Barfresh Food Group Q1 2026 Earnings Call - Revenue Surges on Arps Dairy Acquisition, but Margins Lag as Management Targets Low-40s Gross Margin by Year-End

Moderator/Operator, Barfresh Food Group: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating on today’s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call and webcast for Barfresh Food Group. Joining us today is Barfresh Food Group’s Founder and CEO, Riccardo Delle Coste, and Barfresh Food Group’s CFO, Lisa Roger. Following prepared remarks, we will open the call for your questions. The discussion today will include forward-looking statements. Except for historical information herein, matters set forth on this call are forward-looking within the meaning of the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about the company’s commercial progress, success of its strategic relationships, and projections of future financial performance.

These forward-looking statements are identified by the use of words such as grow, expand, anticipate, intend, estimate, believe, expect, plan, should, hypothetical, potential, forecast, and project, continue, could, may, predict, and will, and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. All statements other than the statements of historical fact that address activities, events, or developments that the company believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on certain assumptions made based on experience, expected future developments, and other factors that the company believes are appropriate under the circumstances. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the company.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. The contents of this call should be considered in conjunction with the company’s recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K and the quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, including any warnings, risk factors, and cautionary statements contained therein. Furthermore, the company expressly disclaims any current intentions to update publicly any forward-looking statements after this call, whether the result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, or otherwise.

In order to aid in the understanding of the company’s business performance, the company is also presenting certain non-GAAP measures, including EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, which are reconciled in tables in the business update released to the most comparable GAAP measures. The reconciling items are non-operational or non-cash costs, including stock, compensation, and other non-recurring costs, such as those associated with the acquisition-related expenses. Management believes that EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to the investor because they are directly reflected of the performance of the company. I will turn the call over to CEO of Barfresh Food Group, Mr. Riccardo Delle Coste. Please go ahead, sir.

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2026 earnings call. I’m pleased to report that Q1 2026 represents a continuation of the momentum built through 2025. We delivered revenue of $5.6 million, which is slightly above our expectations. The outperformance was driven by stronger than anticipated contribution from Arps Dairy Raw and Processed Milk business. While this additional revenue contributed to our top-line beat, it operates at a lower margin profile than our core Barfresh products, which is why the revenue outperformance did not flow through proportionally to Adjusted EBITDA. Overall, we remain on track with our fiscal 2026 plan, and the strategic work underway gives me confidence in our long-term growth opportunity. Let me provide an update on the operational progress that underpins our outlook. The transition into our own manufacturing infrastructure continues to advance.

The Arps Dairy processing facility is operating and supported approximately 50% of our frozen beverage and food volume in the first quarter of 2026. At our larger 44,000 sq ft facility in Defiance, Ohio, we will continue to procure and install the proper equipment and personnel to enable more efficient and flexible production of our product range. We remain on track to commission the facility before the end of 2026, and the $2.4 million government grant for specialized equipment is supporting that timeline. As discussed on our last call, we closed the $7.5 million senior convertible note financing in March and anticipate paying down a portion of those notes via remortgaging the new facility, the larger facility in 2026.

Turning to our commercial progress during the quarter, the education channel remains our primary area of focus and our greatest near-term opportunity. In the quarter, we continue to make tangible progress rebuilding customer relationships and adding new school district wins. Our broker network and direct sales team have been consistent in communicating our manufacturing progress and the supply reliability we all seek. That message is resonating. Our recent award of the 7-year bid with the 5th largest school district in the U.S. reflects exactly the kind of large-scale relationship we are now positioned to pursue. This win demonstrates that we can compete successfully for the most significant contracts in the country. It is a benchmark for the pipeline of similar opportunities we are building. With that overview of our 1st quarter progress, I’ll now turn it over to Lisa to walk us through the numbers.

Lisa Roger, Chief Financial Officer, Barfresh Food Group: Thank you, Riccardo. Let me walk you through our first quarter 2026 financial results in detail. Revenue for the first quarter of 2026 was $5.6 million, compared to $2.9 million in the first quarter of 2025, representing a 92% year-over-year growth as a result of the Arps acquisition. As Riccardo noted, this came in above the high end of our guidance range of $5 million-$5.2 million, driven by stronger contribution from Arps Dairy’s raw and processed milk business. Gross margin for the first quarter of 2026 was 18%, compared to 31% in the first quarter of 2025. Gross margins continue to reflect the ongoing contribution of Arps Dairy’s milk processing business, which operates at different margin profiles than our core Barfresh products and remains subject to commodity pricing fluctuations.

Additionally, transition costs associated with producing in our newly acquired processing facility have impacted our margins. These are anticipated dynamics as we ramp toward our optimized operating model. We continue to expect incremental margin recovery throughout the year and into 2027, with a more significant improvement as new equipment is installed at the existing facility and construction is completed at the new facility. Net loss for the first quarter of 2026 was $661,000, compared to a net loss of $761,000 in the first quarter of 2025. Selling, marketing, and distribution expenses were $697,000, compared to $824,000 in the first quarter of 2025. The year-over-year decrease reflects lower personnel costs as we increasingly leverage our broker network.

