Infant Formula Brand Bobbie Expands Manufacturing Footprint with Opening of State-of-the-Art Facility that Positions Company to Serve Three Times as Many American Families In Coming Years
July 16 2024 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Bobbie’s facility is the first infant formula
manufacturing plant built from the ground up in the U.S. in 23
years, marking the most meaningful diversification move in this
highly concentrated industry and adding needed redundancy following
the formula shortage of 2022. Following significant investments in
quality, safety, and expertise Bobbie Organic Infant Formula is
officially being produced in this new facility.
One year after Bobbie, the mom-founded and led pediatric
nutrition company, acquired Nature’s One, the first small batch
production run of the company’s USDA Organic infant formula has
come off the line at their state-of-the-art facility in Heath,
Ohio. As the first meaningful effort to diversify and disrupt the
concentrated market in decades, Bobbie’s manufacturing capabilities
strengthen the industry for American families. Bobbie’s CEO
purchased the facility, the first infant formula manufacturing
plant built from the ground up in the last 23 years in the U.S., in
response to the widespread formula shortage two years ago, enabling
the company to feed three times as many babies and establish a
resilient manufacturing model for its customers. Bobbie’s
90,000-square-foot facility produces, powder dries and cans formula
under one roof, leveraging best in class safety standards with
reduced manufacturing touchpoints, fewer hands on cans, and fewer
miles traveled from creation to customer’s doorstep. Bobbie’s
facility expansion, combined with formula produced by its veteran
co-manufacturing partner Perrigo, the first U.S. manufacturer to
produce Organic formulas with DHA and ARA, positions Bobbie to
potentially serve nearly 15% of the non-WIC market in the coming
years.
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Laura Modi, CEO and co-founder of Bobbie,
touring the company's new Ohio manufacturing facility with Shirley
Bartlee, the Director of Quality Assurance on-site. (Photo:
Business Wire)
Following the third year in a row of unprecedented demand and a
tightened organic ingredient supply, Bobbie has remained committed
to its brand promise: “when you subscribe to us, we subscribe to
you,” which plans for a baby’s full feeding journey and
promises uninterrupted deliveries for subscribers even during times
of constrained supply. With the company’s manufacturing expansion,
Bobbie is committed to ensuring consistent availability of its
products across digital and physical shelves and expanding retail
partnerships.
“For those of us who fed a baby during the formula shortage –
and when out of stocks reached almost 70% this time two years ago –
we will never forget the fear of not being able to find a can of
formula to feed your baby on a shelf or online. Our new
manufacturing facility creates an unprecedented level of
reliability for our parents moving forward,” said Laura Modi,
Bobbie CEO and Co-Founder. “These step level changes in a
company’s growth are never easy – but nothing about entering this
industry as the only female CEO has been easy. As a mom to my
fourth baby, now 4 months old, I am personally excited for what
this new facility will unlock for our customers and our company – a
steady supply of Bobbie, manufacturing redundancy across our owned
and co-manufacturing partners’ facilities, and faster in-house
innovation for the next generation of infant formulas in the U.S.,”
she added.
With the official opening of the facility, Bobbie is moving its
headquarters from San Francisco, California – where the company was
founded in 2018 – to Heath, Ohio, in the heartland of America. In
addition to Bobbie’s 135-person remote and on-site operation, the
company has hired 35 new employees based in Ohio since acquiring
the facility and will continue to hire on-site through the end of
the year. These hires specialize in quality, safety, and operator
functions, ensuring a dedicated focus on producing clean, safe
infant formulas for American families.
Chief Supply Chain Officer Jason Blaisure joins Bobbie from
Chobani, where he built and led manufacturing for 12 years, most
recently as their Chief Supply Chain Officer. Prior to Chobani,
Jason was in medical and pharmaceutical manufacturing, bringing not
just dairy expertise, but also quality assurance to Bobbie.
Blaisure will manage the manufacturing and quality experience for
the company to ensure the highest possible safety standards and
reliability in the product supply for our country's most vulnerable
population, babies. “After the formula shortage of 2022, the
opportunity to uplevel infant formula and build back trust with the
American consumer is monumental, and there is no company better
positioned to set new standards for innovation and excellence than
Bobbie,” said Jason Blaisure, Bobbie Chief Supply Chain
Officer. “I am here to help build a world class supply chain to
meet the overwhelming demand for high quality infant formula
alongside the brilliant and driven team at Bobbie that has the
vision to deliver best-in-class pediatric nutrition products and
leads by example and with a parent-first approach,” he added.
“Jason is a true manufacturing and operations leader who has
scaled manufacturing in many dynamic environments over the years.
More importantly he always puts ‘safety first’. The wait was worth
it, and we couldn't imagine a better fit,” added Modi.
Bobbie’s ability to own end-to-end manufacturing is reflective
of the company’s commitment to bolster the domestic supply chain of
infant formula across the industry. During the shortage, the
government’s temporary solution to import foreign formulas
expedited Bobbie’s efforts to build supply and redundancy of our
products in an industry that consumers understandably expect to be
tightly regulated. In March, Bobbie celebrated the introduction of
the Infant Formula Made in America Act, a bill that the company
co-created alongside Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Bob Casey after
18-months of activism and refusing to sit back while the government
found a solution. The bill marks the first tangible, nonpartisan
legislation to strengthen the American infant formula supply
following the shortage.
About Bobbie:
Bobbie is the mission-driven organic pediatric nutrition company
that exists to build a parenting culture of confidence, not
comparison. Founded in 2018, Bobbie hit the market with its
flagship European-inspired formula in 2021 as the first
direct-to-consumer, subscription-based infant formula in the U.S.
Today, it’s proud to be the only mom-founded and led infant formula
brand in the world, and the fastest-growing in the U.S. since the
1980s. Bobbie is focused on providing purposefully sourced, USDA
Organic products made with simple ingredients – crafted right here
in America, for American families. For more information, visit
www.hibobbie.com.
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