The Simmons Pet Food leadership team includes (from right to left) Scott Salmon, president; Leah Lambrakis, vice president of research and development, nutrition and scientific affairs; Derek Baucom, senior vice president of operations; Brian Potter, vice president of operations; Craig Bacon, senior vice president of technical services; and Scott Roberts, senior vice president of business development and sales operations.

Simmons Pet Food leverages its parent company Simmons Foods’ vertical integration to support its production, which begins with high-quality ingredients. The pet food business recently exited the dry pet food and pet treat space to focus exclusively on wet products, a segment that has witnessed faster annual growth than its dry counterpart.

Simmons Pet Food’s Can facility focuses solely on producing canned pet food products. The facility currently boasts three canning lines and plans to add another beginning in 2024 with completion expected in 2025. 

The fourth canning line will be capable of producing 60,000 lbs of product per hour, increasing the plant’s total annual output to more than 70 million cases. As well as the investment in the fourth canning line, Simmons Pet Food also invested over $30 million to increase the speed of its 3-oz canning line.

The Flex plant produces 3-oz, 3.5-oz and 5.3-oz pouches. Simmons Pet Food also recently invested in the Flex plant, increasing the speed of its cup packaging line by 50%.

Around 30 food scientists are employed at Simmons Pet Food, alongside R&D specialists tasked with developing new products and finetuning existing formulations for the company’s customers.