Thank you for your support of Freshpet, Inc. On behalf of the entire Board of Directors of Freshpet (the “Board”), we invite you to attend Freshpet’s 2022 Annual Meeting2023 annual meeting of Stockholdersstockholders (including any adjournments, postponements or continuations thereof, the “Annual Meeting”) scheduled to be held on October 3, 2022[•], 2023 at 8:00 a.m., Central Time. Our 2022[•] a./p.m. Eastern Time in a virtual meeting format, via a live webcast. The Annual Meeting will once again be conducted in-person at our newest Freshpet Kitchen located at 4800 Sterilite Drive, Ennis, TX 75119, as well as virtually via webcast at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/FRPT2022. Each holderin a virtual format, which will provide stockholders the opportunity to participate irrespective of location. Stockholders of record as of the close of business on August 9, 202218, 2023 may vote their shares either in-person or electronically at the annual meeting,Annual Meeting, as further described in the accompanying Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Proxy Statement.proxy statement detailing the business to be conducted at the Annual Meeting (the “Proxy Statement”).

We are confident our progress will allow us to deliver continued momentum and future success. We are pleased to offer our stockholders this hybrid meeting format to promote greater stockholder engagement, while providing flexibility to attend in-person or participate virtually. Importantly, our stockholders attending the annual meeting virtually will have the same rights to participatewelcome Walter N. George III into his role as those stockholders attending in-person. Because the health and well-beingindependent Chair of our employees, stockholdersBoard, effective as of July 21, 2023. Walt, formerly Chair of the Nominating, Governance and other meeting participants remainsSustainability Committee of utmost importance, in-person attendancethe Board, has over 30 years of manufacturing and supply chain leadership experience, including senior positions in the pet food industry and significant expertise in scaling multiple high-growth consumer product companies that position him well to lead our Board. We also want to thank former Chair of the Board Charles A. Norris for his many years of dedication to Freshpet and his leadership of the Board since our initial founding. Charlie’s insights have contributed significantly to Freshpet’s revolutionizing of the pet food industry and ongoing evolution, and he has helped put us in a strong position to build momentum and capture many opportunities ahead.

Our Board continues to evolve to ensure it has the right skills and expertise to oversee the continued execution of our strategy and business. Comprised of 9 independent directors and our CEO, our Board has extensive experience in areas critical to growing our business, including retail, supply chain management, consumer packaged goods, technology, marketing and branding, and of course, pet food experience. We are thrilled to have welcomed two new directors to our Board in recent months: David B. Biegger and David J. West. Mr. Biegger joined our Board in May, Mr. West joined in July, and both have been appointed to serve on our Audit Committee. Mr. Biegger is a seasoned supply chain and operations leader with deep domain knowledge and over 40 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry. Mr. West is an accomplished pet food and consumer products executive who brings over three decades of experience leading a range of blue-chip consumer companies and well-known brands. We expect Mr. Biegger’s and Mr. West’s guidance and perspectives will require compliance with any then-applicable COVID-19 governmental regulationshelp advance our operational improvement plan to help us deliver margin expansion while we continue to drive top line growth. Our Board also continues to implement our governance transformation plan, as well as our Compensation Committee’s introduction of ESG-related metrics directly into executive compensation, as discussed in greater detail in our Proxy Statement.

Additionally, we recently announced the appointments of Todd Cunfer as Chief Financial Officer and recommendations.

The Board is dedicated to its role as your fiduciary, and our directors’ diverse skills and backgrounds reflect the expertise necessary for effective oversight and guidanceaccompanying Notice of the business. Freshpet is on a mission to change the way people feed their pets forever, and our strategy to lead the transition to fresh and natural food for our pets is aligned with a fundamental shift in how society views both pets and food. The accelerating growth of the Company over the past five years validates that our Feed the Growth strategy is working and has positioned the Company to realize the benefits of its first-mover position in the market’s shift towards higher quality, fresh pet food. As a Board, we have encouraged and guided the management team to continually make the investments necessary to fully realize Freshpet’s long-term potential, including investments in talent, capacity, systems, and advertising. It is our belief that this focus on long-term growth will deliver significant profitability through increased scale and create a sustainable competitive advantage for the Company.

