PLANO, Texas, May 3, 2021 — NuZee, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUZE) (“NuZee” or “the Company”), a leading U.S. producer and co-packer of specialty single serve pour-over coffee pouches and pour over drip cups, today announced that Tomoko Toyota has joined NuZee as its new Chief Marketing Officer. Ms. Toyota brings to NuZee over two decades of marketing leadership experience developing global brand and business strategies, with more than 10 years in the coffee industry leading market expansion of specialty coffee products, including single serve coffee.
During her 13-year tenure at the Starbucks® Coffee Company between 2005 and 2018, Ms. Toyota held several senior level positions including director of global product innovation and director of integrated marketing. Most recently, she was in charge of brand strategy and integrated marketing at the Brooks® Running Company.
Tomoko Toyota said, “Single serve pour over coffee is one of the best ways to enjoy fresh coffee at home and I am excited to have the opportunity to share and expand that coffee experience with coffee drinkers in the United States and around the world.”
While at Starbucks, Toyota was part of the team responsible for launching and managing the Starbucks Origami™ single serve pour-over coffee products, which are widely available in stores throughout Japan. As director of global product innovation with Starbucks, Ms. Toyota led white space innovation for global ready-to-drink products and supported development for various ready to drink and packaged coffee products in China Asia Pacific as well as the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets. In her time at Starbucks, Ms. Toyota also led integrated marketing for the U.S. consumer packaged goods (CPG) business as well as Seattle's Best Coffee™, giving her a solid foundation for coffee brand management in the United States.
Masa Higashida, President and CEO of NuZee, said, “Tomoko is a great industry leader who has a deep understanding of our pour over co-packing business and strategies to grow the company. I am impressed by her passion for the coffee industry and am excited for the positive growth we expect she will bring to the company. We believe her understanding of both the US & International markets makes her the perfect fit for our team.”
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. NuZee cautions you that such statements are simply predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. These statements reflect NuZee's current expectations, and NuZee does not undertake to update or revise these forward looking statements, even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed or implied in this or other NuZee statements will not be realized. Further, these statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond NuZee's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, include: NuZee's plans to obtain funding for its operations, including funding necessary to develop, manufacture and commercialize its products; the impact to NuZee's business from the COVID-19 global crisis; general market acceptance of and demand for NuZee's products; and NuZee's commercialization, marketing and manufacturing capabilities and strategy; for a description of additional factors that may cause NuZee's actual results, performance or expectations to differ from any forward-looking statements, please review the information set forth in the “Risk Factors” and “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of the NuZee's public reports and NuZee's other filings made with the SEC.
About NuZee and Coffee Blenders
NuZee, Inc. (d/b/a Coffee Blenders®) is a specialty coffee company and a leading U.S. single-serve pour-over coffee pouch producer and co-packer. We own sophisticated packing equipment developed in Asia for single serve pour over production. We co-pack single-serve pour-over coffee products for customers in the U.S. market and also co-pack for the South Korean market.