Fresh Foods Signs Letter Of Intent To Sell Mom `n' Pop's Country Ham.

HICKORY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 2, 1999--

Fresh Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOOD) and the management team of Mom `n' Pop's(R) Country Ham, LLC have signed a binding letter of intent for the management group to acquire the country ham subsidiary from Fresh Foods.

Details of the transaction are not being disclosed, but the letter of intent calls for the management group to acquire Fresh Foods' country ham operations, including its Claremont, North Carolina ham processing plant, and to license the brand name and trademarks.

David R. Clark, Fresh Foods' president and chief operating officer, pointed out that in fiscal 1999 ham curing revenues were approximately $7 million. Fresh Foods had more than $258 million in total operating revenues for the fiscal year.

Fresh Foods, Inc. is the parent company of other wholly owned subsidiaries, including: Pierre Foods, LLC, which operates food processing plants in Cincinnati, Ohio and Claremont, North Carolina; and Claremont Restaurant Group, LLC, which is responsible for the company's restaurant activities.

Pierre Foods is a leading manufacturer of fully cooked branded and private-label protein and bakery products and is the largest integrated producer of microwaveable sandwiches. It provides specialty beef, poultry, and pork products formed and portioned to meet specific customer requirements. Pierre sells primarily to the foodservice market and today serves many leading national restaurant chains, a majority of primary and secondary schools, long-term healthcare facilities, military, vending, convenience store, and other niche markets.

Fresh Foods owns and operates 49 Sagebrush(R) Steakhouse & Saloon restaurants. In addition, the company owns and operates 13 Western Steer(R) and four Prime Sirloin(R) locations and one Bennett's(TM) restaurant. A total of 36 franchised locations operate under the Western Steer, Prime Sirloin, and Bennett's concepts.