Inspired Pet Nutrition to invest over £6m in Kinmel plant

Inspired Pet Nutrition has announced it is investing more than £6m at its plant at Kinmel in North Wales.

This investment will triple the site’s wet dog food tray capacity to more than 75m units a year.

The investment will follow a two-stage process, with the first stage coming later this year in the form of a second processing and filling line. 2021 saw this installation begin, with the investment being commissioned to be operational by January 2023.

The company said that with the new investment, overall wet dog food capacity will be increasing by 75% compared to last year, with “further increases over the next 18 months as the investment project is complete”.

Turnover at IPN Kinmel has risen from £11.5m during the financial year ending June 2019 to more than £20m in the last financial year ending in June 2021. The site currently has a workforce of nearly 100 – up from 85 in 2019.

Dominic Whelan, site operations manager at IPN Kinmel, said: “The wet tray market in both the branded and own label sectors looks set for even further growth, and this significant investment will ensure we can meet demand. Two years ago, IPN Kinmel produced about 4,000 tonnes of finished goods, this has now risen to an astonishing 10,500 tonnes.”

James Lawson, CEO at IPN, added: “This is an exciting development for the business as we will significantly increase production at Kinmel – the UK’s only FreshCook and carbon negative wet food facility – and it will help us on our journey to become the UK’s most sustainable pet food manufacturer.

“The investment will also play a key role in making Harringtons a £100m Masterbrand across multiple categories and species.”