Your vote is creating a solid foundation for the significant growth that lies ahead. We now have the infrastructure, talent, and processes needed to carry Freshpet towards its 2025 goals and beyond.

On behalf of our hourly workforce. As a result, our Compensation Committee has adopted a retention goal as part of our annual bonus calculation for the top executives and set specific metrics for the team to achieve.

The 2022 Annual Meeting2023 annual meeting of Stockholdersstockholders (including any adjournments, postponements or continuations thereof, the “Annual Meeting”) of Freshpet, Inc. (the “Company”) will be held in-personvirtually on [•], October [•], 2023 at the Freshpet Kitchen, 4800 Sterilite Drive, Ennis, TX 75119, and via a live video webcast in a hybrid meeting format. In the continued interest of the health and well-being of our employees, stockholders and other meeting participants, in-person attendance will require compliance with any then-applicable COVID-19 governmental regulations and recommendations.

If you have previously submitted a green proxy card sent to you by JANA, you may change your vote by completing, signing, dating and Required Votereturning the enclosed WHITE proxy card in the postage-paid envelope provided, or by voting via the Internet or by following the instructions on the WHITE proxy card. Please note that submitting a green proxy card sent to you by JANA will revoke votes you have previously made via the Company’s WHITE proxy card.

Only holders of record of our common stockCommon Stock at the close of business on August 9, 2022,18, 2023, which is the record date,Record Date, will be entitled to receive notice of, to attend, and to vote at the Annual Meeting and any postponements or adjournments thereof.Meeting. At the close of business on August 9, 2022, we had [47,820,427]the Record Date, [•] shares of common stockour Common Stock were outstanding and entitledeligible to vote.be voted. Holders of the Company’s common stockCommon Stock are entitled to one vote for each share held as of the above record date. A quorumRecord Date. Cumulative voting is requirednot permitted in the election of directors.

The deadline for ourvoting by Internet is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on October [•], 2023. Votes cast by mail must be received no later than the start of the Annual Meeting. If you attend the Annual Meeting, you may vote your shares electronically during the meeting.

We encourage stockholders to conduct businessvote and submit their proxy in advance of the Annual Meeting by one of the methods described in the proxy materials, regardless of whether you think you will be able to attend the Annual Meeting. Any votes submitted after the closing of the polls at the Annual Meeting.Meeting will not be counted.

Freshpet is incorporated in the State of Delaware. As a result, the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) and our Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”) govern the voting standards applicable to actions taken by our stockholders. The holders of a majority in voting power of all issued and outstanding stock entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting, present at the Annual Meeting or represented by proxy, will constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at the Annual Meeting.Meeting, and business may not be conducted at the Annual Meeting unless a quorum is present. If there are not sufficient shares present or represented by proxy at the Annual Meeting to constitute a quorum for approval of any matter to be voted upon, the Annual Meeting may be adjourned to permit further solicitation of proxies in order to achieve a quorum. Abstentions or withheld votes and “broker non-votes” (described below) will beare counted inas shares present and entitled to vote for the purpose of determining whether therea quorum is a quorum.present.

Pursuant to our Bylaws, in an uncontested election of directors, such as that being held at our Annual Meeting this year, directors are elected by majority of the votes cast. For purposes of the Bylaws, in an uncontested election, as is the case this year, a “majority of the votes cast” means that the number of shares voted “for” a director must exceed the number of votes cast “against” that director (with “abstentions” and “broker non-votes” not counted as a vote cast either “for” or “against” that director’s election). Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no impact on the outcome of Proposal No. 1, as they are not considered votes cast for this purpose.

