Expertise in dry food

The UK-based pet food business started in 1993 as Golden Acres, developing as a diversification from Lancashire's largest arable farm. In 2007, the company changed its name to GA Pet Food Partners to reflect more accurately its true position and strategy as the new product development and manufacturing partner for any pet food brands seeking to bring a dry pet food to market.GA does not have a brand of its own, being purely focused on production for other brands. With a turnover in excess of £ 45 mio in 2009, GA provides employment for a 150-strong team, based in the picturesque heart of rural Lancashire.Broad range of services"The company's aim is to make the best possible private label dry pet foods for new and existing brands as easy as possible," sales director John Gunton says. From concept to launch, GA will assist with product formulations with three dedicated pet nutritionists, pre-launch trials, packaging concepts and ideas, rapid manufacture (typical lead time: 7 days), storage of the finished product, stock management and dispatch. "Each partner can receive automatically up-to-the-minute empty packaging and finished stock figures," John Gunton states, "just as though it were their own factory."The company says that the scale and complexity of the operation is its greatest strength. It has an international reputation as a pet food manufacturer that continues to make market-leading and world-first super-premium dry pet foods such as "no-carb" pet food and treats, 80 per cent meat dog and cat foods, Halal chicken cat food, grain-free etc. "Our latest innovation is a dry pet food containing a staggering 50 per cent fresh meat, called 'Just Fresh Meat', which was launched at Interzoo," John Gunton continues.Vital statisticsGA Pet Food Partners has 450 live bespoke formulations, packed into over 2 000 stock keeping units, with a dedicated team managing the production, stock rotation and scheduling for over 300 different brands and pet food partners. This includes managing the dispatch of containerised products around the globe, and down to 400 doorstep deliveries each day for individual brands, direct from the factory to the customers within 24 hours. The current production capacity for the 24/7 operation is 70 000 tonnes from three extruders, with a 4th extruder scheduled for the end of 2010."We stock 350 different raw materials, giving the flexibility to make such a diverse range of super-premium dry pet foods, including organic and Halal," John…