Posted on 05/29/2007 6:03:25 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
...The company was at near-peak capacity before the Menu Foods recall hit in mid-March. Now Evanger's is running longer shifts and looking for a larger facility as it struggles to keep up with demand, said Holly Sher, president and co-owner with her husband, Joel. It has put in a bid on a 70,000-square-foot food manufacturing plant that would triple its capacity, she said.
Until then, the Shers are turning down new business. "I can't keep up. I'm freaking out about it," Holly Sher said, noting that some of the company's private label customers and its distributors are frustrated that they can't get as much product as they want.
Order fulfillment is running about four to six weeks behind, said Joel Sher, vice president. The company has only been able to increase production by about 25 percent to 60,000 pounds of finished product a day because of space constraints, he said. "We're trying not to lose what really is the key to our success, the processing on the property," he said.
The Shers, who purchased Evanger's in 2002, decided from the start to buy ingredients locally, purchasing most ingredients within 40 miles of their plant. Its line includes gourmet recipes, such as an organic turkey with potato and carrots dinner for dogs and a growing business of hand-packed whole chicken drumettes, whole mackerel and beef chunks.
"It's people food. That's what people want" for their pets, Holly Sher said. The company does not use wheat gluten or rice protein, she said.
Since the recall, buying locally has taken on greater importance, Joel Sher said. "You've got to know your suppliers and the kind of people they are," he said. "With the local ones, you can know as much as you want to know. You can visit them."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
So much for the idea that people aren’t willing to pay for homegrown products or quality.
Kinda’ funny, isn’t it? The market is correcting itself, despite all the howling of the last month that we’ve sold our souls for 10 cents a pound.
Plus she confirms what I feel;people want to feed real food to their pets.Not some nasty gloop that you even tell what it is.
Mine, too.
Virtual pets 
eat batteries. 
Well, what do you know. We are big time Katz-n-Flocken and Hund-n-Flocken people and we own a Jack Russell, among other pets. Had our JRT at the vet’s office today. The senior tech mentioned that everyone on their staff feeds their pets Solid Gold products.
I’m glad that our ‘kids’ were spared but my heart breaks for those who lost pets to poisoned food. That situation needs to be rectified for all time and it needs to happen now.
Will these pet loving goobers start doing the same for themselves, and their families?
We haven’t fed our dog “pet food” since the scare (aside from some organic dog cookies by Paul Newman’s company), he has been eating predominantly what the family eats, minus some of the veggies (he does love sugar snap peas though!). I am petrified to give him anything meant for dogs, and am nervous about regular meats too!
We have all been eating organic/free range chicken/beef/pork since the whole China issue came to light, in addition to mostly organic or at the very least American grown produce and other goods. On the upside, my 9 year old has decided that he likes “all the healthy food” better than the processed stuff I used to indulge the children with (bad mommy!). My 13 year old, however, misses the junk, and complains (a lot). Oh, well, she’ll thank me someday!
Supply and demand. Time to raise her prices.
Unfortunately, that fact won't matter to many here who still think that government needs to manage markets and, when it comes to trade, believe government suddenly becomes reliable, capable and responsible. Anyway, it's good to see that the dollar vote still works.
I found a local business that has only US Organic dog food and treats.
It is worth the extra money for the peace of mind.
Now if he would only sell people food too :(
I probably shouldn’t say anything......
Oh what the hell. Solid Gold has it’s food made at Diamond Foods. When I wrote them asking them how I could be SURE about the origin and safety of their ingredients, they, in an almost identical letter that I received from Kellogg’s assured me by telling me they had recently requested from all their ingredient suppliers a new certified letter certifying the safety of the ingredients.
Solid Gold, like most dog food companies, sends in a recipe to their manufacturer (who is Diamond Foods, a company that makes many many brands of dog food, some of which have been recalled in the past), who then puts out bids for the ingredients, and we can only hope those suppliers aren’t buying the cheapest crap they can find.
This article is about people wanting “people food” for their dogs because they don’t trust the animal food manufacturers. Since this has happened, I’ve just started feeding my dog actual people food. I throw her out some raw beef or chicken or pork and she’s thriving. One amazingly wonderful side effect is the small amount of poop compared to when I fed her kibble. That really opened up my eyes to the fact that kibble is apparently mostly fillers.
I always have for my family and my pets.... so I guess you can call me a double goober if that is the low opinion you have of people who are actually concerned with healthy foods.
No, I just was just razzing those who are upset about pet food, while not even realizing their own food is likely tainted as well.
My, my, aren’t you the articulate one! Here’s a concept that might prove a puzzlement to you: the two are not mutually exclusive. We “pet-loving goobers” are well able to monitor our food as well as our pets’. Too bad were unable to figure that out before you made such an asinine post.
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