UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION



Washington, D.C. 20549

_____________________________________________

Form 10-K





Commission File Number: 000-28820

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JONES SODA CO.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)





66 South Hanford Street, Suite 150

Seattle, WA 98134

(Address of principal executive offices)

(206) 624-3357

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)



Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

None

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

Common Stock, no par value

Indicate by checkmark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.  Yes ☐    No ☒

Indicate by checkmark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act.  Yes ☐     No ☒

Indicate by checkmark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes ☒     No ☐

Indicate by checkmark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).  Yes ☒      No ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):



If an emerging growth company. indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).  Yes ☐     No ☒

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s  common stock held by non-affiliates as of June 30, 2017, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $19,006,000 using the closing price on that day of $ 0.50.

As of March 28, 2018, there were 41,464,373 shares of the registrant's common stock issued and outstanding.

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Documents Incorporated By Reference:

The information required by Part III of this Report, to the extent not set forth herein, is incorporated in this Report by reference to the registrant's definitive proxy statement relating to its 2018 annual meeting of shareholders. The definitive proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the 2017 fiscal year.



 

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EXPLANATORY NOTE

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “we,” “us,” “our,” “Jones,” “Jones Soda,” and the “Company” are to Jones Soda Co., a Washington corporation, and our wholly-owned subsidiaries Jones Soda Co. (USA) Inc. and Jones Soda (Canada) Inc.

In addition, unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, all references in this Annual Report to “Jones Soda” refer to our premium beverages, including Jones® Soda, Jones Zilch® and Lemoncocco® sold under the trademarked brand name “Jones Soda Co.®”

CAUTIONARY NOTICE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

We desire to take advantage of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This Annual Report on Form 10-K (Report) contains a number of forward-looking statements that reflect management’s current views and expectations with respect to our business, strategies, products, future results and events, and financial performance. All statements made in this Report other than statements of historical fact, including statements that address operating performance, the economy, events or developments that management expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including statements related to case sales, revenues, profitability, distributor channels, new products, adequacy of funds from operations, cash flows and financing, our ability to continue as a going concern, potential strategic transactions, statements regarding future operating results and non-historical information, are forward-looking statements. In particular, the words such as “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “may,” “will,” “can,” “plan,” “predict,” “could,” “future,” “continue,” variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements and their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking.

Readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on management’s current expectations and projections about future events, are not guarantees of future performance, are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and apply only as of the date of this Report. Our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from historical results as well as from the results expressed in, anticipated or implied by these forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

In particular, our business, including our financial condition and results of operations and our ability to continue as a going concern may be impacted by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the following:

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For a discussion of some of the factors that may affect our business, results and prospects, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in this Report and in our other reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, and those described from time to time in our press releases and other communications, which attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect our business, prospects and results of operations.



 

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JONES SODA CO.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2017

Table of Contents







 

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PART I



ITEM 1.BUSINESS.

Overview

We develop, produce, market and distribute premium beverages which we sell and distribute primarily in the United States and Canada through our network of independent distributors and directly to our national and regional retail accounts. We also sell products in select international markets. Our products are sold in grocery stores, convenience and gas stores, on fountain in restaurants, “up and down the street” in independent accounts such as delicatessens and sandwich shops, as well as through our national accounts with several large retailers. We refer to our network of independent distributors as our direct store delivery (DSD) channel, and we refer to our national and regional accounts who receive shipments directly from us as our direct to retail (DTR) channel. We do not directly manufacture our products, but instead outsource the manufacturing process to third-party contract manufacturers. We also sell various products online, including soda with customized labels, wearables, candy and other items, and we license our trademarks for use on products sold by other manufacturers.

Our company is a Washington corporation formed in 2000 as a successor to Urban Juice and Soda Company Ltd., a Canadian company formed in 1986. Our principal place of business is located at 66 South Hanford Street, Suite 150, Seattle, Washington 98134. Our telephone number is (206) 624-3357.

Jones Soda Products

Our strategy is to focus on our core brand, Jones Soda, while investing in our new higher margin initiatives. Our product line-up currently consists of the following:

Jones Soda

Jones Soda is our premium carbonated soft drink. We sell Jones Soda in premium glass bottles and cans, with every label featuring a photo sent to us by our consumers. We also sell Jones Soda on fountain, utilizing customer photos on the fountain equipment and cups. Over 1 million photos have been submitted to us. We believe this unique interaction with our consumers distinguishes our brand and offers a strong competitive advantage for Jones Soda. Equally differentiating are the distinctive names of our products such as FuFu Berry and Berry Lemonade, and the fact that our products are made from high quality ingredients, including pure Cane Sugar. We also sell Jones Soda in more traditional flavors such as Cream Soda, Root Beer and Orange & Cream.  

Lemoncocco



We officially launched Lemoncocco  ® in January 2016.  Lemoncocco    represents an entirely new beverage category that was inspired by the distinctive refreshment stands found along the streets of Rome, Italy. Lemoncocco is a premium non-carbonated, naturally flavored beverage with the extracts of Sicilian lemons and a splash of coconut cream. Lemoncocco is lightly sweetened with a touch of cane sugar and only 90 calories per 12-ounce serving. Lemoncocco was designed to be on trend, beautifully bold in design and yield a higher gross profit margin than our current Jones bottle product offerings. Lemoncocco is perfect for food pairing, making cocktails and hydration. The overall appeal to the health channel and a wider age demographic makes Lemoncocco an exciting and diverse offering in the marketplace.



Our initial controlled launch strategy was to validate the brand by utilizing specialty distributors in select markets. As a result of strong re-orders and account retention through these channels, in late 2017 we began to offer Lemoncocco to our existing Jones distribution network in strategic areas and scenarios.



In late 2017, we introduced Lemoncocco to two divisions of Whole Foods and the Northern California region of Safeway and Raley’s. We continue to receive strong initial results through trade shows and our broader beverage network.  In 2018, we will continue to explore existing and alternative distribution strategies while investing further in this initiative.

Fountain

Drawing inspiration from our traditional bottles, the fountain equipment is branded with an engaging collage of consumer-submitted photos that are inspired by the business themes of our retail partners and the regions in which they are located. Our fountain offerings include traditional flavors such as Cane Sugar Cola, Sugar Free Cola, as well as Cane Sugar sweetened Ginger Ale, Orange & Cream, Root Beer and Lemon Lime.  Rounding out the lineup are two of our most popular Cane Sugar flavors, Berry Lemonade and Green Apple. We have developed other products in select markets that include teas, lemonade, vitamin enhanced waters, hydration beverages, as well as naturally flavored sparkling waters.

We continue to see growing interest from celebrity chefs, larger quick service restaurants, corporate accounts, retailers and a variety of other outlets looking for differentiated offerings in their fountain soda. We feel that Jones on fountain enhances

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the consumer experience, while appealing to a broad demographic. Our national brand awareness and customer centric approach make us unique compared to other craft soda competitors within this category.

Co-Brand and Private Label Products

In February 2016, we announced our partnership with 7-Eleven, Inc. and together created the 7-Select brand of premium sodas crafted by Jones, the first premium carbonated beverage in the 7-Select private brand lineup. 7-Select continues to be available exclusively at participating 7-Eleven locations across the United States. When opportunities meet our required financial and operational metrics we utilize our industry expertise to provide private label products for customers.

Sparkling Beverage Industry

Our Jones Soda beverages are classified in the sparkling beverage category, which encompasses the carbonated soft drinks (CSD) segment. The CSD segment is the largest segment in the sparkling beverage category, and in the United States it is a $79 billion industry (according to the June 2017 issue of Beverage Digest). During 2016, the CSD segment continued to grow with an increase of 2.0% as a result of raising prices.  Within the CSD segment are craft and premium sodas, which provide consumers with unique premium alternatives to the large corporate brands and is where our Jones Soda line competes. In the United States, craft and premium sodas are typically distributed through the grocery, drug, mass, club, convenience, independent account and online sales channels.

Our Focus: Sales Growth

Our focus is sales growth through execution of the following key initiatives:



Product Distribution and Sales Strategy

Our core products are distributed and sold throughout the United States and Canada and in select international markets. Our primary distribution channels are our direct store delivery (DSD) channel (sales and distribution through our network of independent distributors) and our direct to retail (DTR) channel (sales directly to national and regional retail accounts). We also have our online channel for internet sales of various products. We strategically build our national and regional retailer network by focusing on distribution systems that we believe will provide top-line drivers for our products and increased availability and visibility of our products in our core markets. In building and expanding our DSD channel, we also consider international markets and look for regions that data suggests have a high affinity for the Jones brand and can be pursued within our financial resources.

Part of our strategy in building our distribution system is to blend our DSD and DTR distribution channels, delivering different offerings through alternate channels. In determining the most advantageous distribution channel, we also consider what works best for the customer, allowing for better retail activation and in-store presence, including seeking placement on shelves that are normally restricted to national mainstream brands and placement in the cold-aisle, thus providing us access to the important “take home market.” We have also introduced the JONES Cane Sugar Fountain program through a network of fountain distributors in select regions across the United States and Canada to provide our premium products and uniquely customized fountain equipment. 

For the year ended December 31, 2017, our top three accounts by revenue represent approximately 53% of revenue. We intend to continue to expand our distributor network and DTR accounts, which may result in a decreased dependence on any one or more of our independent distributors or national retail accounts.

We contract with independent trucking companies to have our product shipped from our contract manufacturers to independent warehouses and then on to our distributors and national retail accounts. Distributors then sell and deliver our products either to sub-distributors or directly to retail accounts. We recognize revenue upon receipt by our distributors and national account customers of our products, net of discounts and promotional allowances, and all sales are final; however, in limited instances, due to credit issues, quality or damage issues, or distributor changes, we may accept returned product, which to date has not been material.

DSD (direct store delivery)

We maintain a network of independent distributors across the United States and Canada. We have also secured distribution in select international markets and are evaluating other international opportunities for our products. We choose our distributors based on our perception of their ability to build our brand franchise in convenience stores, grocery stores, on fountain in restaurants and “up and down the street” in independent accounts such as delicatessens and sandwich shops.

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Typically, we grant our independent distributors exclusive distribution rights in defined territories, which may include invasion fees in the event we provide product directly to one of our national retailers located in the distributor’s region. We are also obligated to pay termination fees for cancellations of most of these written distributor agreements, unless the termination is ‘for cause.’ We intend to continue our efforts to reinforce and expand our distribution network by partnering with new distributors and replacing underperforming distributors. In addition to the efforts of our independent distributors in obtaining distribution of our products, we actively seek to obtain listings for our products with key retail grocery, convenience and mass merchandiser accounts, which are serviced through our independent distributor network.

Product availability at a specific store location for any of our named retailers is subject to the retailer preference, consumer demand, and localized store variances. Our accounts listing changes from time to time, as new retail accounts are added and others are canceled. To find a retailer that carries our products, our product locator is available on our website under “Store-Product Locator.”

DTR (direct to retail)

Our direct to retail channel of distribution is an important part of our strategy to target large national or regional restaurant chains and retail accounts, including convenience store chains, mass merchandisers and premier food-service businesses. Through these programs, we negotiate directly with the retailer to carry our products, and the account is serviced through the retailer’s appointed distribution system (rather than through our DSD network). These arrangements are terminable at any time by these retailers or us, and contain no minimum purchase commitments or termination fees.

Co-Brand and Private Label

We offer private label products directly to retailers. Our expertise in innovation and manufacturing allow for efficiencies for both the Company and the customer. We are able to produce these products with minimal sell through risk and ship them through our network of independent trucking companies or a preferred partner of the customer.

Fountain Distribution

We sell direct to certain retailers in addition to working with a network of fountain distributors in select focus regions within the United States and Canada to provide our premium products and uniquely customized fountain equipment. 

Sales

Our products are sold throughout the United States and Canada, primarily in convenience stores, grocery stores, on fountain in restaurants and “up and down the street” in independent accounts such as delicatessens and sandwich shops, as well as through our national accounts with several large retailers. In 2017, sales in the United States represented approximately 76% of total sales, while sales in Canada represented approximately 23%, and we had approximately 1% in other international sales.

