Scott Garmon established the Garmon Corp. and its NaturVet brand in 1994 with a goal to provide supplements that “ensure the superior quality of life that all pets deserve.” NaturVet originally entered the pet supplement market focusing on powders and tablets.

In 2000, NaturVet expanded beyond its capabilities in powders and tablets to include liquid products. Today, the brand’s portfolio now includes soft chew supplements, totaling more than 250 SKUs and making it the largest portion of Garmon Corp.’s production volume. This continued expansion caught the eye of pet healthcare company Swedencare, which acquired Garm and NaturVet in 2022. 

Garmon currently operates three production sites in Temecula, Calif. The Via plant produces a range of liquid, powders and tablet products. This plant features 10,700 square feet of manufacturing and packaging space with five production lines housed within the 44,500-square-foot facility. It was built from the ground-up in 2006.

Though powders, liquids and tablets represent a smaller portion of Garmon’s total production volume, half of the Via facility is solely dedicated to powder formats. Operators on the other side of the building produce the liquid products out of two kettles. 

The Via plant runs five days a week with two shifts per day. Production teams are cross trained to work in various areas to help reduce fatigue and repetitive stress injuries. Following each production run, operators wash and swab all equipment and tools to ensure food safety. According to Garmon Corp., it has a 30-year track record without a single recall.

Garmon’s Remington was built in 2006 and the company occupied it in 2017. The plant specializes in soft chews, featuring about 38,285 square feet of processing and packaging areas, 32,637 square feet of warehouse space, and 5,278 square feet of office space. The Remington facility produces chew supplements for Garmon’s NaturVet brand as well as private-label customers. 

Remington features three production lines — the larger one containing a 4,000-kg mixer, and the other two housing 2,000-kg mixers for mixing dry and wet ingredients to make a “dough.” Soft chews are the No. 1 volume driver across all formats in Garmon’s portfolio.

The “dough” is then passed through the first of two metal detectors before proceeding through the extruder. The larger production lines feature two separate shape extruders, whereas the smaller lines include one shape per run. Following this, flavor additions are added to the exterior of the chews to ensure palatability. 

Once the chews are finished, they are conveyed to a separate room to be weighed, sorted and packaged into jars, cups or pouches.

After packaging, the products pass through a second set of metal detectors before sealing and labeling. This aligns with Garmon’s priority to quality, ensuring no foreign contaminants. Additionally, the company performs quality checks each hour. 

With a goal to change how pet parents address their pet’s health from a reactive to proactive approach, Garmon continues to launch innovations through its NaturVet brand. The Scoopables and Breed Specific lines were launched to accomplish this. Scoopables marries soft chew supplements with a topper-like feeding method, and Breed Specific provides consumers with an easy entry into the supplement space. 

In addition to its capabilities for NaturVet, Garmon also offers its branded, private-label and contract manufacturing customers a slice of the pie. The Remington plant includes an R&D lab in which the Garmon team develops formulas for customers, allowing the company to help amplify the pet supplement space.