Pet nutrition demand fuels more than $2 billion in facility investments – Pet Food Processing

Instinct Pet Food invested $200 million in a new raw pet food facility, called the Center of Excellence. Gray Construction will build the new facility. (Source: Gray)
KANSAS CITY, MO. — As consumer demand evolves, the pet food space is forced to expand, fueling several facility announcements. From July to December 2022, Pet Food Processing covered 48 new facility announcements, expansions and investments from processors, ingredient and equipment suppliers, and distributors. Altogether, the facility announcements represent more than $2.4 billion in investments within this rapidly expanding industry.
Read our recap of these operational expansions within the pet nutrition market below.
 
Manufacturers
In July, Foppers Gourmet Pet Treat Bakery announced that it expanded its existing production facility in Logansport, Ind. The company added new equipment and processing lines. The pet treat company was prompted to expand its facility following significant growth in demand, as well as the launch of a new flavor to its limited-ingredient product range.
K9 Candy Kitchen detailed its plans for a new production facility in Wisconsin on July 5. The company estimated it would take six months to construct the facility, which will include R&D capabilities. The new facility will increase capacity to meet rising demand for K9 Candy Kitchen’s Himalayan-Style Chews.
Private-label and contract manufacturer Simmons Pet Food announced many new facility expansions on July 18, including expansions to its Emporia, Kan., and Dubuque, Iowa, plants and the opening of a new distribution facility in Edgerton, Kan. The company is adding a fourth high-speed canning line to its Emporia facility, a second canning line to its Dubuque facility, and many other expansions, representing a total investment of $115 million in the two facilities. The projects are part of Simmons’ three-year $500 million growth plan.

At the end of July, the Missouri Department of Economic Development revealed that Mars Petcare made a $82 million investment to expand its pet treat facility in Kansas City, Mo. The expansion will increase capacity for the company’s GREENIES™ products by about 75% and will include new processing and packaging equipment, utilities and infrastructure. Construction on the facility is already underway and is anticipated to be completed in early 2023.
In its second quarter financials, Colgate-Palmolive announced that its pet food subsidiary Hill’s Pet Nutrition would acquire three dry pet food facilities from Red Collar Pet Foods for $700 million. The new facilities will be fully incorporated into Hill’s facility network to produce its Science Diet and Prescription Diet lines. At the end of September, Hill’s completed the facility acquisition.
On Aug. 8, Carnivore Meat Company broke ground on its new headquarters in Green Bay, Wis. The HQ will include a 28-acre processing complex, which will house 36 proprietary, next-generation freeze dryers to produce Carnivore’s flagship brand, Vital Essentials®, as well as other private label and co-manufactured freeze-dried pet foods. The new HQ is expected to be operational next year and will yield a six-fold increase in its production capacity.
In conjunction with its second quarter financial report, Freshpet announced it was gearing up for the opening of its new facility in Ennis, Texas, in September. At the end of September, the pet food company provided an update on the facility in its third quarter financials, claiming that the facility would be its “most efficient plant.” The facility began shipping product in November.
Instinct Pet Food invested $200 million in a new raw pet food facility in Nebraska, which will be built by Gray Construction. The facility, dubbed the Center of Excellence, will span more than 200,000 square feet and will be constructed with sustainability top of mind. The new facility will bring all aspects of raw manufacturing together at one location, eliminating 47 miles of inter-city travel, 20 touchpoints and 25 days of processing and manufacturing, and more than doubling total product output.

Nestlé Purina announced a $99 million investment in its Silao, Guanajuato-based pet food plant. The company plans to add two new production lines to the facility, bringing its total investment in the Guanajuato region to more than $400 million. Purina also purchased 170.5 acres of land in the area for future expansion.
On Sept. 7, Bond Pet Foods detailed an investment in a new 15,000-square-foot facility, expanding its production. The company will construct the facility using investments raised from its Series A funding round, which raised $17.5 million.
Freeze-dried manufacturer Thrive Foods revealed its plans for one of the largest freeze-drying facilities in North America in September. The new 341,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to be operational in the summer of 2023, will support Thrive’s freeze-drying capabilities for pet treats and probiotics. It will feature best-in-class freeze dryers to expand the company’s capacity, as well as additional warehouse space and packaging capabilities.
Toward the end of September, Fetching Foods Inc. hosted a grand opening for its new manufacturing facility in Las Vegas. The facility will support the company’s product range, which includes raw and cooked human-grade pet foods.
Diamond Pet Foods released an update on its first facility in Indiana, revealing that the facility in Rushville will be operational in 2024. The pet food company invested $259 million in the 700,000-square-foot facility, which will house manufacturing and distribution to increase its output of products to Midwest consumers.
In October, Nestlé Purina completed a $156 million facility expansion in Clinton, Iowa. The expansion includes new cooking and packaging lines, as well as a technical training center, and created 96 new jobs, increasing the facility’s personnel count to 570. It will support the company’s Purina ONE, Purina Pro Plan and Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets lines.
At the end of December, Purina revealed plans for another expansion at its Clinton facility. The company will invest $110 million to add automated warehousing technology to the pet food facility, creating 15 new jobs.
Virbac announced its plans for a new 129,167-square-foot production facility located in Nîmes, France, on Oct. 12. The new facility will integrate all production processes from raw materials to finished product and will include extrusion and packaging lines, as well as additional space for future expansions.
On Oct. 6, supplement manufacturer Nutramax hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for its 200,000-square-foot facility expansion in Lancaster, SC. The expansion nearly triples the size of Nutramax’s headquarters and manufacturing facility.