Our Brand

Building our Brand

We have built our brand to a large extent on our fun and independent image as well as by providing unique and exciting flavors that appeal to consumers who prefer alternatives to the corporate CSD brands. This market is driven by trendy, young consumers looking for a distinctive tonality and better ingredients in their beverage choices. While we are known for our unique and innovative flavors, we also feature traditional flavors and feel that our broad appeal positions us as a leader in the growing premium craft segment of the industry. Additionally, through the labels on our bottles and our invitation to consumers to send in photographs to be featured on the Jones Soda labels, we focus on a coherent message and call to action, thus escaping the uniformity that we believe plagues so many other brands. We select photos throughout the year to be placed on our bottles and cans for distribution, and also invite consumers to celebrate special occasions and memories by creating their own label through myJones.com. In that space, consumers have the ability to customize their own label and product with a photo and short caption using a proprietary patented process. In addition to creative labeling on our products, we provide our distributors with point-of-sale promotional materials and branded apparel items. We believe that our labeling, marketing and promotional materials are important elements to creating and increasing consumer appeal, as well as distributor and retailer awareness, and that our branding efforts have helped us achieve strong consumer connections and affinity levels for our products.

Brand Marketing

Our marketing team has developed brand positioning and brand identity that is an integral asset and we believe allows our brand to be widely known in a positive way among a large demographic. We have a successful history of positioning ourselves in alternative accounts with the intent to be where national mainstream brands are not sold. We also have a program of sponsoring alternative sport athletes to promote our products in youth alternative sports, including skateboarding, BMX biking and snowboarding. We also have a program of sponsoring up-and-coming musicians and artists. We believe this effort to

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position our products in alternative accounts and venues draws a younger generation of customers that value their independence away from the larger soft drink brands.

Social Media

Our core marketing pillar is the open access our consumers have to define the brand through our website Jonessoda.com. We actively participate in blogs and several different social media campaigns as a way of direct engagement with our consumers in order to listen to their voices and better understand their issues and changes in consumer trends. Social media represents one of the largest shifts in modern business away from static advertising, and we have had success in creating social media hubs through forums such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Our consumers have responded by bringing us onto their social media pages and into their lives, creating a personal connection that we believe helps ensure they are actively engaged with our brand and our products.

Consumer-Submitted Photos

We are well-known for the photos on our labels.  We invite our consumers to send us photos of their lives, and we select from those photos for use on our labels. Photos can be submitted through our website at our “Jones Soda Photo Gallery.” Every Jones Soda glass bottle and can has a picture provided to us by a consumer.

Customized Photo Labels

We also provide our Jones Soda customers, ranging from businesses to end consumers, customized and personalized 6-packs and 12-packs of Jones Soda (in bottles) that they can create with their own photos on the labels. The strategy of this program is to provide a customized and personalized product offering to our consumers as well as an innovative marketing opportunity for our Jones Soda brand. Consumers can upload their photos through our website and create their own “myJones” labels. The personalized labels are downloaded at our headquarters, applied to 12-packs of Jones Soda and delivered to the consumer.

We believe our photo strategy has increased awareness for, as well as provided for increased consumer interactivity with, the Jones Soda brand.

Point of Sale and Consumer Awareness

We use point-of-sale materials such as posters, stickers, hats and T-shirts to create and increase consumer awareness of our proprietary products and brands. In response to consumer demand, we also sell our products and our wearables on our website. In selected cities, we participate at a “grassroots” level at certain community and sporting events in an attempt to create and increase brand awareness and loyalty. We use recreational vehicles, vans and independent distributor vehicles painted with the Jones colors and logos to create consumer awareness and enthusiasm at these events and to assist distributors as they open new retail accounts and markets.

From time to time, we partner with companies that will manufacture Jones-related products that we feel extend and enhance our Jones brand. We currently have a licensing arrangement with a third party to manufacture and distribute Jones Soda Flavor Booster hard candy. In addition to these marketing techniques, we also pursue cross-promotional campaigns with other companies.

Partnership with Young Audiences

Beginning in 2014, we partnered with Young Audiences to launch the Jones Soda Photography Curriculum, which was created to teach children about the art of photography. Young Audience’s mission is to ensure arts remain an integral part of youth education, with the help of organizations such as Jones Soda. We feel that it is a worthy cause directly aimed at supporting the children that make up our fan base. Customer-submitted photos are one of our key assets, and to utilize them in a way that we can give back to the community, is directly aligned with the brand’s core values. 

Brand and Product Development

We understand the importance of creating new beverage products and enhancing our existing products to meet the ever-changing consumer taste profile. We continue to expand our JONES Cane Sugar Fountain program that allows for our Jones Soda product line to be offered “on tap.” We partner with restaurants and grocery stores that prefer to offer new innovative and pure cane sugar fountain opportunities for their guests and we utilize a select group of fountain distributors to service these retail customers.

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Our strategy is to focus on innovative products that will be accepted by consumers, retailers and distributors. We believe this is accomplished by keeping open dialog directly with our consumers through our website, blogs and social media as well as with our retail and distributor partners to ensure we are current with consumer trends in the beverage industry.

We develop the majority of our brands and products in-house. We used a similar process initially to create the Jones Soda brand, and we intend to continue utilizing this process to create our future brands and products. This process primarily consists of the following steps:

Market Evaluation.  We evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of certain categories and segments of the beverage industry with a view to pinpointing potential opportunities.

Financial Evaluation. We evaluate consumer price tolerance and sensitivity. All new products must be able to scale and meet strict margin requirements.

Distributor Evaluation.  We analyze existing and potential distribution channels, whether DSD, DTR or a blend of these channels. This analysis addresses, among other things, which companies will distribute particular beverage brands and products, where such companies may distribute such brands and products, and what will motivate these distributors to distribute such brands and products.

Production Evaluation.  We review all aspects of production of our beverages, including contract packing capacity, strategic production locations, and quality control, and prepare a cost analysis of the various considerations that will be critical to producing our brands and products.

Image and Design.  Based on our evaluation of the market, distributors and production issues, we create and develop the concept for a beverage brand, product or product extension. Our technical services department then works with various flavor concentrate houses to test, choose and develop product flavors for the brand.

We believe that the ongoing process of creating new brands, products and product extensions will be an important factor in our long-term success.

In addition to the above extensions to the Jones Soda brand, we have created and launched a new brand with its own separate identity from the Jones Soda brand, Lemoncocco®.  We believe that Lemoncocco represents a new category in the non-carbonated beverage industry and that developing a separate all-natural beverage brand is an important opportunity for the Company. 



We have also announced our partnership with 7-Eleven, Inc. wherein both companies partnered to create 7-Select brand premium sodas crafted by Jones, the first premium carbonated beverage in the 7-Select private brand lineup. 7-Select premium sodas crafted by Jones are available exclusively at participating 7-Eleven locations across the United States.  

Competition

The beverage industry is highly competitive. Principal methods of competition in the beverage industry include:

We compete with other beverage companies not only for consumer acceptance but also for shelf space in retail accounts and for marketing focus by our distributors, all of whom also distribute other beverage brands. Our products compete with all non-alcoholic beverages, most of which are marketed by companies with substantially greater financial resources than ours. We also compete with regional beverage producers and “private label” soft drink suppliers. Our direct competitors in the sparkling beverage industry include Dr. Pepper Snapple (Stewart's and IBC), Boylan, Henry Weinhard’s, Thomas Kemper, and other

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regional premium soft drink companies. We also compete against Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Hansen’s, and other traditional soft drink manufacturers and distributors. Our fountain offering competes directly with Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

In order to compete effectively in the beverage industry, from time to time we develop and introduce new products and product extensions, and when warranted, new brands. Lemoncocco, our new premium non-carbonated beverage, is an example of this.

Although we believe that we will be able to continue to create competitive and relevant brands and products to satisfy consumers’ changing preferences, there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so or that other companies will not be more successful in this regard over the long term.

Pricing of the products is also important. We believe that our products are priced in the same price range or higher than competitive brands and products, and compete on quality as they are premium product offerings.

Production

Contract Packing Arrangements

We do not directly manufacture our products, but instead outsource the manufacturing process to third-party bottlers and independent contract manufacturers (co-packers). We currently use primary co-packers located in Canada and the United States. Once the product is manufactured, the finished products are stored either at the co-packer’s location or in nearby third-party warehouses. Other than minimum case volume requirements per production run for most co-packers, we do not have annual minimum production commitments with our co-packers. Our co-packers may terminate their arrangements with us at any time, in which case we could experience disruptions in our ability to deliver products to our customers. We continually review our contract packing needs in light of regulatory compliance and logistical requirements and may add or change co-packers based on those needs.

Raw Materials

The raw materials used in the manufacturing of our products consist primarily of concentrate, flavors, supplements, sugar, bottles, cans, labels, trays, caps and packaging. Substantially all of the raw materials used in the preparation, bottling and packaging of our bottle and can products are purchased by us or by our contract manufacturers in accordance with our specifications. These raw materials are purchased from suppliers selected by us or by our contract manufacturers. We believe that we have adequate sources of raw materials, which are available from multiple suppliers.

We purchase flavor concentrate from our suppliers. Generally, flavor concentrate suppliers own the proprietary rights to the flavors. Although we do not have the list of ingredients or formulas for our flavors, we have exclusive rights to the use of the flavor concentrates developed with our suppliers. In connection with the development of new products and flavors, independent suppliers bear a large portion of the expense for product development, thereby enabling us to develop new products and flavors at relatively low cost. If we have to replace a flavor supplier, we could experience disruptions in our ability to deliver products to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

The costs of raw materials fluctuate and in certain instances we enter into supply agreements to address these risks. We have a three-year fixed price supply agreement with our primary glass supplier which expires at the end of 2019. The price of glass continues to increase each year due to the shortage of available glass in the industry; however, our supply agreement with our glass supplier provides us with some price protection.

Quality Control

Our products are made from high-quality ingredients and natural and artificial flavors. We seek to ensure that all of our products satisfy our high-quality standards. Contract manufacturers are selected and monitored by our quality control representatives in an effort to ensure adherence to our production procedures and quality standards.

For every run of product, our contract manufacturer undertakes extensive testing of product quality and packaging. This includes testing levels of sweetness, carbonation, taste, product integrity, packaging and various regulatory cross checks. Samples from each production run are analyzed and categorized in a reference library. For each product, the contract manufacturer must transmit all quality control test results to us for reference following each production run.

Testing also includes microbiological checks and other tests to ensure the production facilities meet the standards and specifications of our quality assurance program. Water quality is monitored during production and at scheduled testing times to ensure compliance with beverage industry standards. The water used to produce our products is filtered and is also treated to reduce alkalinity. Flavors are pre-tested by the flavor concentrate supplier before shipment to contract manufacturers. We are committed to ongoing product improvement with a view towards ensuring the high quality of our product through a stringent co-packer selection, training and communication program.

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Regulation

The production and marketing of our proprietary beverages are subject to the rules and regulations of various federal, provincial, state and local health agencies, including in particular Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA and AAFC also regulate labeling of our products. From time to time, we may receive notifications of various technical labeling or ingredient reviews with respect to our products. We believe that we have a compliance program in place to ensure compliance with production, marketing and labeling regulations.

Legal requirements have been enacted in several jurisdictions in the United States and Canada requiring that deposits or certain eco-taxes or fees be charged for the sale, marketing and use of certain non-refillable beverage containers. The precise requirements imposed by these measures vary. Other beverage container-related deposit, recycling, eco-tax and/or product stewardship proposals have been introduced in various jurisdictions in the United States and Canada. We anticipate that similar legislation or regulations may be proposed in the future at local, state and federal levels, both in the United States and Canada.

Trademarks, Flavor Concentrate Trade Secrets and Patent Rights

In the United States, we own a number of trademark registrations (designated by the ® symbol) and pending trademark applications (designated by the ™ symbol) for use in connection with our products, including “JONES®,” “JONES SODA CO.®,” “JONES ZILCH®” and “LEMONCOCCO ®”. 

In general, trademark registrations expire 10 years from the filing date or registration date, with the exception in Canada, where trademark registrations expire 15 years from the registration date. All trademark registrations may be renewed for a nominal fee.

We have the exclusive rights to our flavor concentrates developed with our current flavor concentrate suppliers, which we protect as trade secrets. We will continue to take appropriate measures to maintain the secrecy and proprietary nature of our flavor concentrates.

We consider our trademarks and trade secrets to be of considerable value and importance to our business.

Seasonality

Our sales are seasonal and we experience fluctuations in quarterly results as a result of many factors. We historically have generated a greater percentage of our revenues during the warm weather months of April through September. Sales may fluctuate materially on a quarter to quarter basis or an annual basis when we launch a new product or fill the “pipeline” of a new distribution partner or a large retail partner. Sales results may also fluctuate based on the number of SKUs selected or removed by our distributors and retail partners through the normal course of serving consumers in the dynamic, trend-oriented beverage industry. As a result, management believes that period-to-period comparisons of results of operations are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as any indication of future performance or results expected for the fiscal year.

