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Nestle’s major pet food investments just keep coming.
After announcing plans for a $450 million new plant in North Carolina on September 30 and plans for a $550 million new factory in Ohio on October 26, the world’s largest food and beverage company said December 8 that Nestle Purina PetCare will expand its Hartwell, Georgia, pet food plant in a $550 million project.
The expansion will add processing, packaging, and warehouse capacity to the facility as part of the company’s broader growth plan amid growing demand for Purina’s pet-care food products. The current Hartwell plant makes several of Purina’s top brands, including Fancy Feast.
The Hartwell facility opened in November 2019 with a $320 million investment and had been in the works since 2017. That investment included plans to employ 240 people by 2023. The new expansion will add 130 jobs to the facility by the end of 2025, with those new jobs including positions for manufacturing and assembly. The company noted that it has more than 400 employees at its dry pet-food plant in Fairburn, Georgia.
The three new major factory investments come amid a leadership transition for Nestle Purina PetCare, as current chief executive officer Joseph Sivewright will become company chairman on January 1, 2021, and be succeeded as CEO on that date by Nina Leigh Krueger, who currently serves as president of the company’s United States operations. With that transition, Krueger will become the first female CEO in the company’s history that dates back to 1894.
Image Credit: Nestle Purina PetCare
