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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