Employees

As of the date of this Report, we have 25 employees, all but two of which are full-time. Of our 25 employees, 15 are employed in sales and marketing capacities, 6 are employed in administrative capacities and 4 are employed in customer service, manufacturing and quality control capacities. None of our employees are represented by labor unions.

Securities Exchange Act Reports and other Available Information

As a public company, we are required to file our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements on Schedule 14A and other information (including any amendments) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). You can find our SEC filings at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. You may also read and copy such material at the SEC’s Public Reference Room located at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549.

Our Internet address is www.jonessoda.com. Information contained on our website is not part of this annual report on Form 10-K.

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We make available on or through our website at www.jonessoda.com our SEC filings free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file the information with, or furnish it to, the SEC. In addition, the following corporate governance materials are also available on our website under “Investor Relations — Corporate Governance:”

A copy of any of the materials filed with or furnished to the SEC or copies of the corporate governance materials described above are available free of charge and can be mailed to you upon request to Jones Soda Co., 66 South Hanford Street, Suite 150, Seattle, Washington 98134.

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ITEM 1A.RISK FACTORS.

You should carefully consider the following risk factors that may affect our business, including our financial condition and results of operations. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business could be harmed, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment in us.

Risk Factors Relating to Our Company and Our Business

If we are not able to successfully execute on our future operating plans, our financial condition and results of operation may be materially adversely affected, and we may not be able to continue as a going concern.

It is critical that we meet our sales goals and increase sales going forward as our operating plan already reflects prior significant cost containment measures and may make it difficult to achieve top-line growth if further significant reductions become necessary. If we do not meet our sales goals, our available cash and working capital will decrease and our financial condition will be negatively impacted.  While we have access to and use our secured credit facility for our working capital requirements, it may be insufficient for these purposes and we may not be successful in raising additional capital as necessary. 

We may need additional financing in the future, which may not be available when needed or may be costly and dilutive.

We may require additional financing to support our working capital needs in the future. The amount of additional capital we may require, the timing of our capital needs and the availability of financing to fund those needs will depend on a number of factors, including our strategic initiatives and operating plans, the performance of our business and the market conditions for debt or equity financing. Additionally, the amount of capital required will depend on our ability to meet our sales goals and otherwise successfully execute our operating plan. We believe it is imperative to meet these sales objectives in order to lessen our reliance on external financing in the future. Although we believe various debt and equity financing alternatives will be available to us to support our working capital needs, financing arrangements on acceptable terms may not be available to us when needed. Additionally, these alternatives may require significant cash payments for interest and other costs or could be highly dilutive to our existing shareholders. Any such financing alternatives may not provide us with sufficient funds to meet our long-term capital requirements. If necessary, we may explore strategic transactions that we consider to be in the best interest of the Company and our shareholders, which may include, without limitation, public or private offerings of debt or equity securities, a rights offering, and other strategic alternatives; however, these options may not ultimately be available or feasible.

Our reliance on distributors, retailers and brokers could affect our ability to efficiently and profitably distribute and market our products, maintain our existing markets and expand our business into other geographic markets.

Our ability to maintain and expand our existing markets for our products, and to establish markets in new geographic distribution areas, is dependent on our ability to establish and maintain successful relationships with reliable distributors, retailers and brokers strategically positioned to serve those areas. Most of our distributors, retailers and brokers sell and distribute competing products, including non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, and our products may represent a small portion of their businesses. The success of this network will depend on the performance of the distributors, retailers and brokers of this network. There is a risk that the mentioned entities may not adequately perform their functions within the network by, without limitation, failing to distribute to sufficient retailers or positioning our products in localities that may not be receptive to our product. Our ability to incentivize and motivate distributors to manage and sell our products is affected by competition from other beverage companies who have greater resources than we do. To the extent that our distributors, retailers and brokers are distracted from selling our products or do not employ sufficient efforts in managing and selling our products, including re-stocking the retail shelves with our products, our sales and results of operations could be adversely affected. Furthermore, such third-parties’ financial position or market share may deteriorate, which could adversely affect our distribution, marketing and sales activities.

Our ability to maintain and expand our distribution network and attract additional distributors, retailers and brokers will depend on a number of factors, some of which are outside our control. Some of these factors include:

We may not be able to successfully manage all or any of these factors in any of our current or prospective geographic areas of distribution. Our inability to achieve success with regards to any of these factors in a geographic distribution area will

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have a material adverse effect on our relationships in that particular geographic area, thus limiting our ability to maintain or expand our market, which will likely adversely affect our revenues and financial results.

We incur significant time and expense in attracting and maintaining key distributors.

Our marketing and sales strategy depends in large part on the availability and performance of our independent distributors. We currently do not have, nor do we anticipate in the future that we will be able to establish, long-term contractual commitments from some of our distributors. We may not be able to maintain our current distribution relationships or establish and maintain successful relationships with distributors in new geographic distribution areas. Moreover, there is the additional possibility that we may have to incur additional expenditures to attract and maintain key distributors in one or more of our geographic distribution areas in order to profitably exploit our geographic markets.

If we lose any of our key distributors or national retail accounts, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

For the year ended December 31, 2017, our top three accounts by revenue represent approximately 53% of revenue. We continually seek to expand and upgrade our distributor network, DTR accounts and national retail relationships. However, we may not be able to maintain our key distributor base. The loss of any of our key distributors or national accounts (including our private label relationship with 7-Eleven) could have adverse effects on our revenues, liquidity and financial results, could negatively impact our ability to retain our relationships with our other distributors and our ability to expand our market, and would place increased dependence on our other independent distributors and national accounts.

It is difficult to predict the timing and amount of our sales because our distributors are not required to place minimum orders with us.

Our independent distributors and national accounts are not required to place minimum monthly or annual orders for our products. In order to reduce their inventory costs, independent distributors typically order products from us on a “just in time” basis in quantities and at such times based on the demand for the products in a particular distribution area. Accordingly, we cannot predict the timing or quantity of purchases by any of our independent distributors or whether any of our distributors will continue to purchase products from us in the same frequencies and volumes as they may have done in the past. Additionally, our larger distributors and new national partners, like 7-Eleven Inc., may make orders that are larger than we have historically been required to fill.  Shortages in inventory levels, supply of raw materials or other key supplies could negatively affect us.

If we do not adequately manage our inventory levels, our operating results could be adversely affected.

We need to maintain adequate inventory levels to be able to deliver products to distributors on a timely basis. Our inventory supply depends on our ability to correctly estimate demand for our products. Our ability to estimate demand for our products is imprecise, particularly for new products, seasonal promotions and new markets. If we materially underestimate demand for our products or are unable to maintain sufficient inventory of raw materials, we might not be able to satisfy demand on a short-term basis. If we overestimate distributor or retailer demand for our products, we may end up with too much inventory, resulting in higher storage costs, increased trade spend and the risk of inventory spoilage. If we fail to manage our inventory to meet demand, we could damage our relationships with our distributors and retailers and could delay or lose sales opportunities, which would unfavorably impact our future sales and adversely affect our operating results. In addition, if the inventory of our products held by our distributors and retailers is too high, they will not place orders for additional products, which would also unfavorably impact our sales and adversely affect our operating results.

If we fail to maintain relationships with our independent contract manufacturers, our business could be harmed.

We do not manufacture our products but instead outsource the manufacturing process to third-party bottlers and independent contract manufacturers (co-packers). We do not own the plants or the majority of the equipment required to manufacture and package our beverage products, and we do not anticipate bringing the manufacturing process in-house in the future. Our ability to maintain effective relationships with contract manufacturers and other third parties for the production and delivery of our beverage products in a particular geographic distribution area is important to the success of our operations within each distribution area. Competition for contract manufacturers’ business is intense, especially in the western United States, and this could make it more difficult for us to obtain new or replacement manufacturers, or to locate back-up manufacturers, in our various distribution areas, and could also affect the economic terms of our agreements with our existing manufacturers. We may not be able to maintain our relationships with current contract manufacturers or establish satisfactory relationships with new or replacement contract manufacturers, whether in existing or new geographic distribution areas. The failure to establish and maintain effective relationships with contract manufacturers for a distribution area could increase our manufacturing costs and thereby materially reduce gross profits from the sale of our products in that area. Poor relations with any of our contract manufacturers could adversely affect the amount and timing of product delivered to our distributors for resale, which would in turn adversely affect our revenues and financial condition. In addition, our agreements with our contract

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manufacturers are terminable at any time, and any such termination could disrupt our ability to deliver products to our customers.

Our dependence on independent contract manufacturers could make management of our manufacturing and distribution efforts inefficient or unprofitable.

We are expected to arrange for our contract manufacturing needs sufficiently in advance of anticipated requirements, which is customary in the contract manufacturing industry for comparably sized companies. Based on the cost structure and forecasted demand for the particular geographic area where our contract manufacturers are located, we continually evaluate which of our contract manufacturers to use. To the extent demand for our products exceeds available inventory or the production capacity of our contract manufacturing arrangements, or orders are not submitted on a timely basis, we will be unable to fulfill distributor orders on demand. Conversely, we may produce more product inventory than warranted by the actual demand for it, resulting in higher storage costs and the potential risk of inventory spoilage. Our failure to accurately predict and manage our contract manufacturing requirements and our inventory levels may impair relationships with our independent distributors and key accounts, which, in turn, would likely have a material adverse effect on our ability to maintain effective relationships with those distributors and key accounts.

Increases in costs or shortages of raw materials could harm our business and financial results.

The principal raw materials we use include glass bottles, aluminum cans, labels and cardboard cartons, aluminum closures, flavorings, sucrose/inverted pure cane sugar and sucralose. In addition, certain of our contract manufacturing arrangements allow such contract manufacturers to increase their charges to us based on their own cost increases. These manufacturing and ingredient costs are subject to fluctuation. Substantial increases in the prices of our ingredients, raw materials and packaging materials, to the extent that they cannot be recouped through increases in the prices of finished beverage products, would increase our operating costs and could reduce our profitability. If our supply of these raw materials is impaired or if prices increase significantly, it could affect the affordability of our products and reduce sales.

The beverage industry has experienced increased prices for glass bottles over the last several years and the availability of glass supply diminished for companies not under contract. Our fixed-price purchase commitment for glass, which helps mitigate the risk of unexpected price increases, expires at the end of 2019. We cannot predict whether we will be able to renew our fixed price purchase commitment for glass or the terms of any new glass contract, the terms of which may be materially different than our current terms. The prices of any of the above or any other raw materials or ingredients may continue to rise in the future. Due to the price sensitivity of our products, we may not be able to pass such increases on to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.

If we are unable to secure sufficient ingredients or raw materials including glass, sugar, and other key supplies, we might not be able to satisfy demand on a short-term basis. Moreover, in the past there have been industry-wide shortages of certain concentrates, supplements and sweeteners and these shortages could occur again from time to time in the future, which could interfere with and delay production of our products and could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.

Increases in costs of energy and freight may have an adverse impact on our gross margin.

Over the past few years, volatility in the global oil markets has resulted in high fuel prices, which many shipping companies have passed on to their customers by way of higher base pricing and increased fuel surcharges. With recent declines in fuel prices, some companies have been slow to pass on decreases in their fuel surcharges.  If fuel prices increase again, we expect to experience higher shipping rates and fuel surcharges, as well as energy surcharges on our raw materials.  It is hard to predict what will happen in the fuel markets in 2018. Due to the price sensitivity of our products, we may not be able to pass such increases on to our customers.

Disruption within our supply chain, contract manufacturing or distribution channels could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our ability, through our suppliers, business partners, contract manufacturers, independent distributors and retailers, to make, move and sell products is critical to our success. Damage or disruption to our suppliers or to manufacturing or distribution capabilities due to weather, natural disaster, fire or explosion, terrorism, pandemics such as influenza, labor strikes or other reasons, could impair the manufacture, distribution and sale of our products. Many of these events are outside of our control. Failure to take adequate steps to protect against or mitigate the likelihood or potential impact of such events, or to effectively manage such events if they occur, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.



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Our results of operations may fluctuate from quarter to quarter for many reasons, including seasonality.

