Always Fresh Foods is developing a hydroponic greenhouse farming project in Spring Lake, NC to grow produce locally and sustainably. The project will use solar power, air-to-water technology, and LED lighting to reduce costs and environmental impacts. It aims to create jobs and economic growth in the region while increasing access to healthy, affordable food year-round. The management team has extensive experience in sustainable agriculture, food production, and business. Funding of $5 million is required to construct two acres of greenhouses initially, with profits expected once four acres are operational.

1. Always Fresh Foods
Executive Summary-NC Project
“I have always said there is only one thing that can bring our nation
down - our dependence on foreign countries for food and energy.”
John Salazar
Business Description: Truly sustainable business requires not only closing resource loops, but
also creating a replicable and adaptable model. Our NC project is founded on a model of closing
waste, resource, and energy loops. The project consists of hydroponics, specialized LED lighting, solar,
and air to water technology. The proposed site is located in Spring Lake NC, with other sites to
follow in SC and VA. Phase I of its first large-scale Growing Center in NC is a site where the
Company plans to develop proprietary growing systems for year-round greenhouse farming to
harvest popular produce varieties and tobacco for vaccine research. The site has 30 acres, a
processing center and coolers in place. This site also has 1800 sq feet for office and training
space.
The Company has been formed to engineer, construct, market and operate state of the art
equipment that addresses the world’s food, water, and energy demands. The concept for Always
Fresh Foods came from Ms. Potts after years of consulting with the federal government and
seeing where the future mandates were going for food, water, and energy security. Always Fresh
Foods answers these concerns and encourages economic growth as well.
Always Fresh Foods –NC Project showcases our ability to grow healthy, safe, affordable,
organic vegetables, herbs, plants and edible flowers all year long. In addition to supplying
abundant quality food, this project can create many long term, good paying, local jobs and a new
sustainable economic institution. It is scalable – meaning the technology can be configured to
support different climates and size of site.
Crops produced year-round include: tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, lettuce, mustard and collard
greens, cucumbers, spinach, and a wide variety of herbs. Other significant benefits include:
higher food quality using a sustainable business model, non-traditional job opportunities,
improved food security, energy security, more control of food production, community building
and local economic revitalization.
Always Fresh Food reduces costs associated with transportation, packaging, spoilage, pollution,
water usage, soil erosion and contamination; and eliminates the use of chemical fertilizers,
pesticides and preservatives. It is one of the new approaches that form part of a new direction in
food and nutrition policy - one that focuses on health, ecological integrity, education, training,
job creation and the development of complete communities.

2. Location: Spring Lake, NC (5 minutes from Fort Bragg)
Company Ownership: The Company is set up as an LLC. The principle owner is 2 times
Congressional Award Winner Diana Potts making the company a woman/veteran owned small
business.
Management Team: The management team consists of experienced waste, energy, food
production, and business entrepreneurs.
• CEO-Diana Potts, President, Founder-- Ms. Potts was one of 20 environmental experts
to help write the DOD Sustainability Plan. Ms. Potts has received numerous awards,
including the Congressional Medal of Distinction for Environmental Efforts, the
Congressional Order of Merit, and in 2009, both the National Leadership Award and the
Business Woman of the Year for North Carolina.
• CFO-David Worrell -- Four times recognized as a "Fast 50" award recipient for building
fast growing new companies. In 2012 Business Leader magazine named him a "Top 50
Entrepreneur" in Charlotte, NC.
• Production and Food Advisor- Bill Pannhoff -- Mr. Pannhoff is rated as 1 of the top 3
trainers in the Catering culinary people in America. He has sold over $15 million in
catering and has catered for past Presidents and Governors. He has been an International
Food Consultant for over 12 years. Bill Pannhoff is a nationally recognized speaker,
author, and forum moderator for Catersource for the past 15 years. His catering company
has all staff (56) US Serve Safe Certified to play the role as food processors.
• General Manager of Project- Joe H. Melvin, Jr. -- 27 years of Manufacturing &
Management Experience. He has managed a US manufacturing operation of $50MM+.
ISO certification of both Quality Management & Environmental Systems experience.
Economic Growth: The Company will be employing approximately 50 new employees over a
3 year time span. We will also be using subcontractors and supply companies from the area
during our building phase.
Technology: Companion Technology with initial set up to include: Solar, Solar hot water, Air to
Water, LED hydroponic wave lighting, and climate control for buildings.
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Components
The project will produce most of its own electricity and heat on site with the use of solar and
natural gas. The use of LED lights instead of sodium halide lights reduces the required electric
power up to 30 percent.

3. By using the air to water technology to make our own water and reusing the water supply, we
scale back the need for water which is one of the major costs. The ability to use the same
technology to constantly filter the water brings the loop into almost a net zero water project.
Hydroponics
With a rise in health conscious populations, an unexploited territory is giving rise in the food
industry- people are seeking out sustainability, local produce, and higher quality foods. Always
Fresh Foods is able to sustainably produce healthy, diverse and nutritious food for consumers in
ways that reinforce rural and urban livelihoods, mitigate the adverse impacts of contemporary
agricultural practices and facilitate adaptation and resilience in the face of changing climatic
conditions.
Hydroponics is able to meet all of those needs. Today, hydroponics is an established branch of
horticulture. Progress has been rapid, and results obtained in various countries have proved it to
be thoroughly practical and to have very definite advantages over conventional methods. With
the ability to grow 10 to 12 crops a year versus a single field crop, hydroponics will produce
much higher crop yields.
Globally, six of the last eleven years, we have consumed more food than has been produced.
There are a number of things that have contributed to the world food crisis including land
shortage, severe weather conditions, and poor crop production. Hydroponics seeks to alleviate all
of those contributing factors, and if implemented on a global scale, holds the power to end the
food crisis we now face.
Partners: US Foods--Always Fresh Foods has US Foods as our Premier Food Partner in the
project. We have a signed 5 year partnership with US Foods, the 2nd
largest food distributor in
the US.
Funding Requirements: $5 million Start-Up Funds
** 1 Acre Greenhouse = $1.8 million with vertical grow systems. (2 Acres to be developed for start up
phase)
**Nursery Greenhouse = $1 million
**Site Development= $400,000
Break Even Point-- 2 Acres of greenhouses bring us to a profit standing each month. 4 Acres
of greenhouses will bring a $250,000 profit each month.

4. Key Trends Driving Greenhouse Development
Diana Potts dpotts@alwaysfreshfoods.com 910-354-8037 cell