Yorkshire-based pet food company Inspired Pet Nutrition (IPN) has announced an investment of over £30m in new technologies designed to significantly expand its technical capability, potential product range and capacity to its regional factories.
IPN has invested more than £6m in its wet food facility which has more than doubled its capacity. The company has also invested close to £25m in its Thirsk-based factory to increase its technical
capability, product range and use of fresh ingredients.
Embracing “the latest” technologies and “innovative” equipment, the company invests to ensure that its portfolio of brands and products continues to offer “the highest possible quality, taste, and healthy nutrition”.
According to Inspired Pet Nutrition, premiumization and humanization are the two trends in the pet food industry that are driving the need for investment. It said owners not only want “the highest quality nutrition for their pets but want to feed them recognizable ingredients and fresh recipes with a high meat content”.
Along with improving existing manufacturing processes, the investment will also see the company move upstream in its supply chain.
It comes just months after Inspired Pet Nutrition celebrated 100 years in business, growing from a family-founded animal feeds company in 1923 to where it is today, with a great-grandson.
founder James R Page, Richard Page, at the helm as chairman.
IPN acquired Pet Food UK in 2020, expanding its brand portfolio to include Barking Heads,
Meowing Heads and AATU.
It recently announced the achievement of becoming a £200m sales business, with ambitions to exceed £500m of sales within the next five years.
Anthony Stones, chief operating officer at IPN, said: “This important investment represents IPN’s core values of providing accessible, affordable nutrition. We’ve been developing our recipes and portfolio of brands for a century now and are constantly looking for ways to improve our offering for pet parents. By investing in our technical capabilities and upstreaming our supply chain, we have better quality control of our recipes and better traceability of our ingredients.
“At the same time, we are increasing the size of our technical team and will have a new laboratory. We also invest in real-time testing equipment – and all this means there is continuous improvement in our products and manufacturing processes.
He added: “Our mission has always been to offer the best quality product possible for any given price point to consumers, and this investment represents our desire to continue to improve this proposition that with one goal – to keep pets healthy and owners happy.”