Our sales are seasonal and we experience fluctuations in quarterly results as a result of many factors. We historically have generated a greater percentage of our revenues during the warm weather months of April through September. Timing of customer purchases will vary each year and sales can be expected to shift from one quarter to another. As a result, management believes that period-to-period comparisons of results of operations are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as any indication of future performance or results expected for the fiscal year.

In addition, our operating results may fluctuate due to a number of other factors including, but not limited to:

Due to these and other factors, our results of operations have fluctuated from period to period and may continue to do so in the future, which could cause our operating results in a particular quarter to fail to meet market expectations.

We rely upon our ongoing relationships with our key flavor suppliers. If we are unable to source our flavors on acceptable terms from our key suppliers, we could suffer disruptions in our business.

We currently purchase our flavor concentrate from various flavor concentrate suppliers, and continually develop other sources of flavor concentrate for each of our products. Generally, flavor suppliers hold the proprietary rights to their flavors. Although we have the exclusive rights to flavor concentrates developed with our current flavor concentrate suppliers, we do not have the list of ingredients or formulas for our flavors and concentrates. Consequently, we may be unable to obtain these same flavors or concentrates from alternative suppliers on short notice. If we have to replace a flavor supplier, we could experience disruptions in our ability to deliver products to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

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Our business and periodic financial results can be affected by currency rate fluctuations, because a significant percentage of our business is in Canada.

A significant percentage of our sales are conducted through our Canadian subsidiary, for which we receive revenues in the Canadian dollar. In addition, a significant percentage of our costs of goods are denominated in the Canadian dollar, due to our co-packing facility in Canada. Because of this we are affected by changes in U.S. exchange rates with the Canadian dollar.

In preparing our consolidated financial statements, certain financial information is required to be translated from the Canadian dollar to the U.S. dollar. The translation of our Canadian revenues, cash and other assets is adversely affected when the United States strengthens against the Canadian dollar and is positively affected when the U.S. dollar weakens. Similarly, translation of our Canadian expenses and liabilities is positively affected when the U.S. dollar strengthens against the Canadian dollar and adversely affected when the U.S. dollar weakens. This exposure to foreign currency risk could significantly affect our revenues and profitability from our Canadian operations and could result in significant fluctuations to our periodic income statements and consolidated balance sheets.

During 2017 and continuing into 2018, the U.S. dollar has remained strong in comparison to the Canadian dollar. As of March 28,  2018, the Canadian dollar exchange rate for one U.S. dollar was equal to 0.78 (compared to 0.80 as of December 31, 2017 and $0.75 as of December 31, 2016). We cannot predict future changes in these exchange rates. We do not engage in foreign currency hedging transactions.

Our brand and image are keys to our business and any inability to maintain a positive brand image could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our success depends on our ability to maintain brand image for our existing products and effectively build up brand image for new products and brand extensions (including co-branded products launched with strategic partners such as 7-Eleven). We cannot predict whether our advertising, marketing and promotional programs will have the desired impact on our products’ branding and on consumer preferences. In addition, negative public relations and product quality issues, whether real or imagined, could tarnish our reputation and image of the affected brands and could cause consumers to choose other products. Our brand image can also be adversely affected by unfavorable reports, studies and articles, litigation, or regulatory or other governmental action, whether involving our products or those of our competitors.

If we are unable to attract and retain key personnel, our efficiency and operations would be adversely affected.

Our success depends on our ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees in such areas as sales, marketing, product development and finance. We compete to hire new employees, and, in some cases, must train them and develop their skills and competencies. Our operating results could be adversely affected by increased costs due to increased competition for employees, higher employee turnover or increased employee benefit costs. Any unplanned turnover, particularly involving our key personnel, could negatively impact our operations, financial condition and employee morale.

If we lose the services of our CEO, our operations could be disrupted and our business could be harmed.

Our business plan relies significantly on the continued services of Jennifer Cue, who we hired as our CEO in June 2012. If we were to lose the services of Ms. Cue, our ability to execute our business plan could be materially impaired. We are not aware of any facts or circumstances that suggest she might leave us.  We have had key person life insurance in place for Ms. Cue since 2015.

The terms of the note purchase agreement entered into by the Company on March 23, 2018, may limit our ability to approve certain actions.

On March 23, 2018, we issued an aggregate principal amount of $2,800,000 of convertible subordinated promissory notes (the “Convertible Notes”), pursuant to the terms of a note purchase agreement. In accordance with such note purchase agreement, the Company has agreed not to take certain actions without the approval of holders of not less than a majority-in-interest of the principal amount of the Convertible Notes (the “Required Holders”) while such Convertible Notes remain outstanding. Such actions include (a) liquidating, dissolving or winding up the affairs of the Company; (b) purchasing or redeeming or paying any cash dividend on any capital stock of the Company; (c) effecting a material acquisition by the Company, unless otherwise approved by the Board of Directors and each of the MHP Directors (as defined in the note purchase agreement); (d) increasing the size of the Board of Directors; (e) increasing the Company’s equity incentive plan by more than 10% of the amount reserved for the prior fiscal year without the approval of the Board of Directors and each of the MHP Directors (as defined in the note purchase agreement); (f) entering into any transaction with any affiliate, officer, director, employee or holder of more than five percent (5%) of the Company’s capital stock, calculated on a fully diluted basis; or (g) terminating, or allowing to be terminated or suspended, the listing of the shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of the Convertible Notes on the trading market. If requested by the Company, the Required Holders may elect not to allow the Company to take these actions. In the event that we are unable to take these actions, the interests of the Company and our shareholders may be materially and adversely affected.

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If we fail to protect our trademarks and trade secrets, we may be unable to successfully market our products and compete effectively.

We rely on a combination of trademark and trade secrecy laws, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our intellectual property rights. Failure to protect our intellectual property could harm our brand and our reputation, and adversely affect our ability to compete effectively. Further, enforcing or defending our intellectual property rights, including our trademarks, copyrights, licenses and trade secrets, could result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. We regard our intellectual property, particularly our trademarks and trade secrets to be of considerable value and importance to our business and our success, and we actively pursue the registration of our trademarks in the United States, Canada and internationally. However, the steps taken by us to protect these proprietary rights may not be adequate and may not prevent third parties from infringing or misappropriating our trademarks, trade secrets or similar proprietary rights. In addition, other parties may seek to assert infringement claims against us, and we may have to pursue litigation against other parties to assert our rights. Any such claim or litigation could be costly. In addition, any event that would jeopardize our proprietary rights or any claims of infringement by third parties could have a material adverse effect on our ability to market or sell our brands, profitably exploit our products or recoup our associated research and development costs.

As part of the licensing strategy of our brands, we enter into licensing agreements under which we grant our licensing partners certain rights to use our trademarks and other designs. Although our agreements require that the use of our trademarks and designs is subject to our control and approval, any breach of these provisions, or any other action by any of our licensing partners that is harmful to our brands, goodwill and overall image, could have a material adverse impact on our business.

Litigation or legal proceedings could expose us to significant liabilities and damage our reputation.

We may become party to litigation claims and legal proceedings. Litigation involves significant risks, uncertainties and costs, including distraction of management attention away from our business operations. We evaluate litigation claims and legal proceedings to assess the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes and to estimate, if possible, the amount of potential losses. Based on these assessments and estimates, we establish reserves and disclose the relevant litigation claims or legal proceedings, as appropriate. These assessments and estimates are based on the information available to management at the time and involve a significant amount of management judgment. Actual outcomes or losses may differ materially from those envisioned by our current assessments and estimates. Our policies and procedures require strict compliance by our employees and agents with all U.S. and local laws and regulations applicable to our business operations, including those prohibiting improper payments to government officials. Nonetheless, our policies and procedures may not ensure full compliance by our employees and agents with all applicable legal requirements. Improper conduct by our employees or agents could damage our reputation or lead to litigation or legal proceedings that could result in civil or criminal penalties, including substantial monetary fines, as well as disgorgement of profits.

We are subject to risks inherent in sales of products in international markets.

Our operations outside of the United States, contribute to our revenue and profitability, and we believe that developing and emerging markets could present future growth opportunities for us.  However, there can be no assurance that existing or new products that we manufacture, distribute or sell will be accepted or be successful in any particular foreign market, due to local or global competition, product price, cultural differences, consumer preferences or otherwise.  There are many factors that could adversely affect demand for our products in foreign markets, including our inability to attract and maintain key distributors in these markets; volatility in the economic growth of certain of these markets; changes in economic, political or social conditions, the status and renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement, imposition of new or increased labeling, product or production requirements, or other legal restrictions; restrictions on the import or export of our products or ingredients or substances used in our products; inflationary currency, devaluation or fluctuation; increased costs of doing business due to compliance with complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations. If we are unable to effectively operate or manage the risks associated with operating in international markets, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected.

Changes in accounting standards and subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by management related to complex accounting matters could significantly affect our financial results.

The United States generally accepted accounting principles and related pronouncements, implementation guidelines and interpretations with regard to a wide variety of matters that are relevant to our business, such as, but not limited to, stock-based compensation, trade spend and promotions, and income taxes are highly complex and involve many subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by our management. Changes to these rules or their interpretation or changes in underlying assumptions, estimates or judgments by our management could significantly change our reported results.

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If we are unable to maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, our stock price and investor confidence could be materially and adversely affected.

We are required to maintain both disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting that are effective. Because of their inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting, however well designed and operated, can only provide reasonable, and not absolute, assurance that the controls will prevent or detect misstatements. Because of these and other inherent limitations of control systems, there is only the reasonable assurance that our controls will succeed in achieving their goals under all potential future conditions. The failure of controls by design deficiencies or absence of adequate controls could result in a material adverse effect on our business and financial results, which could also negatively impact our stock price and investor confidence.

If we are unable to build and sustain proper information technology infrastructure, our business could suffer.

We depend on information technology as an enabler to improve the effectiveness of our operations and to interface with our customers, as well as to maintain financial accuracy and efficiency. If we do not allocate and effectively manage the resources necessary to build and sustain the proper technology infrastructure, we could be subject to transaction errors, processing inefficiencies, the loss of customers, business disruptions, or the loss of or damage to intellectual property through security breaches. For the 2018 year, we have a cyber security insurance policy in place.

We could be subject to cybersecurity attacks.

Cybersecurity attacks are evolving and include malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data, and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in business processes, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data. Such unauthorized access could subject us to operational interruption, damage to our brand image and private data exposure, and harm our business.

Risk Factors Relating to Our Industry

We may experience a reduced demand for some of our products due to health concerns (including obesity) and legislative initiatives against sweetened beverages.

Consumers are concerned about health and wellness; public health officials and government officials are increasingly vocal about obesity and its consequences. There has been a trend among some public health advocates and dietary guidelines to recommend a reduction in sweetened beverages, as well as increased public scrutiny, potential new taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, and additional governmental regulations concerning the marketing and labeling/packing of the beverage industry. Additional or revised regulatory requirements, whether labeling, tax or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Further, increasing public concern with respect to sweetened beverages could reduce demand for our beverages and increase desire for more low-calorie soft drinks, water, enhanced water, coffee-flavored beverages, tea, and beverages with natural sweeteners.  We are continuously working to reduce calories and sugar in our Jones Cane Sugar products while launching new products like Lemoncocco, to pair with existing brand extensions such as Jones Zilch that round out our diversified portfolio.

     Legislative or regulatory changes that affect our products could reduce demand for products or increase our costs.

Taxes imposed on the sale of certain of our products by federal, state and local governments in the United States, or other countries in which we operate could cause consumers to shift away from purchasing our beverages. Several municipalities in the United States have implemented or are considering implementing taxes on the sale of certain “sugared” beverages, including non-diet soft drinks, fruit drinks, teas and flavored waters to help fund various initiatives. These taxes could materially affect our business and financial results.

Additional taxes levied on us could harm our financial results.

Recent legislative proposals to reform U.S. taxation of non-U.S. earnings could have a material adverse effect on our financial results by subjecting a significant portion of our non-U.S. earnings to incremental U.S. taxation and/or by delaying or permanently deferring certain deductions otherwise allowed in calculating our U.S. tax liabilities.

We compete in an industry that is brand-conscious, so brand name recognition and acceptance of our products are critical to our success.