If your shares are held in “street name” through(that is, held for your account by a broker, bank broker or other nominee,nominee), you will receive voting instructions from your broker, bank or other nominee. If you are a street name holder and your shares are registered in the name of a broker, the New York Stock Exchange rules applicable to brokers who have record ownership of listed company stock (including stock such as ours that is listed on The Nasdaq Global Market) determine whether your broker may vote your shares in its discretion even if it does not receive voting instructions from you. If you are a street name holder and a broker provides you with competing proxy materials from JANA (in addition to the Company’s proxy materials), none of the matters before the Annual Meeting will be considered discretionary, and therefore the beneficial ownerbroker may not vote your shares with respect to any of those shares. You maythe proposals to be ablevoted on at the Annual Meeting unless you provide the broker with voting instructions. These “broker non-votes” will be included in the calculation of the number of votes considered to votebe present at the meeting for the purpose of determining a quorum, but will not be counted in determining the number of shares necessary for the approval of the proposals.

The shares represented by telephoneany WHITE proxy card that is properly completed, executed and received by the Company prior to or electronically throughat the InternetAnnual Meeting will be voted in accordance with the voting instructions providedspecifications made on the card, whether it is returned by that nominee. You must obtainmail or Internet.

If you return a legalvalidly executed and dated WHITE proxy from the nominee that holdscard without indicating how your shares ifshould be voted on a matter and you wishdo not revoke your proxy, your proxy will be voted: “FOR” the election of all four director nominees recommended by our Board as set forth on the WHITE proxy card (Proposal 1); “FOR” the ratification of the appointment of KPMG as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2023 (Proposal 2); and “FOR” the approval, on an advisory basis, of the compensation paid to our named executive officers, as disclosed in this Proxy Statement (commonly known as a “Say-on-Pay resolution”) (Proposal 3).

Our Board is not aware of any matters that are expected to come before the Annual Meeting other than those described in this Proxy Statement. If any other matter is presented at the Annual Meeting upon which a vote in-person or viamay be properly taken, shares represented by all WHITE proxy cards received by the InternetCompany will be voted with respect thereto at the discretion of the persons named as proxies on the enclosed WHITE proxy card.

No. If you are a registered stockholder of record (i.e., you own your shares directly on the books of the Company’s transfer agent, Computershare, and not through a broker) and you do not cast your vote, no votes will be cast on your behalf on any of the items of business at the Annual Meeting.

If your shares are held in more than one account, you will receive more than one universal WHITE proxy card, and in that case, you can and are urged to vote all of your shares by completing, signing, dating and returning all universal WHITE proxy cards you receive from the eventCompany in the postage-paid envelope provided. If you choose to vote via the Internet, please vote using each universal WHITE proxy card you receive to ensure that sufficient votes in favorall of your shares are voted. Only your latest dated proxy for each account will count. Please sign each proxy card exactly as your name or names appear on the proposals are not received byproxy card. For joint accounts, each owner should sign the date ofproxy card. When signing as an executor, administrator, attorney, trustee, guardian or other representative, please print your full name and title on the Annual Meeting,proxy card.

If JANA proceeds with its previously announced proxy solicitation, the Chairman of the Annual Meeting may adjournCompany will likely conduct multiple mailings prior to the Annual Meeting to permit further solicitations of proxies.

If you have previously submitted a proxy card sent to you by JANA, you can revoke it and vote “FOR” each of the director nominees recommended by our Board by completing, signing, dating, and returning the enclosed WHITE proxy card in the postage-paid envelope provided, or by following the instructions on the WHITE proxy card to vote via the Internet. Only the latest validly executed proxy that you submit will be counted, and any solicitation of proxiesproxy may be revoked at any time prior to be votedits exercise at the Annual Meeting as described above. If you attend and validly vote at the Annual Meeting, your previously submitted proxy will not be used.

