For Immediate Release:
October 3, 2022 marked a proud day in the City of Ennis as Freshpet hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for Freshpet Kitchen 3.0, a 1 MM sf. under roof refrigerated natural dog and cat food production facility. The project broke ground in the summer of 2020 and will have its first sellable product this month.
Freshpet was founded in 2006 by Scott Morris, John Phelps and Cathal Walsh with the first facility in Secaucus New Jersey followed by Quakertown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The capital investment in Ennis will be an estimated 1 billion dollars at final buildout which is the company’s largest investment to date and will generate an expected 600 new jobs for the community of Ennis.
Elected officials, city staff, Freshpet employees and founders were in attendance to celebrate the momentous day.
Speakers from Freshpet included Cathal Walsh-Co-Founder, Scott Morris-Co-Founder, Billy Cyr-CEO, Willie Everett-GM, and Charles Norris-Chairman of the Board.
Presentations by elected officials included Jake Ellzey-United States Representative for Texas’s 6thcongressional district, Mayor Angie Juenemann-Mayor of Ennis who also read a proclamation from Governor Abbott, and a presentation on behalf of Brian Harrison-State Representative of Texas.
All of the representatives from Freshpet referenced why they chose the community of Ennis during their nationwide site search and the keywords mentioned were “the people” “the plan” and “Entrepreneurial Spirit”. After meeting with Mayor Angie Juenemann and City Manager (then Economic Development Director), Marty Nelson along with other members of the staff and community they felt an instant connection and began a relationship that has remained strong throughout the development process. Freshpet saw Ennis as a community, with a compelling vision and strong leadership dedicated to bringing that vision to life. They wanted to establish roots in a city that planned to grow and innovate with them. Freshpet leadership asked themselves if they would be willing to relocate some of their most valued employees to Ennis and the answer was unanimously “yes”!
The ceremony concluded with Chairman of the Board, Charles Norris, recognizing the Ennis Freshpet “pioneers”, the first employees hired on June 21st 2021 and thanked them for their dedication to making this facility successful followed by the official ribbon cutting complete with confetti canons and plenty of celebration.
Freshpet makes fresh and all natural refrigerated dog and cat food in the United States and is the fastest growing pet food brand in the country , with refrigerators in over 22,000 stores. Their mission is to bring the power of fresh food for pets everywhere in ways that are good for pets, people and the planet. They are passionate about what they do because they are pet lovers, and because they believe that as a team, they are making a real difference in pets' lives. While they’ve grown to a mid-sized company, it’s their entrepreneurial roots and small-company feel that make Freshpet a thriving place to work.
The new state of the art facility in Ennis rivals any human food plant and will be one of the most progressive food factories in the world. As part of their mission to love the planet, the facility will reuse 74 million gallons of water per year and produce 10 megawatts of their own power on site.
For more information on Ennis Economic Development, visit https://ennistx.com or contact the Director of Economic Development, Jim Wehmeier at 972-878-4748 Ext. 2806.
For more information about Freshpet including career opportunities, https://jobs.freshpet.com/ennis-texas/.