PET Food Processing - September 2019 - 21

"What we were
told, and what has
proven to be true,
is every protein
and product size
runs differently."
Chad Felderhoff

addition of freeze-dried foods and treats.
Starting in 1989 with the addition of a Wenger 185
single-screw extruder and dryer, the company began
making dry pet food using all dry protein meal. Then in
2016, with the addition of an Extru-Tech preconditioner
and new screw configurations, Muenster started including wet protein in its formulas. Today, the dry dog food
operation produces 6 tons per hour on a system that includes an Extru-Tech preconditioner, a Wenger extruder
and dryer, an Ever Extruder knife and die plate system,
an APEC fat coater that feeds a Hamer Automatic bag
hanger, and a packaging line that utilizes a Chantland
robot palletizer that was added when Mitch and Chad
went to college. Prior to that, they were the palletizers.
The company has four small bag packaging lines and
one large bag system at the milling extrusion facility.
They have three All-Fill machines for packages from 1
oz. to 8 lbs., a Matrix form/fill/seal system with an Ishida
scale for packages 3 lbs. up to 25 lbs., and a large bag system at the mill with the robotic palletizer for anything
greater than 25 lbs.
With the addition of the freeze-drying facility, Muenster
currently employs 48 people across three campuses: the

new facility for freeze drying and small packaging, the
original mill location that now produces extruded pet food
and feed, and a 10-acre campus with two warehouses and
a 400,000 bushel grain elevator. Across both warehouses,
the company has five loading docks and room for more
than 2,800 pallets of finished product. The mill and extrusion plant are ruminant free because the company produces horse feed. On the dry side, about 50% of production is pet food and 50% is equine. Muenster produces a
small amount of dry cat food, but that will be phased out
to focus on freeze-dried food for cats instead. Including
both dry-food and freeze-dried processing, the company's
production is approximately 30% Muenster brand and 70%
co-manufacturing or private label.

Some overlap of these
freeze-dried chicken
meatballs made of
ground chicken breasts
is fine as long as each
piece has some contact
with the tray.

Focused on the fifth

The company has been growing an average of 12% per
year with a few recent years of 25 to 30% growth. Mitch
and Chad plan to continue growing the company by adding new capabilities and additional capacity over the next
few years. After adding six to eight more freeze-dry systems, they plan to offer kibble mixed with freeze-dried
products. They also plan on expanding their dry food capacity by building a new extrusion facility and adding a
second extrusion line.
The brothers are focused on building a strong business
for the fifth generation. Mitch explains what drives their
decisions by saying, "We are fourth-generation familyowned and we don't have shareholders to answer to, so
our goal is to make the best food so that when we pass this
on to the next generation we can sleep at night knowing
we fed the animals well." Until then, the nights are short
for Chad. "The feed mill closes at midnight, so from midnight to 6 a.m., I can actually sleep."
PFP

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PET Food Processing - September 2019

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