The Board currently has 10 members divided into three classes with staggered terms. As part of the Company's previously announced governance reforms, which are discussed in more detail beginning on page [•] of this Proxy Statement, the Company is in the process of declassifying the Board, which will be paidcomplete by 2025. This year, the Company. Class III directors of the Board are up for election, the Class having previously been elected to a three-year term at our 2020 annual meeting of stockholders (the “2020 Annual Meeting”). One of the Class III directors, David J. West, joined our Board on July 21, 2023, upon the retirement of former Class III director and Board Chair Charles A. Norris. For more information on the Board of Directors, please see “Board of Directors” on page [•] of this Proxy Statement.

An “under-vote” occurs when a stockholder submits fewer votes “FOR” director nominees than there are director seats up for election. To the extent an under-vote (i.e., voting “FOR” with respect to fewer than four nominees on Proposal 1) occurs on any stockholder’s universal proxy card, your shares will only be voted “FOR” those nominees you have engaged Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (“Broadridge”)so marked and “WITHHOLD” for the other nominees. We encourage you to vote by Internet to avoid an “under-vote.”

Stockholders may log into the meeting platform beginning at [•] Eastern Time on October [•], 2023. We encourage you to log in prior to the meeting start time. We will have a support team ready to assist attendees with any technical difficulties they may have accessing or hearing the preparation and distributionaudio webcast of the meeting.

Additional information and our proxy solicitation materials forcan also be found at [•]. If you have any difficulty following the registration process, please email FRPT@investor.morrowsodali.com or call (800) 662-5200.

Yes. We expect that members of the Board and management, as well as representatives of our independent registered public accounting firm, KPMG, will attend the Annual Meeting and be available to act as vote tabulator, at a base feeanswer stockholder questions. We will provide our stockholders the opportunity to ask questions. Questions submitted during the meeting pertinent to meeting matters will be answered during the meeting, subject to time constraints. Instructions for submitting questions and making statements will be posted on the virtual meeting website. This question and answer session will be conducted in accordance with certain Rules of $9,500, plus reimbursementConduct. These Rules of reasonable expenses. FollowingConduct will be posted on our investor relations website prior to the original mailingdate of the proxiesAnnual Meeting, and other soliciting materials,may include certain procedural requirements.

We will have technicians ready to assist you with any technical difficulties you may have accessing the Companyvirtual meeting. If you encounter any difficulties accessing the virtual meeting during check-in or during the Annual Meeting, please call the technical support number that will be posted in the virtual meeting reminder email sent the day prior to the Annual Meeting. We encourage you to access the virtual meeting prior to the start time.

A representative from [•] will count the votes and its directors, officers or employees (for no additional compensation) may also solicit proxiesserve as the independent inspector of election for the Annual Meeting.

We will report the voting results of the Annual Meeting in person, by telephone or email. The Companya Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC within four business days following our Annual Meeting, a copy of which will also be available on our website at investors.freshpet.com.

A copy of our proxy materials, as filed with the SEC, is available, without charge, by mailing a request that banks, brokersto Investor Relations, Freshpet, Inc., 400 Plaza Drive, 1st Floor, Secaucus, NJ 07094, Attention: Corporate Secretary. The proxy materials are posted on our website at investors.freshpet.com and other nominees forward copiesare available free of charge from the SEC at its website, www.sec.gov.

In 2020, the Board began implementing Freshpet’s “Commitment to Good Corporate Governance: 2020 to 2025 Roadmap” plan, which was developed in part based on feedback received from a broad range of Proxiesstockholders. For more information on this plan, please see page [•] of this Proxy Statement.

Any person submittingIn 2021, as part of the aforementioned plan, the Board adopted a proxy hasdirector retirement policy, which provides that non-employee directors will not be nominated for re-election to the powerBoard after reaching age 75. Also in 2021, then-director and Chair of the Board Charles A. Norris, who had been elected to revoke itthe Board in 2020 for a term ending in 2023, turned 75. As a result, Mr. Norris would not be eligible for nomination to the Board at the Annual Meeting in accordance with the Company’s director retirement policy. During conversations with stockholders, Mr. Norris acknowledged that a consequence of the new policy would be his departure from the Board when his term expired.

