It’s been less than a year since Freshpet became the newest addition to the Lehigh Valley’s growing food and beverage production sector, moving all of its pet food production to Hanover Township, Northampton County.

Today, Freshpet is challenging the standard pet food industry. Its display cases and high-quality, fresh pet food is in 12,000 locations across the United States.  More than just its competition is noticing.

Last week, Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s Mad Money program, and a national market analyst, featured Richard Thompson, the founder and CEO of Freshpet, on his national television show.

Watch Thompson’s five-minute appearance.

Thompson is considered a national success in the food industry for both humans and animals. Prior to his success in creating Freshpet he developed and expanded national pasta brands and the Meow-Mix cat food brand.

Twice during his appearance, Thompson mentioned moving his production facilities to Pennsylvania and, specifically, Bethlehem.

Since opening, Freshpet has grown with 125 now working in production. Thompson considers his workers artists, making not just dog and cat food but fresh, high-quality food. The Newark, N.J.-based company offers the first-ever refrigerated fresh pet food.

The company’s philosophy about pet food is strictly wellness and lifestyle oriented. Fresh meat, liver, vegetables, eggs, brown rice and plenty of vitamins and minerals keep a growing number of pets the pride of the litter and the envy of the neighborhood. Thompson runs a highly-technical operation at his Lehigh Valley plant and is changing the way people think about pet food in the 21^st century and also is proving to be a successful business model.

And people across the nation are taking notice.