San Diego Firm Building New Pet Food Plant Near Topeka, Will Create 40 Jobs

By Michael Hooper

The Honest Kitchen, of San Diego, Calif., is building a new production plant that will employ 40 people near Topeka.

The Honest Kitchen will be manufacturing its Whole Food Clusters kibble alternative, human-grade pet foods with a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility near Topeka, the company said in a press release issued on March 23. The facility is set to open in the third quarter of 2021, the company said.

“This new facility, once combined with our manufacturing operation on the West Coast, will represent a huge step forward in increasing our overall manufacturing capacity for Whole Food Clusters,” Nate Kredich, chief operating officer of The Honest Kitchen, said in the press release. “We are proud not only of the new jobs that this facility will create in Shawnee County, but also that nearly all of our equipment will be sourced from US suppliers.”

The 100,000-square-foot facility is expected to add 40 new jobs in the Topeka area.

The Topeka area was strategically chosen for its proximity to quality raw ingredient suppliers and because it fosters improved distribution capabilities, reducing transit time to key Midwest and East Coast markets, the company said.

“In a short amount of time, Whole Food Clusters has exceeded all sales and velocity expectations,” added Michael Greenwell, chief executive officer of The Honest Kitchen. “We’re excited to continue the human-grade pet food momentum and meet the growing demand for this revolutionary product. This expansion will allow us to not only scale as needed but accelerate additional innovations within the line.”

The Whole Food Clusters line first launched in 2019 and has recently expanded to include a full assortment of grain-free, whole-grain, puppy and small-breed recipes. The human-grade dog food is produced through The Honest Kitchen’s proprietary MadeHonest™ method, in which each cluster is slow-roasted and gently dehydrated. This process is intended to preserve nutrients and product attributes that are typically lost through high-heat extrusion.

Barbara Stapleton, VP of Business Retention and Expansion at Greater Topeka Partnership, said "we are still operating under the project code name...Project Central."

The company said it plans to spend $9.5 million in facility improvements and equipment and create 50 jobs over the next five years, Stapleton said. 

On Dec. 9, 2020, the Joint Economic Development Organization approved $284,000 in incentives for Project Central.

Stapleton declined to disclose the address of the new pet food plant.

"This is great for Topeka and the Animal Health Corridor," Stapleton said, referring to the KC Animal Health Corridor from Manhattan, Kan., to Columbia, Mo. The Honest Kitchen brings good jobs to Topeka. This will grow opportunities for people who live here or choose to move here, she said.

The Honest Kitchen was founded by Lucy Postins in 2002 in San Diego, with a mission to help as many pets as possible get on the road to good health through good food. They produce a full line of human-grade, complete and balanced foods for pets including dry, dehydrated and wet foods as well as treats, toppers, hydration boosters and a best-selling digestive supplement. The Honest Kitchen says it was the first-ever human-grade pet food, meaning the finished product meets human-food production standards (unlike conventional pet food, which is feed grade). Each Honest Kitchen product is made with uncompromising quality and safety standards by a company of pet lovers. For more information, please visit www.thehonestkitchen.com.

Multiple pet food companies are located in the Topeka area, including Hill's Pet Nutrition. JM Smucker owns Big Heart Pet Brands in Topeka and Lawrence, purchased in 2015. Mars Petcare operates in Kansas City. Crosswind Industries, purchased by ADM for $85 million four years ago, is located in Sabetha, Kan. Simmons Pet Food is located in Emporia. Alphia, formerly called CJ Foods, is based in Bern, Kan.

These pet food companies are part of the KC Animal Health Corridor which includes more than 300 companies and organizations involved in animal health and nutrition. The corridor, founded in 2006, is anchored by veterinary medicine colleges at Kansas State University and the University of Missouri.

A substantial amount of the pet food consumed in the United States comes from this region in the Middle of the United States.

Honest Kitchen founder Lucy Postins started her company with $7,000, and a beach cottage kitchen. She created "the world’s first human grade pet food company," the company says here. "Seventeen years later, our products are distributed in over 5,000 pet supply stores internationally, with a staff of over 50 employees (and probably close to 50 co-woofers).

"I decided to start my own pet food company whilst standing in my kitchen, after marveling at the amazing impact that a healthy, whole-food diet could have on my own dog’s health," she said. "I’d been trying to address my Rhodesian Ridgeback’s chronic ear infections with vet prescribed treatments but nothing was really bringing about a long term cure. So I turned to food as a potential ‘medicine’ and began feeding him my own home prepared diet. Originally, The Honest Kitchen was just going to be a local direct-to-consumer business but it turned out the products really spoke for themselves and sales started to grow by word of mouth when people began to see the results in their pets’ health, so it gradually morphed into a larger, nationally distributed brand."

In 2015, The Honest Kitchen's revenue was $30 million. That number has grown between 35% to 45% annually, she said in this 2019 article in the San Diego Business Journal.

It's likely the company's revenue is now around $100 million, said David Tangeman, accountant.

The Honest Kitchen received minority venture capital investment from two funds in 2011. One is the Alliance Consumer Growth Fund and the other is White Road Investments, started by Gary Erickson who was the founder of Cliff Bar & Co.