On September 22, 2022, prior to the Company’s 2022 Annual Meeting and more than twelve months prior to the Annual Meeting, JANA, Diane Dietz, James Lillie, Timothy R. McLevish and other reporting persons filed a Schedule 13D (the “Schedule 13D”) with the SEC disclosing their beneficial ownership of 9.6% of the Company’s outstanding Common Stock and that JANA had identified three director candidates, Ms. Dietz, Mr. Lillie and Mr. McLevish, who had each agreed to become a JANA nominee for election to the Board at the Annual Meeting. JANA stated its intent to have discussions with Company management regarding a possible sale of the Company, Board composition and other governance matters and various other topics. The Company was not aware of JANA’s investment prior to JANA filing the Schedule 13D.

On October 13, 2022, Craig D. Steeneck, a member of the Board, William B. Cyr, the Company’s CEO, Scott Morris, the Company’s President and COO, and Mr. Kassar had an initial conversation with Scott Ostfeld, Kevin Galligan, and other individuals from JANA. JANA’s overwhelming focus in the conversation was its demand that the Company initiate a strategic review with the goal of selling the entire Company, with JANA going so far as to identify potential buyers, with commentary on each of them. When asked what sale price would be acceptable, JANA stated that they would be pleased with a sale price in the high $70s per share and referenced what they believed were precedent situations at 7x sales, which would equate to a sales price for the Company in the high $70s per share. JANA indicated that it would permit the Company a few weeks to initiate such a process or else it would increase the pressure on the Company to do so.

On May 25, 2023, JANA sent a letter to Sidley and issued a press release alleging that the actions taken by the Board and announced on May 17, 2023 breached the Board’s fiduciary duties. In particular, JANA objected to the fact that the Company had announced that there would only be three seats up for election at the Annual Meeting priordue to Mr. Norris not standing for re-election, despite this outcome being the vote. A proxy may be revokednatural consequence of the director resignation policy adopted in 2021, as acknowledged by a writingMr. Norris at the time of its adoption.

Also on May 25, 2023, JANA delivered notice to the Company statingof its intent to nominate three director candidates, Diane Dietz, Timothy R. McLevish and Scott Ostfeld, to the Board, and identified a fourth candidate, Kurt T. Schmidt, to serve as an alternate in the event that the proxy is revoked, by a subsequent proxy that is submitted via telephone or Internet no laterBoard were to increase the size of the Board to elect more than 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time) on October [2], 2022, by a subsequent proxy that is signed by the person who signed the earlier proxy and is delivered before orthree directors at the Annual Meeting or by attendanceif more than three directors were to be elected at the Annual Meeting and voting in-person or via the Internet. If you are a beneficial owner and wishfor any other reason.

Also on May 30, 2023, JANA issued a press release criticizing the Internet at www.proxyvote.com.

On June 1, 2023, JANA filed a complaint (the “SEC”“Complaint”) under Rule 14a-8against the Company and the members of the Securities Exchange ActBoard in the Court of 1934, as amended, regarding the inclusion of stockholder proposals in company-sponsored proxy materials. Proposals should be addressed to: Freshpet, Inc., 400 Plaza Drive, 1st Floor, Secaucus, NJ 07094, Attention: Corporate Secretary.

For a stockholder proposal that is not intended to be included in ourOn June 2, 2023, proxy statement under Rule 14a-8, our Bylaws require that the stockholder’s written proposal, including director nominations by stockholders, be submitted to our Corporate Secretary at the address above not earlier than the close of business on [June 5, 2023] nor later than the close of business on [July 5, 2023] (assuming the Company does not change the date of the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders by more than 30 days before or 60 days after the anniversary of the 2022 Annual Meeting). In suchfiled a case, the notice must be submitted by a stockholder of record and must set forth the information required by our Bylaws with respect to each director nomination or other proposal that the stockholder intends to present at the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders. A copy of our Bylaws is available on the Company’s corporate website at www.freshpet.com. Our website is not partpreliminary version of this Proxy Statement.Statement with the SEC, and JANA filed a preliminary proxy statement with the SEC.

