. Production of was starting to disappear in China 2019 Caryl’s unstoppable energy and ability to see opportunities so™ gold before Ken and Caryl revived interest in this exceptional NEXTY where others only see hurdles are due in part to the two for Organic generations of women before her. Her grandmother ed rice. Lotus Foods has helped to preserve the production of Award for Best traditional black rice in China. Dehraduni Russia with her father, making music through Europe to Supply Chain LONG RONG, CEO, Dalian HongRen Foodstuffs Co., Ltd Rice and silver for pay for their passage to Montreal, Canada. Her mother, at Partnership age 16, left high school to work in her parent’s store after Organic Forbidden More than anyone else, Lotus Foods co-founders Caryl at Natural Rice® Pad Thai the untimely death of her father. Caryl says it was “these Levine and Ken Lee are responsible for changing how Products two strong women’s amazing common sense and Noodles from the Americans think about, cook with, and eat rice. They have Expo do-it-yourself drive who helped empower me as a woman taken it from a starchy white side dish to a nutritious, Specialty Foods West. and leader.” Blend in the magic ingredients of love, for the colorful and avorful center of the plate ingredient. Association. dramatic black rice they “discovered” and for each other, MARIE SIMMONS, James Beard Award winner and author of Rice the and you have the true origins of Lotus Foods. Amazing Grain BEHIND THE SCENES WITH KEN AND CARYL 1995-2000 2001-2005 2006-2010 2011-2015 2016-2020

1995-2000 — It’s immediately apparent chefs really love the rice. We’re offering innovation, moving rice to the center of the plate. Bootstrapping our operations with credit cards. Our home is our ofce. Caryl works at UC Berkeley until 2000, and Ken is hand-delivering rice to chefs and retailers all over the Bay Area. Our mission and vision take shape. We’re inspired, naïve, feeling crazy but fully committed. 2001-2005 — Growth takes us into uncharted territory. Committed to rice biodiversity and organic rice production. We create budgets, market strategies, foster relationships with banks, retailers, distributers and brokers. We continue to garner more awards and recognition within the industry and though we sometimes feel like Sisyphus pushing the proverbial boulder up the mountain, we’re having fun. 2006-2010 — An already complicated global business model is made more complicated by the recession. We have Styger Photo: Erika our lightbulb moment with the System of Rice Intensication (SRI) and its signicance for food security, water, farmer ROOTS PLANTED TENDING THE SOIL GROWING SEASON FLOWERING IN FULL BLOOM resilience, etc. In one year (2009), we establish three new (untested) SRI supply chains and introduce three never 1995 • First sale of Bhutanese . 2001 • First trade show, Natural Products Expo East. 2006 • Visit Madagascar to meet SRI farmers and do 2011 • Good Morning America touts health benets of black 2016 • Reincorporate as a Certied Benet Corporation. before sold in the market, even as we’re raising funds, adding eld audits. rice, showing Lotus Foods Forbidden Rice® bag. staff, moving into a “real” ofce in Richmond, growing • First sale and trademark of Forbidden Rice®, 2002 • First strategic plan. • Organic Millet & Ramen go national operations, doing 4 major trade shows a year, and managing a pioneers in pigmented rice. 2007 • Visit SRI farmers in Cambodia. 2012 • Receive More Crop Per Drop™ (MCPD) 2003 • Union Bank and Costco provide credit to fuel in Costco. brand refresh. We’re fortunate, though, in the condence of registered trademark rights. our angel investors and advice of an outstanding team of 1996 • Introduce the rst certied organic growth. • First investor pitch. • Introduce Organic Dehraduni Basmati, the sold in US. • Become a B Corp. executive consultants. Work is 24/7, stressful. We learn there 2004 • Launch products at Whole Foods Market. 2008 • Commit at Clinton Global Initiative annual “Mother of all Basmati.” is a name for our kind of business – triple bottom line: people, 1997 • First in-store demos. meeting to creating 3 SRI supply chains. 2013 • Begin innovating value-added rice-based products, • Launch 10 new products to Whole Foods Market planet and prot. • Hire rst salesperson. starting with Organic Heat & Eat Rice Bowls. 1998 • Forbidden Rice® wins a Specialty Foods so™ • Global recession hits, rice export bans implemented including Rice Delights. 2011-2015 — We celebrate becoming a certied B Corp • Win 6 so™ awards. Award (the rst of 16 so™ awards). and we lose access to Kalijira Rice. 2014 • Introduce Rice Ramen Noodle Soup singles and 2017 • Launch Do The Rice Thing Campaign. and enter our “Ramen” era, innovating rice-based value-added 2005 • Introduced to System of Rice Intensication Organic Rice Ramen 4 packs. and convenience products, with our Organic Rice Ramen an 1999 • Supply chain trip through Bhutan, Thailand, 2009 • Import 1 container each of SRI-grown rice from (SRI) by Cornell University. • Introduce Organic Pad Thai Rice Noodles. almost overnight success, which brings a welcome boost to Laos and China. Cambodia, Indonesia and Madagascar. 2015 • Introduce Arare Rice Crackers. our bottom line. Caryl thrives in product development. Ken 2018 • Introduce Rice Ramen Instant Noodle Soup Cups. 2000 • Launch of Kaipen (freshwater green algae) and 2010 • Brand refresh – brand SRI as More Crop Per Drop™. • Team continues to grow. grapples with supply chain issues as in-country supply • Expand into new ofce space. partners experience their own growth pains to deliver the (red, black and blended • Introduce retail bags of Madagascar Pink Rice, 2019 quantity and quality of certied product we need. And an with Kaipen). Mekong Flower Jasmine Rice and Volcano Rice • Win both gold for Dehraduni Basmati Rice and ever-growing team brings new lessons and challenges in silver for Forbidden Rice® Pad Thai in the so™ • Introduce Kalijira Rice, (rst rice ever to be certied Fair for Life). leadership and management. Pasta, Rice, Grain Category. a “baby basmati” from • Hire rst full-time sales manager. 2016-2020 — We’ve overcome the recession, rice bans, . • Formalize board with addition of Neil Blomquist. a recall, no-carb and low-carb diets, a presidential coup, and • Move from home ofce to Richmond warehouse tariffs with our mission and vision as strong as ever. Knowing ofce. • Hire rst C-level position, President/COO. that we can create value for all stakeholders we look forward • Develop relationships with New Resource Bank, 2020 • First Regenerative Organic Certication (Silver) to writing the next chapter of Lotus Foods. A key goal is to for Basmati Rice. increase the number of farmers using Regenerative Organic RootCapital and Grassroots Business Fund. SRI/MCPD methods, including in the US. • First Angel Investors. • Celebrate 25 years of Doing the Rice Thing!