Lakeside Foods, Inc. is pleased to announce completion of the acquisition of three former Chiquita Processed Foods facilities. The acquisition, completed June 17, 2003, includes former Chiquita facilities in Eden, WI; New Richmond, WI; and Owatonna, MN. Completion of the acquisition on the Poynette, WI Distribution Center will occur within 30 days.

The addition of these modern plants to our current plant locations greatly diversifies our growing areas throughout the Midwest and will allow us to continue to grow our business, both canned and frozen, Domestic and International, through a managed growth strategy with quality, established, and proven facilities.

We are excited about the great opportunity this creates for Lakeside and our customers. We believe the synergies involved in this acquisition will greatly benefit our customers through enhanced efficiencies, superior service, and consistent quality for all of our private-label programs both canned and frozen.

We are pleased that three former Chiquita sales people, Bruce Lundmark, Jim Peirson, and Sherry Smith have joined the Lakeside Sales Team. Bruce will be working in Foodservice with Sid Sickles. Jim and Sherry will be working the retail end of business with Jim Farley. They will all report to Jeff Lund, Sr. V.P. Processed Food Sales. Please feel free to contact any of these individuals with your questions or concerns.

We are also happy to report a very successful year at Peak Foods LLC, our whipped topping joint venture in Troy, OH. With three years now behind us, Peak continues to provide our customers with top quality whipped topping at flawless service levels. The business continues to grow as we continue to add new items to our product mix. Several new products are now on the drawing board for this coming year as we continue to project growth from our topping business. Call our frozen sales team if you have questions.

Lakeside Foods is a privately held diversified food company with corporate offices located in Manitowoc, WI. Lakeside has been servicing customers with quality food products since 1887. In addition to the plants in Eden, WI; New Richmond, WI; and Owatonna, MN; Lakeside also operates plants in Reedsburg, WI; (2 plants) Plainview, MN; Manitowoc, WI; Belgium, WI; Random Lake, WI; Seymour, WI; and Brooten, MN along with Distribution Centers in Manitowoc and Reedsburg.