Our business is substantially dependent upon awareness and market acceptance of our products and brands by our target market, trendy, young consumers looking for a distinctive tonality in their beverage choices. In addition, our business depends on acceptance by our independent distributors and retailers of our brands as beverage brands that have the potential to provide incremental sales growth. If we are not successful in the revitalization and growth of our brand and product offerings, we may

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not achieve and maintain satisfactory levels of acceptance by independent distributors and retail consumers. Accordingly, any failure of our Jones Soda brand to maintain or increase acceptance or market penetration would likely have a material adverse effect on our revenues and financial results.

Competition from traditional non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers may adversely affect our distribution relationships and may hinder development of our existing markets, as well as prevent us from expanding our markets.

The beverage industry is highly competitive. We compete with other beverage companies not only for consumer acceptance but also for shelf space in retail outlets and for marketing focus by our distributors, all of whom also distribute other beverage brands. Our products compete with a wide range of drinks produced by a relatively large number of manufacturers, most of which have substantially greater financial, marketing and distribution resources than ours. Some of these competitors are placing severe pressure on independent distributors not to carry competitive sparkling brands such as ours. We also compete with regional beverage producers and “private label” soft drink suppliers.

Our direct competitors in the Sparkling beverage category include Dr. Pepper Snapple (Stewart's and IBC), Boylan, Henry Weinhard’s, Thomas Kemper, and other regional premium soft drink companies. We also compete against Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Hansen’s and other traditional soft drink manufacturers and distributors. These national and international competitors have advantages such as lower production costs, larger marketing budgets, greater financial and other resources and more developed and extensive distribution networks than ours. We may not be able to grow our volumes or maintains our selling prices, whether in existing markets or as we enter new markets.

Increased competitor consolidations, market-place competition, particularly among branded beverage products, and competitive product and pricing pressures could impact our earnings, market share and volume growth. If, due to such pressure or other competitive threats, we are unable to sufficiently maintain or develop our distribution channels, we may be unable to achieve our current revenue and financial targets. As a means of maintaining and expanding our distribution network, we intend to introduce product extensions and additional brands. We may not be successful in doing this and other companies may be more successful in this regard over the long term. Competition, particularly from companies with greater financial and marketing resources than ours, could have a material adverse effect on our existing markets, as well as on our ability to expand the market for our products.

We compete in an industry characterized by rapid changes in consumer preferences and public perception, so our ability to continue developing new products to satisfy our consumers’ changing preferences will determine our long-term success.

Failure to introduce new brands, products or product extensions into the marketplace as current ones mature and to meet our consumers’ changing preferences could prevent us from gaining market share and achieving long-term profitability. Product lifecycles can vary and consumers’ preferences and loyalties change over time. Although we try to anticipate these shifts and innovate new products to introduce to our consumers, we may not succeed. Customer preferences also are affected by factors other than taste, such as health and nutrition considerations and obesity concerns, shifting consumer needs, changes in consumer lifestyles, increased consumer information and competitive product and pricing pressures. Sales of our products may be adversely affected by the negative publicity associated with these issues. If we do not adequately anticipate or adjust to respond to these and other changes in customer preferences, we may not be able to maintain and grow our brand image and our sales may be adversely affected.

Global economic conditions may continue to adversely impact our business and results of operations.

The beverage industry, and particularly those companies selling premium beverages like us, can be affected by macro-economic factors, including changes in national, regional, and local economic conditions, unemployment levels and consumer spending patterns, which together may impact the willingness of consumers to purchase our products as they adjust their discretionary spending. Adverse economic conditions may adversely affect the ability of our distributors to obtain the credit necessary to fund their working capital needs, which could negatively impact their ability or desire to continue to purchase products from us in the same frequencies and volumes as they have done in the past. If we experience similar adverse economic conditions in the future, sales of our products could be adversely affected, collectability of accounts receivable may be compromised and we may face obsolescence issues with our inventory, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our operating results and financial condition.

If we encounter product recalls or other product quality issues, our business may suffer.

Product quality issues, real or imagined, or allegations of product contamination, even when false or unfounded, could tarnish our image and could cause consumers to choose other products. In addition, because of changing government regulations or implementation thereof, or allegations of product contamination, we may be required from time to time to recall products entirely or from specific markets. Product recalls could affect our profitability and could negatively affect brand image.

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We could be exposed to product liability claims.

Although we have product liability and basic recall insurance, insurance coverage may not be sufficient to cover all product liability claims that may arise. To the extent our product liability coverage is insufficient, a product liability claim would likely have a material adverse effect upon our financial condition. In addition, any product liability claim brought against us may materially damage the reputation and brand image of our products and business.

Our business is subject to many regulations and noncompliance is costly.

The production, marketing and sale of our beverages, including contents, labels, caps and containers, are subject to the rules and regulations of various federal, provincial, state and local health agencies. If a regulatory authority finds that a current or future product or production run is not in compliance with any of these regulations, we may be fined, or production may be stopped, which would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Similarly, any adverse publicity associated with any noncompliance may damage our reputation and our ability to successfully market our products. Furthermore, the rules and regulations are subject to change from time to time and while we closely monitor developments in this area, we cannot anticipate whether changes in these rules and regulations will impact our business adversely. Additional or revised regulatory requirements, whether labeling, environmental, tax or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Significant additional labeling or warning requirements may inhibit sales of affected products.

Various jurisdictions may seek to adopt significant additional product labeling or warning requirements relating to the chemical content or perceived adverse health consequences of certain of our products. These types of requirements, if they become applicable to one or more of our products under current or future environmental or health laws or regulations, may inhibit sales of such products. In California, a law requires that a specific warning appear on any product that contains a component listed by the state as having been found to cause cancer or birth defects. This law recognizes no generally applicable quantitative thresholds below which a warning is not required. If a component found in one of our products is added to the list, or if the increasing sensitivity of detection methodology that may become available under this law and related regulations as they currently exist, or as they may be amended, results in the detection of an infinitesimal quantity of a listed substance in one of our beverages produced for sale in California, the resulting warning requirements or adverse publicity could affect our sales.

Climate change may negatively affect our business.

There is growing concern that a gradual increase in global average temperatures may cause an adverse change in weather patterns around the globe resulting in an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters. While warmer weather has historically been associated with increased sales of our products, changing weather patterns could have a negative impact on agricultural productivity, which may limit availability or increase the cost of certain key ingredients such as sugar cane, natural flavors and supplements used in our products. Also, increased frequency or duration of extreme weather conditions may disrupt the productivity of our facilities, the operation of our supply chain or impact demand for our products. In addition, the increasing concern over climate change may result in more regional, federal and global legal and regulatory requirements and could result in increased production, transportation and raw material costs. As a result, the effects of climate change could have a long-term adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

Risk Factors Related to Our Common Stock

The price of our common stock may be volatile, and a shareholder’s investment in our common stock could suffer a decline in value.

There has been significant volatility in the volume and market price of our common stock, and this volatility may continue in the future. In addition, factors such as quarterly variations in our operating results, litigation involving us, general trends relating to the beverage industry, actions by governmental agencies, national economic and stock market considerations as well as other events and circumstances beyond our control could have a significant impact on the future market price of our common stock and the relative volatility of such market price.

A prolonged decline in the price of our common stock could result in a reduction in the liquidity of our common stock and a reduction in our ability to raise capital. If we are unable to raise the funds required for all of our planned operations and key initiatives, we may be forced to allocate funds from other planned uses, which may negatively impact our business and operations, including our ability to develop new products and continue our current operations.





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The conversion of our convertible subordinated promissory notes could be dilutive to our shareholders.



On March 23, 2018, we issued an aggregate principal amount of $2,800,000 of convertible subordinated promissory notes (the “Convertible Notes”) to institutional and individual accredited investors, including the Company’s CEO. The Convertible Notes have a four-year term from the date of issuance and bear interest at 6% per annum until maturity. The holders can convert the Convertible Notes at any time during the term into a number of shares of the Company’s common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (i) the amount of the unpaid principal and interest on the Convertible Note by (ii) $0.32 (the “Conversion Price”). The Conversion Price is subject to broad based, weighted average antidilution protection in the event that the Company issues shares of capital stock or equity equivalents at a price that is less than $0.32 per shares prior to the conversion of the Convertible Notes. Conversion of the Convertible Notes to common stock at any time between their issuance and maturity could be substantially dilutive to our shareholders.

If we are not able to achieve our objectives for our business, the value of an investment in our company could be negatively affected.

In order to be successful, we believe that we must, among other things:

We may not be able to meet these objectives, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. We have incurred significant operating expenses in the past and may do so again in the future and, as a result, will need to increase revenues in order to improve our results of operations. Our ability to increase sales will depend primarily on success in expanding our current markets, improving our distribution base, entering into DTR arrangements with national accounts, and introducing new brands, products or product extensions to the market. Our ability to successfully enter new distribution areas and obtain national accounts will, in turn, depend on various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to, the continued demand for our brands and products in target markets, the ability to price our products at competitive levels, the ability to establish and maintain relationships with distributors in each geographic area of distribution and the ability in the future to create, develop and successfully introduce one or more new brands, products, and product extensions.

Any future equity or debt issuances by us may have dilutive or adverse effects on our existing shareholders.

From time to time, we may issue additional shares of common stock or convertible securities. The issuance of these securities could dilute our shareholders’ ownership in our company and may include terms that give new investors rights that are superior to those of our current shareholders. Moreover, any issuances by us of equity securities may be at or below the prevailing market price of our common stock and in any event may have a dilutive impact on our shareholders’ ownership interest, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

Our common stock is traded on the OTCQB Marketplace, which may have an unfavorable impact on our stock price and liquidity.

Our stock is traded on the OTCQB Marketplace. The OTCQB is a significantly more limited market than the national securities exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange or Nasdaq system, and there are lower financial or qualitative standards that a company must meet to be listed on the OTCQB. The OTCQB market is an inter-dealer market much less regulated than the major exchanges and trading in our common stock may be subject to abuses, volatility and shorting, which may have little to do with our operations or business prospects. This volatility could depress the market price of our common stock for reasons unrelated to operating performance. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has adopted rules that require a broker-dealer to have reasonable grounds for believing an investment is suitable for that customer when recommending an investment to a customer. FINRA believes that there is a high probability that speculative low-priced securities will not be suitable for some customers and may make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy our common stock, which may result in a limited ability to buy and sell our stock. We currently do not meet applicable listing standards of a market senior to the OTC and we may never apply or qualify for future listing on Nasdaq or a senior market.

We do not intend to pay any cash dividends on our shares of common stock in the near future, so our shareholders will not be able to receive a return on their shares unless they sell their shares.

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We intend to retain any future earnings to finance the development and expansion of our business.  We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. There is no assurance that future dividends will be paid, and if dividends are paid, there is no assurance with respect to the amount of any such dividend.  Unless we pay dividends, our shareholders will not be able to receive a return on their shares unless they sell such shares.

ITEM 1B.UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

None.

ITEM 2.PROPERTIES.

We currently lease approximately 6,500 square feet of retail/office space in Seattle, Washington for our principal executive and administrative offices. The term of the lease is five years expiring February 2020 with an option to extend for additional one-year terms. See Note 6  in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Report for further discussion.

We do not own real property.



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ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

We are not currently involved in any material legal proceedings. We may be involved from time to time in various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business, including proceedings involving employee claims, contract disputes, product liability and other general liability claims, as well as trademark, copyright, and related claims and legal actions. In the opinion of our management, the ultimate disposition of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity.

ITEM 4.MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

Not applicable.

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PART II



ITEM 5.MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

Market Information

Our common stock currently trades on the OTCQB Marketplace under the symbol “JSDA.” The following table shows, for each quarter of fiscal 2017 and 2016, the high and low closing sales prices as reported by the OTCQB Marketplace.





Holders

As of March 28, 2018,  there were 41,464,373 shares of common stock issued and outstanding, held by approximately 234 holders of record, although there are a much larger number of beneficial owners. The last reported sale price per share on March 28, 2018 was $0.36.

Dividends

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends with respect to our common stock. We do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Any future determination with regard to the payment of dividends will be at the discretion of the Board of Directors and will be dependent upon our future earnings, financial condition, applicable dividend restrictions and capital requirements and other factors deemed relevant by the Board of Directors.



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ITEM 6.SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA.

The following selected financial and operating data are derived from our consolidated financial statements and should be read in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements.









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ITEM 7.MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. As described at the beginning of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could contribute to such differences include those discussed at the beginning of this Report, below in this section and in the section above entitled “Risk Factors.” You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this Report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this Report, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read the following discussion and analysis in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes thereto included elsewhere in this Report.

