Freshpet Inc., a Secaucus-based provider of fresh food for pets, announced Tuesday it held a groundbreaking ceremony to being construction of its second Freshpet Kitchen.
The new site, which is aimed to increase production of the company’s signature pet food, will be located at 146 North Commerce Way in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The ceremony was attended by Freshpet employees and co-founders Scott Morris and Cathal Walsh, and members of the local government and economic development resources.
The expanded Freshpet Kitchen will include the renovation of an existing 50,000-square-foot building on Freshpet’s existing Kitchen campus, as well as a 90,000-square-foot addition to that building.
The site is scheduled to begin operating by the third quarter of 2020. Freshpet estimated it will hire about 200 team members by the time production begins at the facility.
“The expansion of the Freshpet Kitchens campus reflects our commitment to continually improving the way we make Freshpet – and will help us achieve our goal of changing the way people feed their pets. We believe our pets deserve fresh and natural food just like the other members of our family,” Billy Cyr, CEO of Freshpet, said. “This new Kitchen will significantly expand our capacity and enable us to satisfy more pets while simultaneously improving quality, cost and safety.”