Pet food firm serving up 31 jobs with £5.7m investment

Making the announcement, Invest NI’s CEO, Kevin Holland said: “Mackle Petfoods is an ambitious family-owned business with a long history in the Mid Ulster area.

“With our support, the company is purchasing new equipment to help it streamline its manufacturing processes and create 31 new jobs. Once in place, the jobs will contribute over £700,000 in additional annual salaries for the Northern Ireland economy. As we work to rebuild our economy post COVID-19, this is a welcome boost for the local Mid Ulster area.”

To support this new project, Invest NI has offered £599,000 towards the new jobs and the purchasing of new equipment

Invest NI has an established relationship with Mackle Petfoods, helping it to explore new markets and providing assistance to exhibit and attend trade shows in Europe and further afield, which has helped it to develop and increase its brand awareness and build successful relationships with both new and existing customers.

John Mackle, Managing Director of Mackle Petfoods said: “Over the last five years focusing on continued investment in our Naturo brand, we have experienced strong growth with the introduction of our premium products and expansion of our Naturo range. This investment will help us grow further to provide more products and export our brands further.

“The onset of COVID 19 has reinforced the importance of innovating our business, providing excellent product, supporting our team and increasing our export sales. We are ambitious to expand across Europe and into the US where the petfood market is the largest in the world.

“Working with Invest NI we have had great support in exporting our products and this investment will help us to expand Naturo further, recruit new staff and purchase new state of the art equipment to increase our production capacity. We look forward to continuing this partnership over the coming years.”

Mackle Petfoods offers 29 varieties of its premium Naturo products and operates from two sites, its manufacturing facility in Moy and a packaging and distribution site in Moygashel.

Over the last three years, the company has established distribution partners in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Croatia, and Greece.