Today Blue Buffalo Company, the nation's leading maker of natural dog and cat food, cut the ribbon and celebrated the opening of its new Heartland Pet Food Manufacturing facility.

Located on 34 acres in Joplin, Missouri, the 416,000 sq. ft. facility includes a state of the art dry pet food manufacturing plant and an attached full-service distribution center.

"This is a very big day for Blue Buffalo," said Chairman and Founder Bill Bishop. "We now have the most modern manufacturing facility in the pet food industry. And we are proud to have created 150 full time jobs which will contribute to Joplin's great recovery from the catastrophic tornado in 2011."

Kurt Schmidt, Blue Buffalo's C.E.O. built on Bishop's comments and made the point that the positive attitude and work ethic of Joplin's residents was a key factor in the company's decision to locate there. "The way the people of Joplin pulled together after the tornado was really impressive," said Schmidt. "When a devastating event like that happens you can either feel sorry for yourself or you get to work fixing things. And the way this town responded made the entire country proud."

Joining Bishop and Schmidt at the ribbon cutting ceremony were Blue Buffalo founding Bishop family members Jackie, Billy and Chris, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Choo Lim, who was responsible for the construction of the Heartland facility, and representatives of the Blue Buffalo management team. Missouri State Senator Ron Richard (R) offered words of welcome to all in attendance at the Heartland Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. Also participating were Joplin Mayor Michael Seibert , Rob O'Brien the Chairman and President of the Joplin area Chamber of Commerce and representatives of the state of Missouri.