Northern Pelagic Group is proud to announce it will open a new processing facility focused on pet proteins later in 2021. The petfood “prep kitchen” will produce fresh and frozen proteins for pet food manufacturers and enable NORPEL to sustain growth and capitalize on new opportunities in the pet food sector.
NORPEL’s new processing facility in northeastern Pennsylvania will create 80 plus full-time new jobs. The move to PA has been in the works for over a year now. NORPEL closed on the 70,000SF facility in the Humboldt Industrial Park in January 2021 and construction has begun to convert it into a temperature- controlled food- grade processing facility. Additionally, NORPEL will construct a 25,000SF Cold Storage Facility. NORPEL’s new location in PA will bring it closer to raw materials in the region, its customer base and the Port of Philadelphia. The new location will feature three processing lines that will expand the company’s capacity on existing products and enable new opportunities with customers.
Pet food has been a hot industry over the last few years with major investments, IPOs and major acquisitions of brand names. The United States pet food market has grown steadily and is expected to continue to grow at 4.5% through 2025 according to Grandview Research. NORPEL has positioned itself as a provider of premium and sustainable proteins for pet food manufacturers. As the pet food brands have grown, so has NORPEL as the company works with many household brand names in the pet space.
“Pets need proteins and consumers want proteins that make them feel okay about what their pet eats both for their health and the planet,” said Michael Tierney, Vice President of Business Development. “We have partnered with a wide range of suppliers and have created products that will help pet food manufacturers continue to produce food that will keep pets and their owners coming back for more.”
“Sustainability is one of the primary reasons we love being in the pet space,” said Brady Schofield, CEO and Co-Founder of the company. “We work with farms, food processors and businesses large and small to ensure that nothing goes to waste and that full utilization of the fish or animal is achieved”.
“Given NORPEL's growth and relationship with many pet food producers and our need for further capacity, 2021 was the right time for NORPEL to expand outside Massachusetts and set up a new food facility for the pet industry,” said Schofield. “Processing pet food is capital intensive but given all of the learning curves we have been through, the relationships we have developed, and products we have helped launch, it was a necessary step for the business.”
NORPEL was established in 2002 as a vertically integrated seafood company. Over the years NORPEL transitioned into a multi protein food manufacturing business headquartered in New Bedford, MA that focuses primarily on seafood and pet food protein products. The company has two midwater trawl vessels, two processing facilities and three cold storage facilities located in New Bedford. The new processing facility will be the company’s first operation outside New England.
