i-Tail buys treat maker Phelps Pet Products for $160M

i-Tail Corporation, the Bangkok pet food maker best known for premium wet cat food, now owns treat plants in the U.S. It closed its $160M purchase of Phelps Pet Products on October 26th, 2026, adding production in what i-Tail calls its largest market. i-Tail is the pet food arm of Thai Union.

Phelps, founded in 1966, had $70.3M in net sales in 2025, so the price is about 2.3 times sales. Its net sales grew at a 25.6% compound annual rate from 2023 to 2025. Nomura and Kelley Drye & Warren advised i-Tail.

"Phelps is a strong strategic fit for i-Tail, bringing differentiated products, expertise, and market capabilities that complement our strengths and deepen our presence in one of the world's largest pet food markets," said Roy Chan, i-Tail's CEO.

i-Tail is buying contract capacity, not a consumer brand

i-Tail describes Phelps as the preferred U.S. contract manufacturing partner for clean-label, protein-first treats. It makes air-dried foods and jerky-style treats for retailers and pet food brands across the U.S. and Canada.

That is a different shelf from i-Tail's core. But the buyers overlap. FoodNavigator reported in March that i-Tail's own treat sales grew 36.5% in 2025 on demand from global pet food companies and private labels.

Phelps has spent the last few years adding room to make more. In 2022 it took over Simmons Pet Food's treat production equipment in Arkansas, a deal Pet Insight reported would more than double its capacity. Its Janesville, Wisconsin, plant began production in January 2023 after an investment of more than $20M, Pet Food Processing reported.

"Combining our experience in the North American market with i-Tail's global reach and expertise in pet nutrition, we can broaden our collective product offerings through cross-selling and exploring opportunities in new categories," said Rick Ruffolo, Phelps' CEO and president.

Treats have become a fifth of i-Tail's pet food sales

Treats made up 20% of i-Tail's pet food sales in the first half of 2026, the company said, up from 16% in 2025 and 12% in 2024. It launched more than 400 new products from January to June.

The U.S. is where that growth has to land. i-Tail had $554M in 2025 sales, and the Americas were 58% of the total, up 17.8% from a year earlier, according to FoodNavigator. The same report said i-Tail supplies about 30% of U.S. wet pet food imports, and that Thai exports have faced a 19% U.S. reciprocal tariff since late 2025.

Treats made in Illinois and Wisconsin and sold in the U.S. do not pay that import tariff. Our earlier tariff coverage found that building new domestic capacity takes years. These plants are already running.

Contract plants are the asset buyers keep paying for

Phelps is not the only pet contract plant to change hands this year. Golden Pet Brands bought Scoular's Petsource plant in Nebraska in May, a facility that made freeze-dried food for much of the indie market. Blue Sea Capital bought supplement maker CompletePet in August.

For the brands and retailers that buy from Phelps, their supplier now belongs to a global manufacturer that already sells to large pet food companies and private labels. Ruffolo framed the change as more to offer them, through cross-selling and new categories.

Chan tied the deal to i-Tail's aspirational target of up to $1.5B in annual revenue by 2030, close to three times its 2025 sales.

i-Tail has spent years shipping cans to American shelves. Now it makes treats on American soil.

Source: i-Tail via company newsroom