Additional reductions are a result of reduced sampling expense following the launch of Pop & Go Freeze Pops last year and lower equipment maintenance costs as single-serve products, which require no customer equipment, represent a greater share of the portfolio mix in the education channel. G&A expenses for the first quarter of 2026 were $755,000, compared to $747,000 in the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was a loss of approximately $238,000, compared to a loss of approximately $506,000 in the prior year period. The Adjusted EBITDA result compared to our breakeven guidance reflects two primary factors. First, the revenue mix was weighted more heavily toward the lower-margin milk processing business than we had anticipated in our guidance model.

Second, we experienced startup inefficiencies in our newly acquired processing facility due to lower production volumes than planned. These inefficiencies are typical of facility transitions and are already improving as we optimize our production process and build volume. We continue to expect to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA in fiscal year 2026 as we realize the full benefits of our integrated manufacturing model and complete our facility optimization. Turning to our balance sheet, as of March 31, 2026, we had approximately $4.1 million of cash and accounts receivable and approximately $1.8 million of inventory on our balance sheet. In March 2026, we secured a $7.5 million senior convertible note financing.

Combined with the $2.4 million government grant approved for specialized equipment installation, we have a well-structured capital foundation to support the completion of our facility build-out and our operational growth through 2026. We will continue to evaluate additional financing options, including mortgage and equipment financing against our unencumbered facility as necessary to support our growth objectives and potential paydown of the convertible note. The financial flexibility we have built into our capital structure allows us to preserve cash for operational needs during the construction phase. Now, I will turn the call back to Riccardo for closing remarks.

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: Thank you, Lisa. As I reflect on the first quarter, I’m energized by the progress we are making on every front: manufacturing, customer relationships, and the commercial momentum that is building as we recover lost ground and pursue new opportunities. We said on our Q4 call that 2026 would be a pivotal year, and I believe that more strongly now than ever. The integrated manufacturing model we are building is not just an operational upgrade, it is the foundation of a fundamentally different company, one that can fulfill demand reliably and can pursue growth aggressively. We are now able to have conversations with the large school districts, food service operators, and other potential channel partners with a level of confidence we simply could not offer when we were dependent on third-party manufacturers. Looking ahead for the remainder of fiscal 2026, our priorities are clear.

First, we are executing on the completion and commissioning of our new facility. Second, we are aggressively rebuilding our customer base in the education channel. Third, as our capacity expands, we are beginning to look beyond the education channel. Food service, convenience, and other channels represent substantial growth and long-term opportunities. Fourth, the co-manufacturing revenue opportunity from our expanded facility is a genuinely exciting prospect. We remain confident in our full-year fiscal 2026 guidance of $28 million-$32 million in revenue and $3.2 million-$3.8 million in Adjusted EBITDA. The first quarter performance is tracking in line with our plan, and we expect year-over-year quarterly improvement in both revenue and profitability as we progress through the year and complete our facility enhancements.

For the second quarter, we expect revenue of $5.2 million-$5.6 million and expect an Adjusted EBITDA loss of -$0.3 million to -$0.2 million. We are in the midst of changing our business and our business model, we could not accomplish it without the effort and dedication of our growing team. A shout-out to them all. We look forward to updating you on our progress when we report second quarter results. With that, I would like to open up the line for questions. Operator?

Moderator/Operator, Barfresh Food Group: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two to remove yourself from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. We will pause for a moment to allow for polling. Our first question, we’ll hear from Anthony Vendetti with Maxim Group.

Anthony Vendetti, Analyst, Maxim Group: Thank you. Yes. I just wanted to first focus on Arps Dairy and then the general Barfresh business. First, you mentioned that I guess at the new plant, I guess it’s the Arps Dairy plant, there’s still some processing inefficiencies. Have all of those been worked out? What % of revenues right now is Arps Dairy to the overall corporate revenues?

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: The inefficiencies are really related to ramp up and equipment and installations and training and that’s part of the transition as we’re waiting for equipment and things to arrive. Some things have longer lead times. It takes a little bit longer to get projects completed. The Q1 also represented product that we were still utilizing from our co-man as well. We had less production actually going through the facility, and that’s continuing to increase. In terms of expecting it to continue, a little bit we do, but that’s just part of the process, but it is continuing to improve, right? As we get through second quarter, that should mostly be behind us. We’re seeing it in a couple of step functions.

We’re going through a step function right now of some more significant improvements in throughput and efficiency in the plant. Obviously, once we get to the new facility, there’ll be a very significant step change in the new facility from a throughput efficiency, profitability perspective as well.

Anthony Vendetti, Analyst, Maxim Group: Okay. In terms of revenue from that plant, has it been completely converted over, or was there some legacy revenue from Arps Dairy?

