Armanino Foods of Distinction, Inc. Concludes Deal With Pan Ready and Announces Strategic Alliance With Swiss American Sausage Co.

Business Editors/Food Writers

HAYWARD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2001

Armanino Foods of Distinction, Inc. (Nasdaq:ARMF) announced at its annual meeting today that it has concluded an agreement with Pan Ready Foods, Inc. of South San Francisco to purchase Pan Ready's meatball and breaded chicken production lines and entered into a strategic alliance with Swiss American Sausage Co. of Lathrop, Calif., a subsidiary of Provena Foods, Inc. (AMEX:PZA). Swiss American is a manufacturer of processed meat products serving the pizza market and food service distributors. The prime focus of the strategic alliance provides for Armanino Foods to furnish Swiss American with the production line purchased from Pan Ready Foods and for Swiss American to manufacture under a multi-year contract meatballs and various breaded chicken and meat products based on Armanino Foods proprietary formulas. In addition, Armanino Foods will assume some of Pan Ready's customer base for meatballs and various breaded chicken and meat products and will retain a portion of the Pan Ready sales force.

Swiss American anticipates starting production for Armanino Foods around October 1, 2001. As the alliance matures, Armanino Foods anticipates selling certain dried pasta products of Swiss American's affiliated division, Royal Angelus Macaroni Company in Chino, Calif. In turn, Swiss American anticipates manufacturing other frozen meat and chicken products for Armanino.

William J. Armanino, president and CEO of Armanino Foods stated, "We believe that our increased emphasis on meatballs and the addition of selling breaded products to the retail and food service markets is a natural extension of our current marketing model and product lines."

Armanino continued, "By picking up a sizeable portion of Pan Ready's retail and food service customer base and by retaining some of the Pan Ready sales staff, we have jump started additional sales for the company. Our strong balance sheet will allow us to purchase the production line from Pan Ready and embark on this alliance with Swiss American without a significant impact on our cash resources."

Armanino concluded, "We believe that this strategic alliance with Swiss American will serve to increase sales and profits for both companies."

Armanino is an international food company that manufactures and markets frozen pestos, filled pasta products, sauced entrees, meatballs and focaccia to the retail, food service, club stores, institutional, and industrial food industry segments.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. securities laws, including statements regarding the Company's goals and growth prospects. These forward looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected, including general economic conditions, fluctuations in customer demand, competitive factors such as pricing pressures on existing products, and the timing and market acceptance of new product introductions, the Company's ability to achieve manufacturing efficiencies necessary for profitable sales at current pricing, and the risk factors listed from time-to-time in the Company's annual and quarterly SEC reports. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release.