Animal nutrition company
The Kent Nutrition Group is an animal nutrition company based in Muscatine, Iowa. It operates under the brands Kent and Blue Seal and is a subsidiary of the Kent Corporation.
History
Kent Nutrition Group was founded in 2010 in a corporate consolidation of two separate regional nutrition companies — Kent (established in 1927) and Blue Seal (established in 1868) — under the Kent Corporation.[2][3] The original president, Rich Dwyer, led the feed division for its first year of operations[2][4] and in 2011, John Thorpe become the president of Kent Nutrition Group.[5]
In 2016, the company acquired Deluxe Feeds, another Iowa-based feed company. The assets in the deal included Deluxe Feeds' retail stores, feed mills, and its Midwest EnRG Flakes operations.[6] In June 2017, the company announced a $37-million expansion of the Deluxe Feeds plant in Sheldon, Iowa.[7] It broke ground on the expansion in September 2017.[8] The following month, the Kent Nutrition Group opened a new swine research facility at their 800-acre Product Development Center in Muscatine County.[9]
In 2019, Mike Gauss was appointed as President, replacing John Thorpe who became President and COO of Kent’s parent company, Kent Corporation.[10]
Brands
Kent
Kent Feeds was founded by Gage A. Kent in Indianola, Iowa in 1927, where he used a mill to manufacture cattle feed. The company's first product, "Kent Baby Beef," was marketed as a cattle feed with high protein and no filler. A fire destroyed the original mill in Indianola and eventually Kent moved the company to a new plant in Muscatine, Iowa. In 1952, the company built a new plant in Muscatine. Between 1946 and 1964, Kent grew by 700%.[11][12]
In 1988, Varied Investments (which would later become Muscatine Foods and, eventually, Kent Corporation) acquired H.K. Webster Company of Lawrence, Massachusetts, renaming it Blue Seal Feeds.[13] At that time, both Kent Feeds and Blue Seal Feeds were operating as subsidiaries of Varied Investments.[14] In 2001, Kent Feeds president Jack May resigned and was replaced by Gage A. Kent, the grandson of the company's founder.[15] Kent sells commercial animal and show feeds primarily in the Midwest and nearby regions.[16][17][18][19]
Blue Seal
Blue Seal Feeds was founded as the H. K. Webster Company in 1868 in Lawrence, Massachusetts by Henry K. Webster. Webster had rented a small gristmill to produce animal feed[14][20] and grain products. His son Dean K. Webster began selling products under the "Blue Seal" brand name.[21] In 1941, H.K. Webster Company expanded by acquiring a Quaker Oats plant in Richford, Vermont.[22] By 1954, the company was earning $15 million in annual revenue and Ralph Kingman Webster, H.K. Webster's great-grandson, joined the company.[14][20]
By 1988, the firm had grown to eight plants and seventeen retail stores in New England producing $150 million in annual revenue.[20] That year, Varied Investments (which would later become Muscatine Foods and, eventually, the Kent Corporation) acquired the H.K. Webster Company[3][11][23] and officially renamed it "Blue Seal Feeds."[24] Blue Seal moved its headquarters to a new facility in Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1994.[25] In 2008, the company acquired the I.L. Richer Company, another feed company based in New York.[26]
Blue Seal produces a number of branded items, including pet foods and animal feed as well as a line of lawn and garden products. Blue Seal products are primarily sold in the Northeast and along the Eastern Seaboard. Blue Seal also operates several retail stores in New England.[25][18][27]