Our Board and management value and rely upon our stockholders’ perspectives. To help ensure we understand and focus on the priorities that matter most to our stockholders, our directors and senior management proactively conduct thorough and extensive investor outreach throughout the year. In addition to discussing business results and initiatives, strategy, and capital structure, we engage with investors on various other matters integral to our business and the Company, such as governance practices, executive compensation and sustainability.

Since last year’s annual meeting, we have met and engaged directly with stockholders holding approximately 58%84% of our outstanding common stock.Common Stock. We also met with analysts who cover our Company and leading proxy advisors who serve our investors. We presented at foursix industry conferences, held fiveseven non-deal road shows, and hosted numerous investors on tours of the Freshpet Kitchens, where investors and analysts heard presentations from our senior management about all aspects of our business (which presentation materials were also made available to our stockholders generally through our filings with the SEC orand on the “Investors” section of our website at investors.freshpet.com). Our Board and management carefully consider and evaluate feedback received during these meetings. Additionally, in response to the Say-on-Pay results (76%(97.2% approval) at our 2022 annual meeting of stockholders (the “2022 Annual Meeting”), the management and the Board focusedhave continued to focus their discussions with stockholders on executive compensation. In response to those discussions, the Compensation Committee has added an ESGEnvironmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) goal as a key part of the executive officers’ annual bonus calculation to both further distinguish the annual incentives from the long-term incentives and to ensure commitment to the ESG goals.

The feedback we received in 2020, 2021, 2022 and early 20222023 is described below and reflected in the governance changes we announced in 2020 and are implementing.continuing to implement.

Stockholders and other interested parties who would like to communicate with one or more members of the Board, a Board committee or the ChairmanChair of the Board may do so by writing to any such party at Freshpet, Inc., 400 Plaza Drive, 1st Floor, Secaucus, NJ 07094, Attention: Corporate Secretary. The Corporate Secretary will forward copies of all correspondence that, in the opinion of the Corporate Secretary, deals with the functions of the Board or its committees or that he or she otherwise determines requires the attention of any member, group or committee of the Board.

Freshpet was founded in 2006 with a single-minded mission to do right by pets, people and the planet, every step of the way from farm to fridge. In 2010, we welcomed a private equity investor who believed in our mission and the power of our platform, and subsequently went public in 2014. In addition to onboarding new directors with financial and industry expertise that we needed as a public company, we welcomed our current CEO, William B. Cyr, in 2016 to support the Board’s ambition to rapidly and strategically scale the business. InOver the course of 2018 and 2019, our Board added three female directors, who brought deep expertise in retail, digital optimization and strategy to support our 2020 long-term plan. In May 2023, our Board added supply-chain expert David B. Biegger as a director, and in July 2023, our Board appointed pet food expert David J. West as a director concurrent with the retirement of longtime Chair Charles A. Norris. The Board’s commitment to regular refreshment and corporate governance best practices underlies our dynamic and thoughtful approach to oversight of our business and management.

Since our 2014 IPO,initial public offering (“IPO”), Freshpet’s market cap has grown from around $300 million to approximately $4.9$3.9 billion (as of April 14, 2022)August 7, 2023). As a young public company in pursuit of sizable long-term goals to disrupt the pet food industry, our IPO-related governance provisions provided protection from market volatility and short-term hostile threatshelped ensure business continuity and organizational stability while our Board and management pursued long-term strategic goals and stockholder value creation.

While these governance provisions were critical to our success as a young public company, our Board recognized that some of these protections provided by our governance structure should be gradually phased out as we reach maturity. Concurrent with setting Freshpet’s strategic 2025 long-term plan, the Board during 2019has solicited valuable stockholder feedback to receive direct input as to how to best evolve Freshpet’s corporate governance.

