The Tinley Beverage Company Inc. has announced that Rick Gillis is stepping down from his role as president, Tinley’s Brands USA, as part of the company’s recent cost-cutting measures.

Gillis will serve on the company’s advisory board going forward. Meanwhile, Kirsten Chapman has resigned from the board of directors for personal reasons.

"We thank Mr. Gillis for his contributions as a Tinley officer to date," said Ted Zittell, Tinley's director and CEO. "We welcome Rick's ongoing commitment to support the company and our Tinley's and Beckett's brands in his new role on the company's advisory board.”

As part of other cash preservation initiatives, Zittlell, Tinley’s CFO and certain other employees and consultants are temporarily deferring their salaries.

Tinley’s announced in January it had entered into a management services agreement with Blaze Life Holdings, LLC that included relocating its bottling assets to Blaze Life’s 45,000 sq. ft. cannabis manufacturing and distribution facility in Canoga Park, California.

Tinley's confirmed that it will decommission its Long Beach bottling assets before the end of the second quarter, with installation and commissioning of bottling lines at BLH's Canoga Park facility to follow at the beginning of the third quarter. Tinley’s said it is working with its Long Beach contract manufacturing clients to complete service requests before it decommissions its Long Beach facility.

Production in Long Beach includes both repeat and new client SKUs, as well as inventory-building orders from high-volume recurring clients booked across the company's three manufacturing lines. The company noted it successfully completed production of newly formulated infused iced tea and lemonade varieties developed by Green Monké under contract for the Cookies brand.

Tinley’s also recently ran batches of its own brand, as well as the first of several production runs for BLH's Illa-Canna LLC's new infused drinks. Additionally, certain brands, introduced to the company by BLH, have booked production for their products this quarter in Long Beach on an interim basis prior to the planned move to the Canoga Park facility.

Following receipt of new purchase orders from Total Wine & More to replenish inventory, production of Beckett's Tonics RTD and Beckett's '27 multi-serve spirits and liqueur is now underway at the company's chosen contract manufacturers. Delivery to Total Wine & More is expected at or around the end of the current quarter.

Tinley’s also announced it has paused plans to re-enter the Canadian market indefinitely, citing its need to preserve capital and reduce expenses with the goal of focusing future investment on high-return initiatives.

Furthermore, Tinley’s reported it received an advance of $200,000 from the remaining funds available under the BLH lending facility, with the final $300,000 from BLH expected to be expended during the move to Canoga Park. The $200,000 will provide Tinley’s, together with its ordinary course collection of client receivables, with sufficient capital to undertake ordinary operations until the company can move to Canoga Park.