Overview

We develop, produce, market and distribute premium beverages which we sell and distribute primarily in North America through our network of independent distributors and directly to our national and regional retail accounts. We also sell products in select international markets. Our products are sold primarily in grocery stores,  convenience and gas stores, on fountain in restaurants, “up and down the street” in independent accounts such as delicatessens and sandwich shops, as well as through our national accounts with several large retailers. We refer to our network of independent distributors as our direct store delivery (DSD) channel, and we refer to our national and regional accounts who receive shipments directly from us as our direct to retail (DTR) channel. We do not directly manufacture our products, but instead outsource the manufacturing process to third-party contract manufacturers. We also sell various products online, including soda with customized labels, wearables, candy and other items, and we license our trademarks for use on products sold by other manufacturers.

Our Focus: Sales Growth

Our focus is sales growth through execution of the following key initiatives:

Results of Operations

Years Ended December 31, 2017 and 2016

Revenue

For the year ended December 31, 2017, revenue was approximately $13.3 million, a decrease of approximately $2.3 million, or 14.8% from $15.7 million in revenue for the year ended December 31, 2016. The decrease was primarily driven by declines in our Jones glass bottle business                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            consistent with downward pressure on the industry and the second quarter de-listing of our can business by a national retailer.  During 2017 and 2016, respectively,  23% and 19% of our revenues were from Canada.

For the year ended December 31, 2017, promotion allowances and slotting fees, which offset revenue, totaled $1.5 million, a decrease of $285,000, or 16.2%, from $1.8 million, in 2016. The decrease was primarily due to prior year programs around the launch of 7-Select in 2016.

Gross Profit



For the year ended December 31, 2017, gross profit decreased by approximately $1.1 million or 26.2%, to $3.0 million compared to $4.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2016, primarily driven by a decrease in sales attributable to multiple factors and a $275,000 non-cash write-down of obsolete inventory based on our current assessment of market conditions.  For the year ended December 31, 2017, gross margin decreased to 22.7% from 26.2% for the year ended December 31, 2016, primarily due to a large inventory write-down.

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Selling and Marketing Expenses

Selling and marketing expenses for the year ended December 31, 2017 were approximately $2.1 million,  an increase of $90,000, or 4.4%, from $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2016.  Selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of revenue increased to 15.9% for the year ended December 31, 2017, from 13.0% in 2016 driven by increased product sampling and decreased revenues. We will continue to balance selling and marketing expenses with our working capital resources.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2017 were $2.0 million, a decrease of $137,000 or 6.4%, compared to $2.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2016. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue increased to 15.1% for the year ended December 31, 2017 from 13.7% in 2016. We will continue to balance general and administrative expenses with our working capital resources.

Income Tax Expense

We had income tax expense of $23,000 in 2017, compared to $4,000 in 2016, primarily related to the tax provision on income from our Canadian operations. We have not recorded any tax benefit for the loss in our U.S. operations as we have recorded a full valuation allowance on our U.S. net deferred tax assets. We expect to continue to record a full valuation allowance on our U.S. net deferred tax assets until we sustain an appropriate level of taxable income through improved U.S. operations. Our effective tax rate is based on recurring factors, including the forecasted mix of income before taxes in various jurisdictions, estimated permanent differences and the recording of a full valuation allowance on our U.S. net deferred tax assets.

Net Loss

Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2017 increased to $1.3 million from a net loss of $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2016. The increase in net loss was primarily a result of downward CSD trends, the delisting of our can business during the second quarter, and a write-down related to our assessment of market conditions.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, we had cash and cash-equivalents of approximately $397,000 and $733,000 respectively, and working capital of $908,000 and $1.8 million, respectively. Net cash used in operations during fiscal years 2017 and 2016 totaled $37,000 and $346,000, respectively. Net cash used in operations decreased primarily due to timing of receivables offset by our larger net loss.  Our cash flows vary throughout the year based on seasonality.

For the year ended December 31, 2017,  net cash used in financing activities totaled $297,000 compared to net cash provided by financing activities of approximately $303,000 for the year ended December 31, 2016 primarily from the decreased usage of our line of credit and to a lesser extent stock option exercises. We incurred a net loss of $1.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. Our accumulated deficit increased to $62.1 million as of December 31, 2017 compared to the prior year’s deficit of $60.9 million.

On March 23, 2018, the Company received proceeds of $2.8 million in connection with the note purchase agreement described in Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in the Report.

As of the date of this Report, as a result of the recent financing, we believe that our current cash and cash equivalents, combined with our Loan Facility and anticipated cash from operations, will be sufficient to meet the Company’s funding requirements for one year after the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017 have been issued.

We  have an amended and restated revolving secured credit facility (the “Loan Facility”) with CapitalSource Business Finance Group (previously known as BFI Business Finance).  The Loan Facility currently allows us to borrow a maximum aggregate amount of up to $3.2 million based on eligible accounts receivable and inventory.  As of December 31, 2017, our eligible borrowing base was approximately $1.2 million, for which we had an outstanding balance of $858,000. 

During 2017 and 2016, we received $50,000 and $8,000, respectively, from the cash exercise of stock options.  From time to time, we may receive additional cash through the exercise of stock options or warrants in the future. However, we cannot predict the timing or amount of cash proceeds we may receive from the exercise, if at all, of any of the outstanding stock options or warrants.

We may require additional financing to support our working capital needs in the future. The amount of additional capital we may require, the timing of our capital needs and the availability of financing to fund those needs will depend on a number of factors, including our strategic initiatives and operating plans, the performance of our business and the market conditions for debt or equity financing. Additionally, the amount of capital required will depend on our ability to meet our sales goals and otherwise successfully execute our operating plan. We believe it is imperative to meet these sales objectives in order to lessen

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our reliance on external equity financing in the future. We intend to continually monitor and adjust our business plan as necessary to respond to developments in our business, our markets and the broader economy. Although we believe various debt and equity financing alternatives will be available to us to support our working capital needs, financing arrangements on acceptable terms may not be available to us when needed. Additionally, these alternatives may require significant cash payments for interest and other costs or could be highly dilutive to our existing shareholders. Any such financing alternatives may not provide us with sufficient funds to meet our long-term capital requirements. If necessary, we may explore strategic transactions that we consider to be in the best interest of the Company and our shareholders, which may include, without limitation, public or private offerings of debt or equity securities, a rights offering, and other strategic alternatives; however, these options may not ultimately be available or feasible.

Seasonality

       Our sales are seasonal and we experience fluctuations in quarterly results as a result of many factors. We historically have generated a greater percentage of our revenues during the warm weather months of April through September. Sales may fluctuate materially on a quarter to quarter basis or an annual basis when we launch a new product or fill the “pipeline” of a new distribution partner or a large retail partner. Sales results may also fluctuate based on the number of SKUs selected or removed by our distributors and retail partners through the normal course of serving consumers in the dynamic, trend-oriented beverage industry. As a result, management believes that period-to-period comparisons of results of operations are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as any indication of future performance or results expected for the fiscal year.

Off-balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no off-balance sheet arrangements.

Critical Accounting Policies

The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. On an on-going basis, we evaluate our estimates based on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form our basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions, or if management made different judgments or utilized different estimates. Many of our estimates or judgments are based on anticipated future events or performance, and as such are forward-looking in nature, and are subject to many risks and uncertainties, including those discussed below and elsewhere in this Report. We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise this discussion to reflect any future events or circumstances.

There are certain critical accounting estimates that we believe require significant judgment in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. We have identified below our accounting policies that we use in arriving at key estimates that we consider critical to our business operations and the understanding of our results of operations. This is not a complete list of all of our accounting policies, and there may be other accounting policies that are significant to us. For a detailed discussion on the application of these and our other accounting policies, see Note 1 to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Report.

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred, the sales price is fixed or determinable and collectability is reasonably assured. Revenue is recorded net of provisions for discounts, slotting fees and promotion allowances.

Our products are sold on various terms for cash or credit. Our credit terms, which are established in accordance with local and industry practices, typically require payment within 30 days of delivery. We recognize revenue upon receipt of our products by our distributors and national retail accounts in accordance with written sales terms, net of provisions for discounts and promotion allowances. Estimates are made based on expected delivery dates based on average freight delivery times for the zip code location. For our interactive channel, due to the customization of the labels, we recognize revenue upon shipment. All sales are final sales; however, in limited instances, due to product quality issues or distributor terminations, we may accept returned product. To date, such returns have not been material, nor do we anticipate them to be material in the future.

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Inventory

We hold raw materials and finished goods inventories, which are manufactured and procured based on our sales forecasts. We value inventory at the lower of cost or net realizable value and include adjustments for estimated obsolete or excess inventory, on a first in-first out basis. These valuations are subject to customer acceptance, planned and actual product changes, demand for the particular products, and our estimates of future realizable values based on these forecasted demands. We regularly review inventory detail to determine whether a write-down is necessary. We consider various factors in making this determination, including recent sales history and predicted trends, industry market conditions and general economic conditions. The amount and timing of write-downs for any period could change if we make different judgments or use different estimates. We also determine whether a provision for obsolete or excess inventory is required on products that are over 12 months from production date or any changes related to market conditions, slow-moving inventory or obsolete products.

Trade Spend and Promotion Expenses

Throughout the year, we run trade spend and promotional programs with distributors and retailers to help promote on- shelf discounts to our consumers. Additionally, in more limited instances, we enter into customer marketing agreements or various other slotting arrangements. The provisions for discounts, slotting fees and promotion allowances is recorded as an offset to revenue and shown net on the consolidated statement of operations. Estimates are made to accrue for amounts that have not yet been invoiced in the month that the program occurs, or in the case of slotting, when the commitment is made.



ITEM 7A.QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK.

Item is inapplicable.

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ITEM 8.FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA.





     



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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM



To the Board of Directors and Shareholders

Jones Soda Co.

Seattle, Washington





Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements



We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Jones Soda Co. and subsidiaries ("the Company") as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive loss, shareholders' equity, and cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2017, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the "consolidated financial statements").  In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2017, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.



Basis for Opinion



These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management.  Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's consolidated financial statements based on our audits.  We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) ("PCAOB") and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.



We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB.  Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.  The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting.  As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting.  Accordingly, we express no such opinion.



Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks.  Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements.  Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements.  We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.



/S/ PETERSON SULLIVAN LLP



We have served as the Company's auditor since 2010.





Seattle, Washington

March 29, 2018

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JONES SODA CO.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS







See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.



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JONES SODA CO.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS









See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.



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JONES SODA CO.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS









See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.



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JONES SODA CO.



CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Years Ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 









See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

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JONES SODA CO.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS







See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.



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JONES SODA CO.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Years Ended December 31, 2017 and 2016



1. Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Jones Soda Co. develops, produces, markets and distributes premium beverages which it sells and distributes primarily in the United States and Canada through its network of independent distributors and directly to its national and regional retail accounts.

We are a Washington corporation and have two operating subsidiaries, Jones Soda Co. (USA) Inc. and Jones Soda (Canada) Inc. (Subsidiaries).

Basis of presentation and consolidation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules and regulations applicable to financial reporting. The consolidated financial statements include our accounts and accounts of our wholly owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions between us and our subsidiaries have been eliminated in consolidation.

Liquidity

As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, we had cash and cash-equivalents of approximately $397,000 and $733,000, respectively, and working capital of $908,000 and $1.8 million, respectively. Net cash used in operations during fiscal years 2017 and 2016 totaled $37,000 and $346,000, respectively. Net cash used in operations decreased primarily due to timing of receivables.  Cash flows vary throughout the year based on seasonality.

The Company has experienced recurring losses from operations and negative cash flows from operating activities.  This situation created uncertainties about the Company’s ability to execute its business plan, finance operations, and initially indicated substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. On March 23, 2018, the Company received proceeds of $2.8 million in connection with the note purchase agreement described in Note 14, Subsequent Events. The Company believes that the recent financing alleviates the conditions which initially indicated substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. However, the Company has experienced and continues to experience negative cash flows from operations, as well as an ongoing requirement for additional capital to support working capital needs. The amount of additional capital that the Company may require, the timing of capital needs and the availability of financing to fund those needs will depend on a number of factors, including strategic initiatives and operating plans, the performance of our business and the market conditions for debt or equity financing.

As of the date of this Report, as a result of the recent financing, we believe that our current cash and cash equivalents, combined with our Loan Facility and anticipated cash from operations, will be sufficient to meet the Company’s funding requirements for one year after these consolidated financial statements are issued. Additionally, our Loan Facility (described below and in Note 5 to Consolidated Financial Statements), is available for our working capital needs.

We have an amended and restated revolving secured credit facility (the “Loan Facility”) with CapitalSource Business Finance Group (previously known as BFI Business Finance). The Loan Facility currently allows us to borrow a maximum aggregate amount of up to $3.2 million based on eligible accounts receivable and inventory. As of December 31, 2017, our eligible borrowing base was approximately $1.2 million, for which we had an outstanding balance of $858,000.

We may require additional financing to support our working capital needs in the future. The amount of additional capital we may require, the timing of our capital needs and the availability of financing to fund those needs will depend on a number of factors, including our strategic initiatives and operating plans, the performance of our business and the market conditions for debt or equity financing. Additionally, the amount of capital required will depend on our ability to meet our sales goals and otherwise successfully execute our operating plan. We believe it is imperative to meet these sales objectives in order to lessen our reliance on external financing in the future. We intend to continually monitor and adjust our business plan as necessary to respond to developments in our business, our markets and the broader economy. Although we believe various debt and equity financing alternatives will be available to us to support our working capital needs, financing arrangements on acceptable terms may not be available to us when needed. Additionally, these alternatives may require significant cash payments for interest and other costs or could be highly dilutive to our existing shareholders. Any such financing alternatives may not provide us with sufficient funds to meet our long-term capital requirements. If necessary, we may explore strategic transactions that we consider to be in the best interest of the Company and our shareholders, which may include, without limitation, public or private offerings of debt or equity securities, a rights offering, and other strategic alternatives; however, these options may not ultimately be available or feasible.

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Use of estimates

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements requires management to make a number of estimates and assumptions relating to the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Significant items subject to such estimates and assumptions include, but are not limited to, inventory valuation, depreciable lives and valuation of capital assets, valuation allowances for receivables, trade promotion liabilities, stock-based compensation expense, valuation allowance for deferred income tax assets, contingencies, and forecasts supporting the going concern assumption and related disclosures. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Cash and cash equivalents

We consider all highly liquid short-term investments with an original or remaining maturity of three months or less at the date of purchase to be cash equivalents.

Fair value of financial instruments

The carrying amounts for cash and cash equivalents, receivables, and payables approximate fair value due to the short-term maturity of these instruments. The carrying value of the line of credit approximates fair value (determined based on level 3 inputs in the fair value hierarchy) because the interest rate is reflective of the rate we could obtain on debt with similar terms.

Accounts receivable

Our accounts receivable balance primarily includes balances from trade sales to distributors and retail customers. The allowance for doubtful accounts is our best estimate of the amount of probable credit losses in our existing accounts receivable. We determine the allowance for doubtful accounts based primarily on historical write-off experience. Account balances that are deemed uncollectible, are charged off against the allowance after all means of collection have been exhausted and the potential for recovery is considered remote. Allowances for doubtful accounts of $7 and $13 as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, are netted against accounts receivable. Activity in the allowance for doubtful accounts consists of the following for the years ended December 31 (in thousands):

As of December 31, 2017, two customers made up 31% of our outstanding accounts receivable. As of December 31, 2016, two customers made up 25% of our outstanding accounts receivable.

Inventories

Inventories consist of raw materials and finished goods and are stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value and include adjustments for estimated obsolete or excess inventory. Cost is based on actual cost on a first-in first-out basis. Prior to the adoption of ASU 2015-11 at the beginning of the first quarter of 2017, inventory was valued at the lower of cost or market. The adoption of ASU 2015-11 did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. Raw materials that will be used in production in the next twelve months are recorded in inventory. The provisions for obsolete or excess inventory are based on estimated forecasted usage of inventories. A significant change in demand for certain products as compared to forecasted amounts may result in recording additional provisions for obsolete inventory. Provisions for obsolete or excess inventory are recorded as cost of goods sold.



The provision for obsolete inventory for the year ended December 31, 2017 amounted to $275,000 as a result of discontinuing our Jones Stripped product line, raw materials related to our de-listed can offering and the discontinuation of other non-core products.

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Fixed assets

Fixed assets are recorded at cost less accumulated depreciation and depreciated on the declining balance basis over the estimated useful lives of the assets as follows:

Impairment of long-lived assets

Long-lived assets, which include fixed assets, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of the assets to future undiscounted net cash flows expected to be generated by the assets. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the fair value of the assets. The fair value of the assets is estimated using the higher of discounted future cash flows of the assets or estimated net realizable value. Long-lived assets are grouped at the lowest level for which there are identifiable cash flows when evaluating for impairment. Assets to be disposed of are reported at the lower of the carrying amount or fair value less costs to sell.

Foreign currency translation

The functional currency of our Canadian subsidiary is the Canadian dollar. We translate assets and liabilities related to these operations to U.S. dollars at the exchange rate in effect at the date of the consolidated balance sheet; we convert revenues and expenses into U.S. dollars using the average monthly exchange rates. Translation gains and losses are reported as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income. Transaction gains and losses arising from the transactions denominated in a currency other than the functional currency are included in other expense, net in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations. Net transactions losses were $5,000 for 2017 and $9,000 for 2016.

Revenue recognition

We recognize revenue when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred, the sales price is fixed or determinable and collectability is reasonably assured. Revenue is recorded net of provisions for discounts, slotting fees and promotion allowances. For the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, our revenue was reduced by $1.5 million and $1.8 million, respectively, for slotting fees and promotion allowances. All sales to distributors and customers are final; however, in limited instances, due to product quality issues or distributor terminations, we may accept returned product. To date, such returns have not been material.

Shipping and handling costs

Shipping and handling amounts paid to us by customers are primarily for online orders, included in revenue and total $185,000 and $163,000 for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016.  

Advertising costs

Advertising costs, which also include promotions and sponsorships, are expensed as incurred. During the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, we incurred advertising costs of $661,000 and $544,000, respectively.

Income taxes

We account for income taxes by recognizing the amount of taxes payable for the current year and deferred tax assets and liabilities for future tax consequences of events at enacted tax rates that have been recognized in our financial statements or tax returns. We perform periodic evaluations of recorded tax assets and liabilities and maintain a valuation allowance, if considered necessary. The determination of taxes payable for the current year includes estimates. We believe that we have appropriate support for the income tax positions taken, and to be taken, on our tax returns and that our accruals for tax liabilities are adequate for all open years based on an assessment of many factors including past experience and interpretations of tax law applied to the facts of each matter. No reserves for an uncertain income tax position have been recorded for the years ended December 31, 2017 or 2016.

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Net loss per share

Basic net loss per share is computed using the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the periods. Diluted earnings per share is computed by adjusting the weighted average number of common shares by the effective net exercise or conversion of all dilutive securities. In 2017 and 2016, due to the net loss, outstanding stock options amounting to 4,016,653 and 3,663,716 at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, and warrants amounting to 3,057,500 at December 31, 2016, were anti-dilutive.

Comprehensive loss

Comprehensive loss is comprised of net loss and translation adjustments. We do not provide income taxes on currency translation adjustments, as the historical earnings from our Canadian subsidiary is considered to be indefinitely reinvested.

Seasonality

Our sales are seasonal and we experience fluctuations in quarterly results as a result of many factors. We historically have generated a greater percentage of our revenues during the warm weather months of April through September. Sales may fluctuate materially on a quarter to quarter basis or an annual basis when we launch a new product or fill the “pipeline” of a new distribution partner or a large retail partner. Sales results may also fluctuate based on the number of SKUs selected or removed by our distributors and retail partners through the normal course of serving consumers in the dynamic, trend-oriented beverage industry. As a result, management believes that period-to-period comparisons of results of operations are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as any indication of future performance or results expected for the fiscal year.

Recent accounting guidance



In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)” (ASU 2014-09) as modified by ASU No. 2015-14, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Deferral of the Effective Date,” ASU 2016-08, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Principal versus Agent Considerations (Reporting Revenue Gross versus Net),” ASU No. 2016-10, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Identifying Performance Obligations and Licensing,” and ASU No. 2016-12, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Narrow-Scope Improvements and Practical Expedients.” The revenue recognition principle in ASU 2014-09 is that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. In addition, new and enhanced disclosures will be required. Companies may adopt the new standard either using the full retrospective approach, a modified retrospective approach with practical expedients, or a cumulative effect upon adoption approach. The Company will adopt the new standard effective January 1, 2018, using the full retrospective approach. The adoption of ASU 2014-09 will not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations, equity or cash flows.



In November 2015, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2015-17, Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes: Topic 740 (“ASU 2015-17”). Current GAAP requires the deferred taxes for each jurisdiction to be presented as a net current asset or liability and net noncurrent asset or liability. This requires a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction analysis based on the classification of the assets and liabilities to which the underlying temporary differences relate, or, in the case of loss or credit carryforwards, based on the period in which the attribute is expected to be realized. Any valuation allowance is then required to be allocated on a pro rata basis, by jurisdiction, between current and noncurrent deferred tax assets. The new guidance requires that all deferred tax assets and liabilities, along with any related valuation allowance, be classified as noncurrent on the balance sheet. As a result, each jurisdiction will now only have one net noncurrent deferred tax asset or liability. The guidance does not change the existing requirement that only permits offsetting within a jurisdiction. We adopted ASU 2015-17 at the beginning of the first quarter of 2017 and all of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, along with any related valuation allowance, were classified as noncurrent on our Consolidated Balance Sheet.

In July 2015, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2015-11, Simplifying the Measurement of Inventory: Topic 330 (“ASU 2015-11”), to amend Topic 330, Inventory. Topic 330 currently requires an entity to measure inventory at the lower of cost or market. Market could be replacement cost, net realizable value, or net realizable value, less an approximately normal profit margin. ASU 2015-11 requires that inventory be measured using either the first-in, first-out, or FIFO method, or average cost method be measured at the lower of cost and net realizable value. Net realizable value is the estimated selling prices in the ordinary course of business, less reasonably predictable costs of completion, disposal and transportation. We adopted ASU 2015-11 during 2017 without a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases: Topic 842 (“ASU 2016-2”), which replaces existing lease guidance. ASU 2016-2 requires lessees to recognize a lease liability and a lease asset for all leases, including operating leases, with a term greater than twelve months to its balance sheets. ASU 2016-2 also expands the required quantitative and qualitative

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disclosures surrounding leases. ASU 2016-2 is effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. While the Company expects adoption to lead to an increase in the assets and liabilities recorded on its balance sheets, the Company is still evaluating the overall impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments: Credit Losses, which changes the impairment model for most financial instruments, including trade receivables from an incurred loss method to a new forward-looking approach, based on expected losses. The estimate of expected credit losses will require entities to incorporate considerations of historical information, current information and reasonable and supportable forecasts. This ASU is effective for us in the first quarter of 2020 and must be adopted using a modified retrospective transition approach. The Company is currently evaluating the potential impact the adoption of ASU 2016-13 will have on its consolidated financial statements.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows: Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments, which clarifies how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. The ASU is effective for us in the first quarter of 2018 with early adoption permitted and must be applied retrospectively to all periods presented. The Company is currently evaluating the potential impact the adoption of ASU 2016-15 will have on its consolidated financial statements.





2. Inventory

Inventory consisted of the following as of December 31 (in thousands):

Finished goods primarily include product ready for shipment, as well as promotional merchandise held for sale. Raw materials primarily include ingredients, concentrate and packaging.



3. Fixed Assets

Fixed assets consisted of the following as of December 31 (in thousands):







4. Accrued Expenses 

Accrued expenses consisted of the following as of December 31 (in thousands):





5. Line of Credit

We have an amended and restated revolving secured Loan Facility with CapitalSource Business Finance Group (previously known as BFI Business Finance) (“CapitalSource”). As of December 31, 2017, the maximum aggregate amount available for borrowing under the Loan Facility was $3.2 million, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. The current term of the Loan Facility expires on December 27, 2018, unless renewed.

Under this Loan Facility, as amended in January and December 2016, we may periodically request advances equal to the lesser of: (a) $3.2 million, or (b) the Borrowing Base which is, in the following priority, the sum of: (i) 85% of eligible U.S.

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accounts receivable, plus (ii) 50% of eligible Canadian accounts receivable not to exceed $300,000 (subject to any reserve amount established by CapitalSource), plus (iii) 35% of finished goods inventory not to exceed $475,000 or 50% of eligible accounts receivable collateral. These terms became available to us in April 2016, and reflect an increase to our borrowing capacity of $175,000.  As of December 31, 2017, our eligible borrowing base was approximately $1.2 million, for which we had an outstanding balance of $858,000.

