6/8/2016

American Fork, Utah (June 8, 2016) Thrive Life is set to open its new freeze drying facility Wednesday, June 8, 2016 after nearly two years of construction and several years of planning.

This state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is the first of its kind in the state, although Utah County is known as Silicon Slopes because of the large presence of tech companies. It will open up at least 20 new manufacturing positions in Utah County.

“This new facility will allow us to make already great products even better,” said Steve Palmer, Co-Founder and CEO of Thrive Life.

With the addition of this new plant, Thrive Life will be freeze drying their own products in-house, giving them greater control of the food they produce. The facility is certified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and is approved to produce products under gluten-free and organic certification.

Palmer said, “Freeze drying allows us to bring fresh foods to families’ tables in a more convenient and healthy way than they’re used to. In many cases, we can now go directly to farmers we trust in order to source our foods, which helps us control our product quality from start to finish.”

Consumers are becoming more health conscious and concerned with what is found in their foods. They want to know where their food has been sourced, if it has been altered in any way, and they want to buy from food manufacturers they can trust to provide safe, healthy foods for their family.

Jason Budge, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Thrive Life, said, “We truly believe that our food is changing people’s lives. Thrive Life provides families with wholesome, nutritious food that is free of all of the processed junk that exists out there. We are very transparent with our food—people know exactly what they’re getting and they know they can trust it.” Thrive Life, formerly Shelf Reliance, has grown substantially over the years and this new opportunity will increase company stability and provide a stronger foundation for future growth. It will allow Thrive Life to better meet the needs of their customers through a more advanced food innovation process, and an improved ability to hold suppliers accountable to their rigorous food quality standards.

“This has been a long road for us. We have been working on in-house freeze drying for over five years now, and to finally see the day where this facility is operational and producing the best freeze dried foods on the market is amazing,” said Palmer. “I can’t express how exciting this moment is for us here at Thrive Life, but I am even more excited about what this means for our customers.”

Thrive Life is a privately owned business that has been in business since 2005 when it was founded by Jason Budge and Steve Palmer. Thrive Life is a top provider of freeze dried foods in the United States and Canada. Their facilities are headquartered in American Fork, Utah.