United Premium Foods Taps Tosca Reusable Packaging to Meet Demand for Fresh Pet Food

UPF, a co-manufacturer of human-grade pet food and a manufacturer of fresh premium pet food based in New Jersey, is responding by investing in production capacity and reevaluating packaging as a crucial part of its distribution strategy.

Scaling fresh pet food isn’t just about adding production lines — it’s about ensuring speed and efficiency without sacrificing quality or causing unnecessary environmental harm. UPF’s state-of-the-art production equipment could handle this, but the corrugated packaging in use wasn’t built for modern manufacturing or aligned with its sustainability goals.

As category growth accelerated, staying ahead of demand pressures and quality expectations meant moving away from single-use corrugated toward a solution better suited to automated environments, with stronger protection against damage and ventilation that enables faster cooling.

“Every decision we make is about product quality, on-time efficiency and sustainability,” said Ken Mayer, CEO of United Premium Foods. “Reusable containers have proven durable and reliable, helping us maintain product quality during shipping. Tosca’s pooling model allows us to focus on production while ensuring packaging is managed end-to-end.”

With Tosca managing the entire pooling cycle — supply, retrieval and sanitation — UPF has reduced labor demands while moving toward a more sustainable distribution model.

“At Tosca, we see packaging as an enabler of resilient supply chains,” said Scott Schimming, vice president of sales, Tosca. “In fast-growing, perishable categories like fresh pet food, packaging is infrastructure. It shapes quality, efficiency and sustainability — and our reusable model is built for that future.”