FARGO, N.D. — Anchor Ingredients Co., LLC and Barrett Petfood Innovations (BPI) broke ground July 20 at the site of their upcoming state-of-the-art freeze-drying manufacturing plant in Little Falls, Minn. Additionally, on Aug. 17 the two companies announced a name for the new business: North Freeze Dry.

The news follows the two companies’ partnership established March 2021 to answer growing demand for protein ingredients.

“We are building something special with North Freeze Dry and are so excited to bring together the sourcing and raw material supply chain expertise of Anchor with the manufacturing expertise of BPI,” said Al Yablonski, chief executive officer and founder of Anchor Ingredients. “The two companies are combining efforts to bring a differentiated level of support and services to some of today’s leading brands.”

The facility is on track to be completed in the first half of 2022. According to Anchor and BPI, the facility has already been redesigned to double its initial capacity as it looks to establish itself as a leading supplier of freeze-dried proteins to the pet food processing industry.

“It’s a true partnership and something that we envision will be the framework for one of the most successful freeze-drying manufacturing companies in the nation,” said Tom Barrett, co-managing director of BPI.

BPI will be charged with managing on-site operations and business development initiatives for North Freeze Dry. Anchor will oversee sourcing, back-office administration and sales collaboration.

The new freeze-drying facility will be located near BPI’s 170,000-square-foot co-manufacturing extrusion facility in Little Falls, which opened in July 2020.

“The community in and around Little Falls is amazing and the team we have assembled is world-class,” said Sarah Barrett, co-managing director of BPI.

Read more about Barrett Petfood Innovations in our exclusive processor profile from December 2020 and view a slideshow of its Little Falls extrusion facility.

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