Centennial Specialty Foods Completes Financing Transaction DENVER, March 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Centennial Specialty Foods Corporation announced today that it has completed a $5,000,000 senior revolving credit facility with Heartland Bank, which is based in St. Louis, Missouri. The credit facility has a three year maturity and bears interest at Heartland's base rate plus 1.5%. The credit facility is secured by substantially all of Centennial's assets. The senior credit facility was obtained to provide Centennial additional financial flexibility, as described in Centennial's final prospectus dated October 29, 2003. The prospectus contained a summary of the commitment letter previously received from Heartland Bank, which led to the completion of the senior credit facility. In conjunction with obtaining the new credit facility, Centennial retired working capital loans aggregating $1.7 million from a number of individual lenders, including Centennial's major shareholder. Proceeds fromthe new credit facility not drawn down currently will be used to finance increases in inventory levels, product development, marketing and working capital requirements. As outlined in Centennial's final prospectus, Centennial has also now applied partof the proceeds of its initial public offering to retire the existing first mortgage of $3.5 million on its production facility. Centennial expects to realize interest expense savings over the next year, as amounts drawn under the senior credit facility accrue interest at a lower rate than that charged by the previous working capital lenders and the previous mortgage debt on the production facility has been retired. "Completing this financing relationship with Heartland Bank is a very positive step for our company. It provides us an additional source of funds, with more favorable terms than our current financing sources, as we execute our expansion strategy," said Doug Evans, Chief Financial Officer of Centennial. "We are glad to have Heartland Bank's support as our senior lender and to have completed our short-term financing plan, which included our IPO and the purchase of Stokes Ellis Foods in late 2003, and the retirement of our production facility mortgage in 2004." Centennial Specialty Foods Corporation is a manufacturer and distributor of ethnic Southwestern food products. Its products are sold under the Stokes and Ellis labels, two well-known Southwestern brands that date back almost 100 years. Principal channels of distribution for Centennial's products are grocery retailers, superstores and club stores in Colorado and, to a lesser extent, several major metropolitan markets in adjoining states. More information about Centennial can be found on its website at http://www.centennialspecialtyfoods.com/. Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: Certain matters discussed in this press release could contain forward-looking information that involves risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially fromcurrent trends or expected results. We identify forward looking statements through our use of words such as "expect," "believe," "project," "anticipate," and similar expressions. These risks that may affect our ability to achieve forward-looking statements are discussed in our final prospectus in the section entitled "Risk Factors" and other documents that are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Stokes and Ellis are registered trademarks of Centennial Specialty Foods Corporation. DATASOURCE: Centennial Specialty Foods Corporation CONTACT: Stephanie Hinkle of Preserve Communications, +1-720-488-5409; or Jeffrey Nieder of Centennial Specialty Foods Corporation, +1-303-414-4613 Web site: http://www.centennialspecialtyfoods.com/

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