As amended by the December 2016 renewal, advances under the Loan Facility bear interest at the prime rate plus 0.75%, where prime may not be less than 0% (resulting in an interest rate of 5.25% as of December 31, 2017), and a loan fee of 0.10% on the daily loan balance is payable monthly. The Loan Facility provides for a minimum cumulative amount of interest of $30,000 per year to be paid to CapitalSource, regardless of whether or not we draw on the Loan Facility. CapitalSource has the right to terminate the Loan Facility at any time upon 120 days’ prior written notice. All present and future obligations of the Subsidiaries arising under the Loan Facility are guaranteed by us and are secured by a first priority security interest in all of our assets. The Loan Facility contains customary representations and warranties as well as affirmative and negative covenants. As of December 31, 2017, we were in compliance with all covenants under the Loan Facility.

6.  Lease Obligations



We currently lease approximately 6,500 square feet of retail/office space in Seattle, Washington for our principal executive and administrative offices. The term of the lease is five years expiring February 2020 with an option to extend for additional one-year terms, indefinitely.

As of December 31, 2017, our scheduled lease payments excluding management fees and other operational expenses were as follows (in thousands):





During the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, we incurred rental expenses of $139,000 and $129,000 respectively.



7.  Warrants

As part of our registered offering in February 2012, we sold and issued warrants for the purchase of up to 3,207,500 shares of common stock. Each warrant had an exercise price of $0.70 per share. Warrants for 150,000 shares were previously exercised for cash during 2013. Pursuant to their terms, all 3,057,500 of the then-outstanding unexercised warrants expired on August 6, 2017.



8.Shareholders’ Equity

Under the terms of our 2011 Incentive Plan (the “Plan”), the number of shares authorized under the Plan may be increased each January 1st by an amount equal to the least of (a) 1,300,000 shares, (b) 4.0% of our outstanding common stock as of the end of our immediately preceding fiscal year, and (c) a lesser amount determined by the Board of Directors (the Board), provided that the number of shares that may be granted pursuant to awards in a single year may not exceed 10% of our outstanding shares of common stock on a fully diluted basis as of the end of the immediately preceding fiscal year. Effective January 1, 2017, the total number of shares of common stock authorized under the Plan increased to 10,784,032 shares.



Under the terms of the Plan, the Board may grant awards to employees, officers, directors, consultants, agents, advisors and independent contractors. Awards may consist of stock options, stock appreciation rights, stock awards, restricted stock, stock units, performance awards or other stock or cash-based awards. Stock options are granted at the closing price of our stock on the date of grant, and generally have a ten-year term and vest over a period of 48 months with the first 25.0% cliff vesting one year from the grant date and monthly thereafter. As of December 31, 2017, there were 4,862,355 shares of unissued common stock authorized and available for future awards under the Plan.

A summary of our stock option activity is as follows:



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The following table summarizes information about stock options outstanding and exercisable under our stock incentive plans at December 31, 2017:

Stock-based compensation expense is recognized using the straight-line attribution method over the employees’ requisite service period. We recognize compensation expense for only the portion of stock options or restricted stock expected to vest. Therefore, we apply estimated forfeiture rates that are derived from historical employee termination behavior. If the actual number of forfeitures differs from those estimated by management, additional adjustments to stock-based compensation expense may be required in future periods.

At December 31, 2017, we had unrecognized compensation expense related to stock options of $169,000 to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.4 years.

The following table summarizes the stock-based compensation expense (in thousands):



We employ the following key weighted-average assumptions in determining the fair value of stock options, using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and the simplified method to estimate the expected term of “plain vanilla” options:

During the year ended December 31, 2017,  no material modifications were made to outstanding stock options.

The aggregate intrinsic value of stock options outstanding at December 31, 2017 and 2016 was $56,000 and $185,000 and for options exercisable was $54,000 and $152,000, respectively. The intrinsic value of outstanding and exercisable stock

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options is calculated as the quoted market price of the stock at the balance sheet date less the exercise price of the option. The total intrinsic value of options exercised during the year ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 was $10,000 and $3,000, respectively. The Company’s policy is to issue new shares upon exercise of options.

In May 2007, our shareholders approved our 2007 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) which allows eligible employees to acquire shares of our common stock at a discount. The ESPP includes 300,000 shares available for issuance, and no amounts have been issued under the ESPP through December 31, 2017.



9.Employee 401(k) Plan

We have a 401(k) plan whereby eligible employees who have completed one hour of service per month in three consecutive months of employment may enroll. Employees can elect to contribute up to 100% of their eligible compensation to the 401(k) plan subject to Internal Revenue Service’s limitations. Beginning January 1, 2009, we instituted an employee match under our safe harbor 401(k) plan and match employee contributions up to 4% of the employee’s compensation at the rate of 100% for the first 3% contributed and at the rate of 50% for the next 2%.  Effective January 1, 2014, we modified the 401(k) plan to eliminate the safe harbor matching contribution, to move to a discretionary contribution. There were no matching or discretionary contributions during the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016.



10.Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments

As of December 31, 2017, we continue to have commitments to various suppliers of raw materials (primarily sugar and glass). Purchase obligations under these commitments are expected to total $979,000 in 2018, with no current commitments thereafter.

Legal proceedings

We are or may be involved from time to time in various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business, including proceedings involving employee claims, contract disputes, product liability and other general liability claims, as well as trademark, copyright, and related claims and legal actions. In the opinion of our management, the ultimate disposition of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity.



11. Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes consisted of the following for the years ended December 31 (in thousands):



Loss before provision for income taxes was as follows for the years ended December 31 (in thousands):



The items accounting for the difference between income taxes computed at the federal statutory rate and the provision for income taxes are as follows:

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Deferred income taxes reflect the tax effects of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income tax purposes. Significant components of our deferred income taxes were as follows (in thousands):

We continue to experience significant losses in our U.S. operations that are material to our decision to maintain a full valuation allowance against our net U.S. deferred tax assets. This is due to the fact that the relevant accounting guidance puts more weight on the negative objective evidence of cumulative losses in recent years than the positive subjective evidence of future projections of pretax income. For the years ended December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, the valuation allowance decreased by $7.4 million and $245,000, respectively. 

We continually analyze the realizability of our deferred tax assets, but we reasonably expect to continue to record a full valuation allowance on future U.S. tax benefits until we sustain an appropriate level of taxable income through improved U.S. operations and tax planning strategies.

On December 22, 2017, “H.R.1”, formerly known as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”, was signed into law. Among other items, H.R.1 reduces the federal corporate tax rate to 21% from the existing maximum rate of 35%, effective January 1, 2018. As a result, the Company revalued its net deferred tax asset at the new lower tax rate resulting in a reduction to the value of the deferred tax asset before valuation allowance of $7.7 million.

H.R.1 also includes a Repatriation Transaction Tax on the net accumulated and previously untaxed earnings and profits of a U.S. taxpayer's foreign subsidiaries. As such, the Company no longer considers the undistributed earnings of its foreign subsidiaries to be permanently reinvested outside of the U.S. and reflected an increase to the provision for income tax of approximately $158,000 for the year ended December 31, 2017, as a result of the Repatriation Transaction Tax.

At December 31, 2017, we had net operating loss carry-forwards for income tax purposes in the United States of $59.4 million which expire at various times commencing in 2019. Net operating loss carry-forwards may be subject to certain limitations under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code.

There are no uncertain tax positions to recognize as of December 31, 2017 and 2016.

The tax years that remain open to examination by the taxing authorities are 2013 – 2017, generally. The net operating losses from prior years are subject to adjustment under examination to the extent they remain unutilized in an open year.





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12.  Segment Information

We have one operating segment with operations primarily in the United States and Canada. Sales are assigned to geographic locations based on the location of customers. Geographic information for the years ended December 31 is as follows (in thousands):









During the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016,  three of our customers represented approximately 53% and 49%, respectively of revenues.





13.  Selected Quarterly Financial Information (unaudited)

Summarized quarterly financial information for fiscal years 2017 and 2016 is as follows (dollars in thousands, except per share data):



Numbers may not sum due to rounding.



14.Subsequent Events



On March 23, 2018, we offered subscriptions and issued an aggregate principal amount of $2,800,000 of Convertible Notes to institutional and individual accredited investors, including the Company’s CEO. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Convertible Notes to fund its Lemoncocco and Fountain initiatives and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

 

The Convertible Notes have a four-year term from the date of issuance and bear interest at 6% per annum until maturity. No payments of principal or interest are due until the maturity. The holders can convert the Convertible Notes at any time during the term into a number of shares of the Company’s common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (i) the 

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amount of the unpaid principal and interest on the Convertible Note by (ii) $0.32 (the “Conversion Price”). The Conversion Price is subject to broad based, weighted average antidilution protection in the event that the Company issues shares of capital stock or equity equivalents at a price that is less than $0.32 per shares prior to the conversion of the Convertible Notes.







None.



Disclosure Control and Procedures

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures (as defined under Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended).

Management, under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and our Principal Financial Officer evaluated the effectiveness and design of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(b) as of December 31, 2017. Based on that evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and the Principal Financial Officer concluded that these disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2017.

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Internal control over financial reporting is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that: (i) in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect our transactions; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary for preparation of our financial statements; (iii) provide reasonable assurance that our receipts and expenditures are made in accordance with management authorization; and (iv) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting, however well designed and operated can provide only reasonable, and not absolute, assurance that the controls will prevent or detect misstatements. In addition, the design of any control system is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events. Because of these and other inherent limitations of control systems, there is only the reasonable assurance that our controls will succeed in achieving their goals under all potential future conditions.

Management, under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer, conducted an evaluation of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017, based on the framework in Internal Control-Integrated Framework  (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Based on our evaluation under the COSO framework, management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2017.

There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2017 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

This Report does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Additionally, management’s report was not subject to attestation by our registered public accounting firm pursuant to the permanent exemption from Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 for non-accelerated filers.

None.



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PART III



ITEM 10.DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.

Information regarding our Code of Ethics is included in Item 1 of Part I, and that information is incorporated by reference herein.

The other information called for by Part III, Item 10, will be included in our proxy statement relating to our 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, and is incorporated herein by reference to the sections captioned “Nominees,” “Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance,” “Board Meetings and Committees,” and “Audit Committee.” The proxy statement will be filed within 120 days of December 31, 2017, our fiscal year end.

ITEM 11.EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION.

Information called for by Part III, Item 11, will be included in our proxy statement relating to our 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, and is incorporated herein by reference to the sections captioned “Executive Compensation,” “Compensation Committee Report,” and “Compensation of Directors.” The proxy statement will be filed within 120 days of December 31, 2017, our fiscal year end.

ITEM 12.SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED SHAREHOLDER MATTERS.

Certain information called for by Part III, Item 12, will be included in our proxy statement relating to our 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, and is incorporated herein by reference to the section captioned “Security Ownership Of Certain Beneficial Owners And Management.” The proxy statement will be filed within 120 days of December 31, 2017, our fiscal year end.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

The following table gives information as of December 31, 2017, the end of the most recently completed fiscal year, about shares of common stock that may be issued under our Jones Soda Co. 2011 Incentive Plan, our 2002 Equity Plan (which was terminated but has awards which remain outstanding in accordance with their existing terms), and 2007 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, all of which have been approved by shareholders. To date, no amounts have been issued under the 2007 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.





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ITEM 13.CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE.

Information called for by Part III, Item 13, will be included in our proxy statement relating to our 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, and is incorporated herein by reference to the sections captioned “Transactions With Related Persons,” “Board

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Meetings and Committees” and “Independence of the Board of Directors.” The proxy statement will be filed within 120 days of December 31, 2017, our fiscal year end.

ITEM 14.PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES.

Information called for by Part III, Item 14, will be included in our proxy statement relating to our 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and is incorporated herein by reference to the sections captioned “Policy for Approval of Audit and Permitted Non-Audit Services” and “Audit and Related Fees.” The proxy statement will be filed within 120 days of December 31, 2017, our fiscal year end.



PART IV



ITEM 15.EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES.

(a) Documents filed as part of this Report are as follows:





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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.





              Dated: March 29, 2018 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.





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EXHIBIT INDEX

The following exhibits are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or are incorporated herein by reference. Where an exhibit is incorporated by reference, the document to which it is cross referenced is made.





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