In response, the Board has implemented an effectivea number of corporate governance structure that allowsupdates aimed at allowing our Board and management to still focus primarily on the creation of long-termsustainable value for our stockholders while also considering the interests ofbeing responsive to our stockholders, employees and the communities in which we do business. Supporting that philosophy, we have adopted and strategically planned to adopt in the future, many leading corporate governance practices including:over the past several years, including the below.

We believe that corporate responsibility promotes the long-term interests of our stockholders and strengthens Board and management accountability, and Freshpet’s credo articulates our culture and commitment to best serve our pets, employees, customers, communities, and stockholders. Corporate responsibility at Freshpet is implemented from the most senior levels down to every one of our employees because we believe that how responsibly we run our business is intrinsically tied to achieving operational excellence.

Our Board of Directors’Board’s primary duty of overseeing our corporate strategy includes the Board’s oversight of how environmental, social and governance (“ESG”)ESG issues may impact the long-term interests of our stockholders and other stakeholders.

As part of overseeing our corporate strategy and our enterprise risk management program, our Board, acting through the Nominating, Governance and Sustainability Committee, monitors our ESG (including sustainability) practices. The Committee's responsibilities include oversight of our ESG activities, including ongoing carbon, water, and environmental matters, and particularly so with respect to facilities. We believe that environmentally and socially responsible operating practices go hand in hand with generating value for our stockholders. To further support our efforts in this area, we created a Sustainability Leadership Team, consisting of internal resources from critical functional groups and external advisors to address ESG factors that impact our business. Our Sustainability Leadership Team evaluated potential ESG opportunities relevant forto our Company based on the views held by our stockholders and aspects of ESG frameworks including those established by the Carbon Disclosure Project (“CDP”) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”). We anticipate thatrecently released this year’s sustainability report, will be thewhich is our most comprehensive yet, and we expect it to be posted to our website in August 2022.July 2023. You can access a copy of the report at investors.freshpet.com/investors/corporate-governance/governance-highlights.

Commensurate with our materiality-focused ESG approach, our priority is developing a business that is focused on sustainability and the triple bottom line. We think of sustainability broadly, and as defined by our triple bottom line across three areas: (1) performing

At Freshpet, our mission is to create the very best foods that nourish the bond between pets and their parents, helping us both live longer, healthier, and happier lives. Achieving success while caring for our team members, our communities, and our planet is not only the right thing to do, it helps ensure the long-term sustainability of the Company. This ambitious mission drives us every day and was built into the Company by our founders from the very beginning. We call it “Nourishing Pets, People and Planet.”

For over a decade, we have been dedicated to our sustainability initiatives and have made significant progress moving to minimize our environmental impact on the world as we fulfill our mission to provide healthy fresh food for pets and pet parents. We are not perfect, but view ourselves as an industry leader in pet nutrition, sustainability, and growth.

As of December 31, 2021, we2022, Freshpet had employed 7961,004 team members, an increase of approximately 34%26% from one year earlier. Our employees are primarilyearlier, based in Freshpet’sacross our three locations of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Secaucus, New Jersey and Ennis, Texas, withTexas. In Europe, Freshpet has also employed seven of our employees being based in Europe.employees. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

As of December 31, 2021, ourOur workforce consistedconsists of approximately 520680 hourly production employees, 171217 salaried and managerial employees in manufacturing, and 105114 salaried and managerial employees in other functions, such as Marketing, Finance, Sales, Consumer Care, and other support and distribution roles.

In 2020,2022, Freshpet achieved an engagement score of 82%78% with a total participation rate of 70%66%. Our Net Promoter score was 8.3, which8.0. While this represents a 0.3 point decline from our previous survey (2020), we believe demonstratesthat the positive score continues to demonstrate our employees’ positive perception about the future of Freshpet and strong belief in our vision.

