Brio Industries Successfully Commissions Gatorade, Ocean Spray and Safeway Select Products at its Vancouver Plant and Launches Cool Canadian Premium Spring Water.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 1999--

Brio Industries (Nasdaq:BRIO) Brio Industries Inc., Canada's largest independent packager and distributor of soft drinks, juices, waters and new age beverages, is pleased to announce that it has successfully commissioned a variety of package sizes of Gatorade(TM), Ocean Spray(TM) and Safeway Select(TM) products for production on its new Vancouver bottling line.

The Company has also received substantial volume commitments to package Gatorade(TM) and Ocean Spray(TM) products for Western Canada and into the Western United States.

Brio Vice-President of Operations, Ross Wells said: "These new packaging arrangements bring significant added volume and diversity to our packaging operations. We have now taken both our plants to double shifts to meet the volume demands. At the same time, the addition of our new high-speed line in Vancouver has more than doubled that plant's capacity. We are also very excited about the expansion of our relationship with Canada Safeway and their flagship brand. We have worked hard and invested heavily to develop efficient, high-quality and state-of-the-art facilities and we are now starting to reap the benefits of that investment."

Brio has also launched its proprietary Cool Canadian(TM) Premium Spring Water in a redesigned packaging format of 500ml, 710ml sportcap, 1 litre sportcap and 1.5 litre PET bottles.

Brio's Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, Chris McMurdo commented: "With an exciting and award-winning label and image, this product delivers on Brio's promise of providing premium products at the lowest possible price to the consumer. The water category is extremely competitive, and by taking out the middle-man our integrated distribution system is able to cost-effectively beat the more traditional competition. Our sales are tracking well ahead of our initial estimates and in excess of our experience with third party mainstream water brands."

Brio is the largest independent packager and distributor of soft drinks, juices, waters and new age beverages in Canada. Brio's unique Integrated Distribution System (IDS) offers turnkey, one-stop shopping to beverage brand owners.

Statements in this news release that are not historical are to be regarded as forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such risks and uncertainties with respect to the Company's business include general economic conditions, weather conditions, changing beverage consumption trends, pricing, the availability of raw materials and economic uncertainties, including currency.