Russell Breuer, CEO of Spot & Tango (center), cuts the ribbon at the grand opening of Spot & Tango new 66,700 square-foot facility in Upper Macungie Township.

Spot & Tango’s new 66,700 square-foot manufacturing facility in the Lehigh Valley will create at least 96 new full-time jobs over the next three years, and produce about 32 million meals per year for dogs around the country.

The pet health and wellness company celebrated the grand opening and ribbon-cutting of its new facility at 7520 Morris Court in Upper Macungie Township on Oct. 17. The company is investing $20 million into the project, which marks its first manufacturing facility.

“We are absolutely thrilled to open up operations in the Allentown area,” said Russell Breuer, CEO of Spot & Tango. “Our new facility will not only bring nearly 100 new jobs to Lehigh County, but will also allow us to continue to scale our mission of providing the highest quality food to every dog.”

The Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation provided assistance with this project in the past, and LVEDC President & CEO was a speaker and master of ceremonies during the grand opening ceremony, for which nearly 200 people were in attendance.

LVEDC President & CEO Don Cunningham speaking at the Spot & Tango grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 17.

“Spot & Tango is an exciting new company developing and producing pet food products with growing market demand,” Cunningham said. “We are thrilled to welcome them to Lehigh Valley’s booming manufacturing market of more than 750 companies generating $8 billion a year in output, making the region one of America’s Top 50 Manufacturing Centers.”

Founded in 2018, Spot & Tango is a personalized pet health and wellness company that is focused on providing dogs with the highest quality, human-grade meals excluding artificial additives, fillers, and inexpensive preservatives. The company delivers its products to 48 states in the United States.

Breuer said the company chose the Lehigh Valley from a search that included 54 prospective locations throughout the Northeastern United States, a list which was developed by a sophisticated statistical model.

Spot & Tango was attracted to the Lehigh Valley due to the region’s strong talent pool, well-developed infrastructure, and close proximity to major metropolitan centers, he said.

The new facility has a freezer storage capacity of 10,000 residential freezers, and power equivalent to 60 single-family homes, Breuer said. The facility also includes 250 tons of concrete, 30 miles of wire, and took 22,360 man hours to build, he said.

LVEDC provided assistance and information to Spot & Tango during their site selection process, and referred the company to the Governor’s Action Team (GAT), an experienced group of economic development professionals who report directly to the governor and work with businesses that are considering locating or expanding in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf invested more than $4.5 million to secure nearly 700 manufacturing jobs in the Lehigh Valley region last year, according to Neil Weaver, acting Secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Weaver said Spot & Tango received a funding proposal from DCED totaling $438,000.

“This expansion wouldn’t have been possible without the governor’s office, local leaders, and investors, and we look forward to continuing to build relationships with the Allentown community,” Breuer said.

The Lehigh Valley has more than 700 manufacturers employing about 35,000 people, and manufacturing output accounted for $7.9 billion – or about 18% – of the region’s $42.9 billion gross domestic product in 2020, Cunningham said.

The region’s manufacturing sector ranking is 49th out of the 384 metro regions in the country, and manufacturing employment in the Lehigh Valley grew 11 times faster than that of the nation in the last five years, he said.

Lehigh Valley has long been home to national pet food producers, such as FreshPet and Nestle Purina. The region’s pet food manufacturing sector has nearly 8 times the employment concentration as the typical U.S. region.

LVEDC recently released a new video highlighting the Lehigh Valley’s manufacturing sector. The video can be viewed or shared on LVEDC’s YouTube channel, and viewed below: