The $580M Manufacturer Behind Your Private Label Is Betting on Lickables

THB 18.2 billion. $580 million. 2.8% year-on-year growth in FY2025.

Those are i-Tail's numbers, and if you've never heard the name, you're not alone. 99% of the Bangkok-based manufacturer's revenue comes from outside Thailand, much of it as private label for brands US retailers already stock. The company is backed by Thai Union Group, the seafood operation that gives it ingredient access and cost structure most contract manufacturers can't match. What just changed: i-Tail's treat segment surged 36.5% while the broader business grew 2.8%, and the company is now expanding production capacity to 40 million sachets per month to meet demand for lickable formats. That's the margin story most US specialty buyers are missing.

What the $580M is actually made of

Cat food is still the core, contributing 66% of total sales. Dog food sits at 18%. But treats are the tell, the segment that grew 36.5% while wet food globally is growing 4% to 5%. Pahk Shewaruksakul, i-Tail's Chief Commercial Officer, told GlobalPETS that treats are posting double-digit gains across all regions, including the highly developed US market. In Thailand, dry food commands half the market and wet food takes 40%, but treats, despite holding just 10%, are expanding faster than either. The company is adding capacity this year to meet what it describes as strong market response to new lickable formats.

Geographically, the company says the US represents roughly 40% of i-Tail's sales, Europe 30%, and the rest of Asia 30%. The US remains the company's largest growth driver, fueled by private-label orders for chunk-in-gravy and pâté products, formats that make up 70% of the US wet food market. Shewaruksakul describes i-Tail's strategy as serving the "K-shaped economy", supplying private-label customers at volume while premium brands compete at the top.

The misread most retailers will make

The headline number is $580M in annual sales. The mistake is reading that as a seafood company dabbling in pet food. i-Tail is a pet food manufacturer with Thai Union's global tuna operations behind it, which changes the ingredient economics. The company takes by-products from human food processing, calcium from bones, oil from heads, collagen from skin, and turns them into nutrient-dense pet products. That's not a sustainability story dressed up as a margin play; it's a cost-of-goods advantage most contract manufacturers don't have.

Prad Kerdpairoj, who leads sustainability for pet at Thai Union Group, said the company cut emissions by 22% from 2021 through 2025 while revenue climbed 25%. The company is now measuring carbon footprints at the product level, a capability it plans to roll out later this year in response to EU customer requests. If your private-label partner can't give you a product-level carbon footprint and i-Tail can, that's a negotiation point, not a nice-to-have.

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What the 15% new-product target actually signals

Last year, new product launches brought in THB 1.8 billion, roughly $50 million. The company has committed to pulling 15% of 2026 revenue from products launched in the past year. That's not a press-release goal; it's a pipeline commitment that changes what a co-packer can deliver. The company is already testing fresh concepts domestically, including a premium brand called Gimme Fresh that targets Gen Z and Millennials and pulls 70% of its sales from TikTok commerce, according to GlobalPETS. i-Tail is also working on brands for senior pets, the dogs and cats adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic that are now aging into mature (7-10 years) and senior (10+) segments.

Shewaruksakul said the company plans to segment these life stages to open up new positioning opportunities for brands. If you're a mid-size chain evaluating private-label bids, ask whether your current co-packer has a 15% new-product revenue target and a senior-pet pipeline. If they don't and i-Tail does, you're comparing different businesses.

Where this lands for a store of a given size

For the buyer at a regional chain: If you're sourcing private label in treats or wet food, i-Tail's Thai Union backing and 36.5% treat growth mean ingredient access and production capacity your current partner might not match. The company's focus on the US K-shaped economy, serving private label in chunk-in-gravy and pâté while premium brands chase the top, is exactly the play a 10-to-50-store chain should be running. Ask your current co-packer what their treat capacity is and whether they can deliver lickable formats at scale. If the answer is vague, you now have a comp.

For the brand operator: If i-Tail is your co-packer or could be, Thai Union's ingredient pipeline, calcium from bones, oil from heads, collagen from skin, might be your margin edge or your competitor's new advantage. The company's ability to track product-level carbon footprints starting this year is a compliance tool that becomes a sales tool in the EU and a differentiator in the US. If you're pitching independents and your co-packer can't give you a carbon footprint, you're about to lose shelf space to a brand whose co-packer can.

Treats are growing by double digits in every region. Wet food is growing 4% to 5%. That gap is where the margin sits.

The thing to watch next

Shewaruksakul said that watching global trends lets i-Tail build capacity ahead of demand. The company is scaling up to 40 million sachets per month this year, which means someone is already ordering that volume or close to it. If you're stocking treats and you're not asking your distributor who's behind the private-label SKUs that just showed up, you're missing the signal. The brands you compete with are already talking to manufacturers like i-Tail. The question is whether you are.

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