Van Houtte Incorporated

A.L. Van Houtte Ltee is the largest gourmet coffee roasting organization in Canada, and one of the leading coffee service specialists in North America. The company operates in coffee roasting and marketing through the Coffee Group and Cafe-Bistro Division. The Cafe-Bistro Division operates 108 cafe-bistros in Canada, including 94 franchises and 14 corporate outlets, offering a complete line of speciality coffees and light menus of freshly prepared meals and pastries. In addition, the Filterfresh subsidiary in the United States operates a network of franchises and corporate outlets. A.L. Van Houtte is the largest designer, manufacturer and distributor of a line of sophisticated coffee-makers that brew coffee one cup at a time. The company also provides vending machine services and manufactures coffee equipment. Coffee services, vending machine services and coffee equipment manufacturing accounted for 67% of fiscal 1999 revenues and coffee roasting and marketing, 33%.