At Freshpet, our programs are designed to reward and support employees through competitive pay, creative incentive programs and generous benefits. We strive to ensure that our benefit offerings meet the evolving needs of our diverse workforce across all of our locations. The surge in growth coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic put significant strain on our human resources in 2021. LaborIn 2021, labor shortages driven by factors relating to the pandemic forced us to rethink our approach to attracting and retaining the right talent in the business. In September of 2021, Freshpet rolled out a wage increase program that was closely tied to skills development and career progression. We wanted to ensure that our entry wages remained competitive, but also provided a clear path for career growth and progression. The program was designed to ensure that we build the right processing and packaging skills in our Freshpet Kitchens, whilstwhile providing an accelerated path to higher wages and wealth creation through incremental stock grants. We believe that our approach to human capital management and workforce planning has become a competitive advantage for the Company, with clear improvements in the caliber of our new hires and the enhancements to our training which has resulted in reduced labor turnover and improvements in our safety standards, costs and quality. In 2022 the percentage of employees with tenure less than six months with the Company decreased by 41% from the prior year and retention of hourly employees with tenure greater than one year increased by 49%. This outstanding result has contributed significantly to the stability within the production workforce and impacted employee morale and productivity. In 2022 Freshpet also temporarily relocated and trained 114 hires from our Ennis facility to our Pennsylvania plant, providing them with the opportunity to work on the production lines and learn how to make the products while Ennis was under construction. This has enabled the Company to fast track the employee training and get employees ready ahead of a traditional start-up schedule. All of these improvements have led to a stronger, highly-skilled and engaged workforce.

To further strengthen the employer value proposition, Freshpet also introduced changescontinues to theevolve its benefits programs that tooktaking into consideration the changing needs of employees. Benefits have been adjusted to cater to the evolving needs of our employee base and address important topics such as paid time off and parental leave. These revised practices will continue to form part of our ongoing efforts to ensure a strong, engaged employee base.employees.

Along with our focus on business performanceTo promote a strong culture of safety and prioritize keeping a safe working environment, we employ comprehensive health, safety and environment management policies and standards throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,organization. In addition, we were determinedstrive to maintaincontinuously improve our momentumwork processes, tools, and metrics to reduce workplace injuries and enhance safety.

Since Freshpet's founding, safety has been ingrained in building our reputation asculture. We have invested heavily in maintaining a companysafe and healthy workplace for our employees and take a proactive approach to ensuring that puts its people first and leads by example. We prioritized the health andwork environment supports our “safety first” mission. The safety of our people, goingteam members is a core value of our operation and will guide us to great lengthsour goal of becoming a leader in team member safety. We continue to support their physicalprovide the services of bilingual on-site industrial athletic trainers who work with our team on health-related issues. This has become a popular and mental wellbeing. During the hardest weeks of the crisis, when many organizations were forced to downsize teamsheavily-utilized resource for our team for both work-related and close doors, not a single employee was laid off or furloughed due to the pandemic.non-work-related issues.

The Freshpet team regularly monitorscontinues to monitor and evaluatesevaluate injury rates, safety observancesobservations and near-misses, and takes proactive steps to ensure employee safety is paramount in all our planning. All of these efforts have led to a near 30% reduction in total reported incidents between 2021 and 2022.

We believe that a diverse workforce is critical to our success, and our goal is to create a culture where we provide equal and fair opportunities for all of our employees. Our values are reflected in our diverse workforce, and we believe that our competitive advantage lies in our diversity of thought, creativity in solving systemic problems, and strengthening our partnerships with pet-caring organizations and the communities in which we live. All employees have access to opportunities that enable them to contribute and grow. Our focus on diversity helps us connect with our consumers, attract and develop employees who are eager to leverage multiple perspectives to solve complex challenges, and innovate to allow Freshpet to remain competitive.

Our workforce reflects the communities in which we operate. For example, as reported instaff across all of our most recent annual report, our Manufacturing staff in the Freshpet Kitchens in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Ennis, Texaslocations reflect a diverse mix of approximately 53% White,54% white, 32% Hispanic, or Latino, 7%9% African American, and 8%5% other ethnicities.