New Hartwell Purina Plant Opens Today With Ribbon Cutting

After several years of construction and hiring, Nestle’ Purina will debut its newest plant in Hartwell this morning with a special ribbon cutting.

Company officials will unveil the $320-million dollar plant to local and State officials in a special ceremony at the plant in Hartwell.

This is Purina’s first new U.S. plant in some two twenty years and was driven by growth of the wet cat food category.

“The pet care category is growin and Purina is growing along with that,” Said new plant manager Rachel Miller. “When you look at wet canned cat food, it’s the third largest growing segment. So, we  make Fancy Feast, Friskies, and Purina One.”

Miller said the new plant will be making Fancy Feast canned cat food but will also be expanding in the future to make other cat food brands.

The new plant also is the result of the demand for Nestlé Purina pet foods, and represents Nestlé’s single largest investment in a pet care facility in the last decade in Zone Americas.

Miller said this new plant in Hartwell is a state-of-the-art facility using the latest production processes, and she says as in all of their other plants, employee safety is the primary focus.

“We’re trying and using new technologies at the new Hartwell plant,” Miller said. “So, when we looked at being the first factory we built in 20 years, we really wanted to make sure we were using cutting-edge technologies. We also wanted to focus on people safety. That’s one of our core values to make sure we have a very safe working environment for our employees.”

As part of its investment, Nestlé Purina has committed to creating 240 new jobs at their new facility on Industrial Park Road in Hartwell.

In addition, Miller said Purina supports causes that bring and keep people and pets together because this bond can lead to a better life for pets and the people who love them.

She says that’s why the local Purina plant will be working to help local animal shelters and rescue groups.

“As we look at being a good community partner, we’ve already begun working with the local shelters. One of the things that I’m particularly passionate about is a spay and neuter grant and getting the City of Hartwell and Hart County to do a match so we can have economical spay and neuter,” she explained.

At the event, Purina will also announce a significant donation to the Northeast Georgia Council on Domestic Violence as part of the Purple Leash Project.

In partnership with national non-profit RedRover, Purina Purple Leash Project grants provide funding to make domestic violence shelters pet friendly.