VAFO Group announced the construction of a new pet food factory in Finland. With an expected annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of dry pet food, the facility will be the largest pet food factory in Finland. The plant, which is set to begin production in February or March 2023, will support the company’s Prima Pet Premium Oy and Hau-Hau Champion brands.
To support its Spot Farms® and Full Moon® pet treat brands, Perdue Farms invested more than $27 million to renovate a Michigan-based food processing plant into a pet treat facility. The project is driven by significant growth in the pet treat market and increasing consumer demand for more human-grade treats, according to Perdue.
In November, Alliance Freeze Dry (AFD) Group broke ground on its new 200,000-square-foot freeze-dried pet food facility, which will be the largest freeze-dried pet food factory in North America, according to the company. The facility will feature a freezer, pre-processing area, freeze-drying sector, packaging area, and an automated storage and retrieval warehouse. It is expected to be operational in 2024, boasting a capacity of 4,000 metric tons of product annually.
Montego Pet Nutrition announced a $2 million investment in a new facility in South Africa, doubling the company’s production capacity. The 232,500-square-foot facility combines three of Montego’s existing facilities under one roof. It features a dry pet food factory, which will support the company’s Monty & Me Essential pet food line, as well as a warehouse, administration offices, and room for future expansion.
On December 13, PetDine officially opened its new cold extrusion manufacturing facility. The 105,000-square-foot facility triples PetDine’s current capacity of soft chew pet products and will produce liquids and powder pet nutrition products. PetDine announced plans for the facility in Aug. 2021, detailing $25 million investment in the project.
 
Suppliers
Global Food Ingredients Ltd. (GFI) finished construction on its new pea-splitting facility. It has an annual processing capacity of more than 60,000 metric tons of yellow and green split peas and pea fiber. Byproducts from the facility will be used to support the company’s Plant-Based Pet Food Ingredients segment, decreasing potential waste.
Beta Hatch opened its new 50,000-square-foot mealworm facility in Washington in July. According to the company, the facility is the largest regenerative mealworm hatchery in North America, boasting hatching and growing areas, production space for animal feed proteins and frass coproducts for use in fertilizer, and R&D capabilities.
On July 20, Negoen Corporation broke ground on an expansion of its food safety facility, representing a $70 million investment. The expansion includes the construction of a three-story, 175,000-square-foot manufacturing plant located near Neogen’s existing facilities in Lansing. Construction began this September and is anticipated to be completed in December 2023.

