Prairie Dog Pet Products Investing More Than $20M in Expanding Manufacturing Across Facilities

ABILENE, Texas, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Prairie Dog Pet Products, a premium manufacturer of freeze dried, smoked and natural pet treats, invested heavily in the second half of 2020, and is allocating another $18 million in 2021 for equipment and facilities. This move will dramatically expand output across its manufactured product lines while increasing food safety and innovation.

"We're focused on each facility becoming world class in quality, sustainability and efficiency," said Ted Mischaikov, CEO at Prairie Dog Pet Products. "Each investment is interwoven into the fabric of processes and products we are creating across frozen, freeze dried, air dried and smoked treats and diets. Our goal is to provide large volumes of higher quality and more innovative dried products for our private label and co-pack business partners."

Areas of expansion center around low temperature, low impact technologies that help retain nutritional profiles in pet food, as well as kitchen upgrades to increase efficiency. These facility enhancements include:

• Freeze Drying Technology – The Abilene, Texas plant will install 300 percent more freeze dried capacity in 2021 with additional equipment designated solely for research and development.
• Individual Quick Freeze (IQF) Technology – To support freeze dried volumes and initiate frozen diets, the Abilene facility is installing significant IQF capability.
• Kitchen Expansions – Both the Abilene and Montrose, Colo. facilities, kitchen expansions are underway including process redundancies and flexibility of forming abilities.
• Smokehouses and Air Dryers – Facilities in Abilene and Montrose have undergone overhauls from analog to digital controls to optimize yield and allow full visibility of every step of the cooking process in real time. Volume increases are underway with increased air flow commensurate with truck capacity increases, as well as new steam support systems.
• New Corporate and Research and Development Campus – Prairie Dog is interviewing various municipalities with strong economic development goals as potential locations for new corporate offices and a research and development department, which will co-locate with a new state-of-the-art smoking and air drying production plant aimed at increasing its treat line by 250 percent.
• New Colorado Facility - Antler production in Montrose has moved into a new facility, which is more than three times larger than the previous facility, due to an increased demand for premium natural chews and strengthened supplier relationships.

"These capital and process initiatives will increase our prowess and capacity to create the clean, healthy nutrition customers expect and their pets absolutely deserve," said Mischaikov. "We're advancing aggressively into the future technologies and processes that best serve our brand partners and the pets they feed. It's an exciting time to work at Prairie Dog!"

Prairie Dog Pet Products is managed by the investment firm Kinderhook Industries LLC with a proven track record in the industry. The company's premium line of products are made in support of private label customers and retailers, and also available to purchase online or in thousands of retail stores across the country. Prairie Dog also offers wholesale ordering. To learn more about Prairie Dog Pet Products and its offerings, visit prairiedogpetproducts.com.

About Prairie Dog Pet Products
Headquartered in Abilene, TX, Prairie Dog Pet Products is a leading specialty manufacturer and marketer of premium, American-made dog treats, including freeze-dried treats, jerky, natural parts and hand-crafted antlers. The Company markets its products under its own brand as well as via private label relationships with top brands and retailers in the pet industry. The Company operates six manufacturing and distribution facilities in Texas, Colorado and Washington. For more information please visit: www.prairiedogpetproducts.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

About Kinderhook Industries
Founded in 2003, Kinderhook Industries, LLC is a private investment firm that manages over $3.1 billion of committed capital, with in excess of 225 investments and follow-on acquisitions since inception. Kinderhook's investment philosophy is predicated on matching unique, growth-oriented investment opportunities with exceptional financial expertise and our proprietary network of operating partners. Their focus is on middle market businesses with defensible niche market positioning in the USA manufacturing, healthcare services, environmental services and automotive sectors. Kinderhook performs in the top tier of private investment with a track record of successfully and consistently building industry leaders. For more information, please visit: www.kinderhook.com.

Media Contact:
Mackenzie Smith
[email protected] 
574-524-5916

SOURCE Prairie Dog Pet Products

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http://www.prairiedogpetproducts.com