Lisa Roger, Chief Financial Officer, Barfresh Food Group: I can address that. You know, in our 10-Q, we actually have segment reporting in the raw milk and processed milk component is all legacy Arps. There’s a small portion in Q1 that’s also included in the, what’s called the frozen beverage and food, you know, component. It’s mostly legacy Barfresh in Q1 at least. A little bit of that is ice cream mix from Arps. Kind of a good way of looking at it. It’s not completely, you know, split out, you know, legacy versus new, but should give you a pretty good indicator.

Anthony Vendetti, Analyst, Maxim Group: Okay. Lisa, maybe just in terms of what you expect the blended margin to be once all the inefficiencies are worked out, all the new equipment’s in, the training’s done, what would be a normalized gross margin approximate or a range?

Lisa Roger, Chief Financial Officer, Barfresh Food Group: I mean, we should be back in the low 40s, I would say. I mean, you know, even with the legacy, raw milk and processed milk, which is, you know, pretty low margin. You can see also in the segment reporting, we break out the margins that we achieved in Q1. You can see we’re running about 5% for that processed milk piece. That’s gonna be a smaller portion of our revenue, though, going forward as we, you know, kind of get into the new school year.

Anthony Vendetti, Analyst, Maxim Group: Okay. You said low forties?

Lisa Roger, Chief Financial Officer, Barfresh Food Group: Yeah.

Anthony Vendetti, Analyst, Maxim Group: At a normalized rate. Okay. You expect to hit that more towards the second half of the year, third quarter, fourth quarter timeframe?

Lisa Roger, Chief Financial Officer, Barfresh Food Group: Yeah. As the new school year starts, you’ll start to see some of that creeping through because we’ll have, you know, those new products coming as well as, you know, the volume for them and the efficiencies of the new equipment and processes and things like that, even ahead of getting into the new facility, more at the end of the year.

Anthony Vendetti, Analyst, Maxim Group: Okay. Then maybe just if you could talk about the new schools, that you’ve signed up, any new contracts, and what that pipeline looks like for new schools in the, you know, the September or, you know, I know some schools start in August. The August, September school year.

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: Yeah. Well, we’re still going through. It’s still bid season. We are still receiving bids for the upcoming school season. We’ve received quite a few. We are expecting obviously, you know, our strongest ever back half of the year, even for the Barfresh products. We are going back to customers that we’ve lost. We are gaining customers back. Overall, it’s very positive in terms of the growth of the core business, especially for the new school year.

Anthony Vendetti, Analyst, Maxim Group: Okay, great. I’ll hop back in the queue. Thanks for the call. Appreciate it.

Moderator/Operator, Barfresh Food Group: As a reminder to everyone, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one at this time, and we’ll pause for a moment. Next, we’ll hear from William Gregozeski with Green Ridge Global.

William Gregozeski, Analyst, Green Ridge Global: Hi, guys. On the new school year coming up, should we expect kind of a step increase in revenue between the new customers you’re bringing on and the lost customers you’re bringing back now that you’ll have the capacity to service all that?

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: I mean, that’s what we’re expecting.

William Gregozeski, Analyst, Green Ridge Global: Okay.

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: So we are-

William Gregozeski, Analyst, Green Ridge Global: On the Arps-

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: We’re actively working-

William Gregozeski, Analyst, Green Ridge Global: Sorry.

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: Sorry. We’re actively working on going back out to those customers that had dropped off from lack of supply.

William Gregozeski, Analyst, Green Ridge Global: Okay. On the Arps Dairy business, do you expect to see much growth in that, or is that just going to be pretty flat as you go forward?

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: Not particularly. We expect that to be pretty flat.

William Gregozeski, Analyst, Green Ridge Global: Okay. Did you say in the opening that you guys are looking at doing co-manufacturing for others?

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: That it’s just a possibility that may be open to us once the facility is up and running.

William Gregozeski, Analyst, Green Ridge Global: Okay. I mean,

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: What, what-

William Gregozeski, Analyst, Green Ridge Global: I’m assuming like a next year kind of thing.

Riccardo Delle Coste, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Barfresh Food Group: Oh, yeah. This year is our transition year. You know, this year we’re really focused on just solidifying production, getting back into our core products, making sure our customers are serviced, and we’re out there going and acquiring our own customers and business. That was more just with regards to we’re completing the construction of the new facility. We’re going to have so many different options available to us, and as we look at what the business looks like in the future, we’re gonna have just a lot of other opportunities that are gonna be presented to us. Our core focus is really on growing our brands, and expanding our business.

Especially in a time like today when there’s so much consumer uncertainty, I feel like we really stand out because, you know, we’re feeding kids around the country, you know. It’s not discretionary spending. It’s funded by the government. We really wanna hone in and focus on our, on our core customers.

William Gregozeski, Analyst, Green Ridge Global: Okay. All right. Thank you.

Moderator/Operator, Barfresh Food Group: A reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. We’ll pause for a moment. There are no further questions at this time. This does conclude today’s teleconference. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time.