Distribution Channels

Customers’ orders are assigned for shipping purposes to one of Menu’s three plant locations. Menu ships some products between plants in order to more efficiently manage shipments to large customers by combining products produced in different plants into a single customer shipment. Menu believes that it is the only private-label wet pet food manufacturer with three manufacturing facilities, and can thus allocate an order between any of its plants based on capability, product cost, material availability, freight cost and available production capacity. Since the major retailers in the United States are increasingly multi-regional or national in scope, Menu’s ability to serve them from three locations provides Menu with service and freight cost advantages compared to other single or two plant private-label competitors. Management believes that the flexibility and depth of its infrastructure is such that Menu is the only private-label wet pet food manufacturer that is providing national retailers with cross-continental service and complete product lines in all significant packaging configurations.