In conjunction with its second quarter earnings report, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. shared its investment plans within the US market, including an expansion of its Athens, Ga.-based facility. According to the company, the expansion will enhance the company’s service and support the growth of a key customer.
Global pet food ingredient manufacturer Applied Food Biotechnology (AFB) announced an investment of more than $79 million in a new palatant facility. The facility will create more than 100 new jobs over the next five years and will be located at the Muscogee Technology Park in Columbus, Ga. According to the company, the facility will help the company become the “most responsive and reliable supplier of pet food palatant solutions in the world.”
On Aug. 10, Breeder’s Choice Pet Foods® opened its new Pet Food Safety Lab™ (PSFL) facility, in which the company invested $1 million. The facility offers microbiological, chemical and physical testing of raw materials used in pet foods, as well as finished products, to help processors assure product quality and safety. The lab also features a liquid chromatography system that includes a triple-quad mass spectrophotometer detector (LCMS), which can test for various contaminants and verify nutrient levels.
HorizonPSI acquired a fabrication facility in Kansas, doubling the company’s production capacity of material handling and automation solutions for pet food. The 50,000-square-foot facility features new equipment, including a bridge cane, and expands the company’s capabilities in water jet cutting.
Biotechnology startup MiAlgae detailed its plans to construct a commercial demonstrator facility near Stirling, Scotland. The facility will help drive MiAlgae’s growth in the commercial market for more sustainable, algae-based Omega 3 fatty acids for use in human and animal nutrition.
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Blendco LLC unveiled a state-of-the-art facility expansion, doubling its production capacity for low-microbial dry powder blends and premixes made for the pet nutrition industry. The project originally began in April 2021 with a warehouse expansion, adding 21,000 square feet, and in July 2022, the second phase was completed. The expansion is anticipated to be fully complete in January 2023.
At the end of August, Mondi opened its first recycling laboratory to test the recyclability of paper-based packaging that uses non-paper materials. The in-house lab will allow Mondi to streamline its process for developing more sustainable packaging. It will collect data that can help improve Mondi’s existing packaging products and provide valuable information to its customer about a package’s environmental impact.
Scoular signed an agreement to acquire four grain elevators from ADM on Sept. 8. The elevators, which have a combined grain storage capacity of 7.2 million bushels, double Scoular’s handling and storage capacity for corn, wheat and sorghum. With the four new plants, Scoular now owns 11 facilities in northwestern Kansas.
Food processing technology supplier GEA celebrated the opening of its new North American Technology Center in September. The 15,000-square-foot facility features more than 40 different pieces of GEA equipment used to produce human food and pet food. It serves as a testing center, allowing GEA’s customers to test equipment, processing lines and product manufacturing, as well as to train employees. The facility also features offices, a spare parts warehouse, and an 8,000-square-foot tool shop.
Essentia Protein Solutions shared plans to construct a manufacturing plant in Georgia. Located on a 20-acre site, the new facility will process raw materials to boost production capacity for the company’s food-grade stocks, broths and fats.
In October, ADM cut the ribbon on a new premix production line, expanding its existing facility in Chierry, France. The line was added to help the company meet increasing consumer demand in pet nutrition by producing premium and functional premixes for use in dry and wet pet foods, treats and dietary supplements.
On Oct. 18, Scoular hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new fishmeal processing facility, built in collaboration with Da Yang Seafood and Bornstein Seafoods. The new $17.5 million facility will upcycle fish trimmings from Da Yang Seafood and Bornstein Seafoods’ processing plants, transforming them into fishmeal and fish oil ingredients marketed under Scoular’s Encompass™ brand. According to Scoular, the facility is the first of its kind to open in North America in 25 years.
Scoular and two partners today celebrated the opening of our new facility in Warrenton, Oregon, that will upcycle fish trimmings into fishmeal, a valuable ingredient in pet food. https://t.co/5C2FiYNMxy#fishmeal #marineproteins #sustainability #encompassfishmeal pic.twitter.com/DtAXQWAGWS

Calysseo, a joint venture between Calysta and Adisseo, announced its plans to construct a new facility in Saudi Arabia. The company revealed that “advanced discussions and detailed planning” were underway on the new facility. It will feature a fermenter with a capacity of 110,231 tons and will produce Calysta’s sustainable FeedKind® Aqua protein ingredient that requires no animal- or plant-based ingredients to create.
In November, ADM opened its new North American microbiology laboratory at its existing specialty manufacturing plant in Decatur, Ill. The new lab doubles ADM’s current microbiology laboratory footprint and reflects “a significant expansion of its testing capabilities,” according to the company. Featuring state-of-the-art technology and testing innovations, the lab will support more than 26 of ADM’s manufacturing facilities, enabling the company to conduct advanced testing in-house, such as kill-step validations for processing plants.
On Dec. 11, ePac Flexible Packaging detailed plans for a new sales and manufacturing facility in the United Kingdom, expanding the packaging manufacturer’s footprint in the country. The new facility, called ePac Sheffield, will serve CPG brands throughout Scotland, Ireland and Northern England.
Toward the end of the year, Bunge Ltd. announced its plans to invest $550 million in a new soy protein concentrate and textured soy protein concentrate facility. The facility will be fully integrated into the company’s existing soybean processing plan in Indiana and will have a processing capacity of 4.5 million bushels. Construction on the facility will begin in the first quarter of 2023, with an eye toward completion in 2025.
On Dec. 13, Ÿnsect announced significant expansions to its operations in the United States and Mexico. The insect-based ingredient producer plans to construct its second insect farm in the United States, which will begin by the end of 2023. The company will also build its first farm in Mexico as part of a Joint Development Agreement with food service business Corporativo Kosmos.

Retailers
Pet Supplies Plus invested $53 million to develop a new distribution center in Orangeburg County, SC., creating 275 new jobs in the area. The state-of-the-art center will enable the retailer to increase its distribution capabilities in the Southeast. It will be the company’s fourth distribution center in the United States.
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