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“Petfood Forum is just a great environment to be in. It’s all about pet food, and that’s why we’re all there,” said Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition President, Andrew Loder. “The thing that we all took away from that, all of us that attended, was just the energy around the space.”
Petfood Forum USA is the pet food industry’s most widely attended and valuable event for companies focused on how pet food and treats are formulated, processed, packaged and distributed. Attendees have the opportunity to join other pet food professionals from around the world to network, exchange ideas, conduct business and strengthen relationships.
This year at the event, which took place from April 29 through May 1 in Kansas City, Missouri, the Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition team debuted a more contemporary branding presence and a larger team, compared to prior years. This was due in large part to Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition’s strategic acquisition of Ameri-Pac, a leading contract manufacturer of premium antioxidants, stabilizers and custom-made, private-label pet food premixes, that took place in October 2018. The move bolstered the value-added offerings Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition is able to provide customers and suppliers.
“This acquisition brought new capabilities and new talent which really complement our existing business,” noted Loder.
Technical Sales Manager Jeff Burnett added, “Ameri-Pac’s customer base had a lot of overlap with Nutrition’s existing customer base. By joining the Wilbur-Ellis family, we were able to further differentiate our product and service offerings as well as synergize those existing customers to bring additional value to their supply chain.”
The rebrand, completed in February 2019, reinforces the energy behind the nearly 100-year-old company and supports the Company’s vision of being the innovative leader in the marketing and distribution of animal nutrients. Nutrition’s appearance at the forum marked the public event debut of the new name and website, illustrated through updated signage and materials at the booth.
Throughout the conference, Nutrition’s team, including its new Ameri-Pac members, met with customers to share the exciting crossover potential in this new era for the division and discussed one of the hottest topics at this year’s event: antioxidants. Because of the Ameri-Pac acquisition, Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition could discuss its new anti-oxidant offerings with potential customers and other event attendees.
“I personally participated in several more customer discussions, and they were all very good,” said Wilbur-Ellis President and CEO John Buckley. “This year was effective because of the customer interactions we had.”
Other popular topics at the event included consolidations, acquisitions and natural pet food ingredients.
Interested in learning more about the conference and Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition’s experience at this year’s Petfood Forum conference? Be sure to check out our Twitter and Facebook pages where the team shared live updates during the conference, as well as this tweet with a video highlighting our pet food offerings.
We hope to see you at next year’s Petfood Forum happening April 27-29, 2020, in Kansas City, Missouri.
