Inside Freshpet’s New Kitchen in Ennis, Texas
written by Freshpet Vet Team
At Freshpet, making fresh, nutritious food for pets isn’t just about what’s in the bowl—it’s also about how it gets there.
With more clients asking detailed questions about food safety, ingredient sourcing, and sustainability, veterinarians need confidence in the companies behind the products they recommend.
That’s why we’re excited to offer a closer look inside Freshpet’s third and newest production facility: Kitchen 3 in Ennis, Texas. This flagship plant represents the future of sustainable, high-quality pet food manufacturing.
Designed for the Future of Fresh Pet Food
Located just south of Dallas, our new 500,000-square-foot facility was built to meet growing demand while staying true to our mission of nourishing pets, people, and the planet. With more than 13 million dogs and cats eating Freshpet each year, we needed a kitchen that could keep up with our growing demand without compromising on sustainability, ingredient quality, or safety.
We chose Ennis because it offered the right mix of infrastructure, local talent, and strategic location. Being closer to our customers on the West Coast and in the Southwest allows us to deliver fresh food faster, while using less energy. Once fully built, the facility will include 11 production lines and employ nearly 1,000 people.
What Makes Kitchen 3 Special?
Kitchen 3 isn’t just bigger—it’s smarter and greener. From the start, it was designed with sustainability at its core:
- Low-carbon materials like recycled steel and concrete made with on-site soil reduce emissions from construction.
- Energy-efficient LED lighting and a planned solar-powered battery microgrid will help lower the facility’s energy use.
- It’s a landfill-free site, meaning all waste is reused, recycled, or converted to energy.
- A closed-loop wastewater treatment system will clean and reuse water for cooling, saving millions of gallons annually
- All Freshpet Kitchens use natural gas and wind-generated electricity, and our refrigeration systems use ammonia, a refrigerant with a lower environmental impact than other conventional options.
These innovations make it one of the most environmentally sustainable pet food manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
Local Sourcing, Local Impact
Another advantage of Kitchen 3 is its proximity to ingredient suppliers. Fresh chicken, the primary ingredient in many Freshpet recipes, is sourced from within a 150-mile radius and processed on-site to preserve freshness and reduce transportation emissions.
This shorter supply chain supports local farmers and helps ensure ingredient quality. It also aligns with Freshpet’s broader commitment to producing food that’s not only nutritious but responsibly made.
Why It Matters to You and Your Clients
We know veterinarians want assurance that the foods they recommend are safe, consistent, and transparent. That’s why Freshpet’s quality standards go well beyond industry (AAFCO and WSAVA) requirements and best practices.
Each Freshpet Kitchen follows rigorous food safety protocols, and our production is modeled on human food manufacturing standards. Our QA team runs frequent checks throughout every step—from ingredient intake to final packaging—to ensure safety, palatability, and nutritional integrity.
Our growth might surprise those who still think of Freshpet as a small, niche brand. Available now in over 36,000 retail fridges nationwide, we’re proud to say, we’ve grown with purpose. And that purpose remains unchanged since we started in 2006: to make pet food you can trust, in a way that’s healthier for pets and better for the planet.
The Bottom Line
Kitchen 3 is more than a new building—it’s a statement of what the future of pet food should look like: fresh, high-quality, locally sourced, and produced in a way that respects the environment. It reflects everything Freshpet stands for—and everything your clients are asking about.
As more pet parents look for food options that align with their values, veterinarians play a key role in helping them make informed choices. And now, when they ask about where Freshpet comes from and how it’s made, you’ll have answers that go beyond the label.
