It’s been a trial by fire - literally - for Everlast Manufacturing and Distribution. Everlast is possibly one of Mexico’s best-kept secrets, modestly tucked away behind Citizens Armory along Market Drive. But don’t let the building’s unassuming appearance fool you; inside, Everlast is a bustling place.

“A lot of people don’t know there’s a dog food company in Mexico,” Jim Raleigh says.

Raleigh and wife Carolyn are co-owners of Everlast; he has been in the pet food business since 1988, when he opened the doors at his original location in Auxvasse.

After graduating from Community R-6 High School in 1962, Raleigh attended college, served in the Army during Vietnam and after returning from service worked at CE Refractories and later Kaiser. He would also work as a salesman for a Nebraska-based business, selling vitamin and mineral premixes in northern Missouri and southern Iowa. Serving farmers and feed mills, those skills would prove valuable later when Raleigh decided to go into business for himself. And during those sales days, he created the first computer program to formulate blends.

“The information was available,” he said, “but it wasn’t on a computer.”

That was 1984 and soon after the program was widely used in the industry.

Eventually, Raleigh’s employer began making dog food, but that came to an end when it closed its doors. By then, Raleigh had built a sizable customer base and he pivoted, going into business for himself, enlisting an East St. Louis manufacturer for production.

“That went really well until they shut down,” Raleigh said.

From there, he worked with a plant out of Monmouth, Ill. That relationship lasted about two years when Raleigh made a fateful decision.

“I thought I could make it cheaper than I was buying it from them,” he said.

“Big mistake.”

Shouldering the manufacturing burden proved challenging as the company took up residence in an old feed mill in Auxvasse.

“It was an antique,” Raleigh said, noting it simply wasn’t designed to handle forklift traffic and other needs associated with modern manufacturing.

“I knew if we were to do any better, we had to go,” he added.

In 1999, the operation made the move to its current home in Mexico, but the move didn’t go as fluidly as hoped: The Auxvasse plant burned to the ground, claiming “all the stuff we needed to bring here.” That was compounded as Raleigh had no insurance on the plant.

“You couldn’t get insurance on a place like that,” he said, calling the event “catastrophic."

“But somehow, we survived.”

It would take half a year before pet food was being produced in Mexico. That was the time of “no income, and lots of outcome”, as Raleigh puts it.

Another fire ravaged Everlast - this time at the Mexico location - in 2015. It was another devastating setback. But again, Everlast lived up to its name. Employees continued to draw a paycheck, although this time it was as they worked to reconstruct the building itself.

“Most of it, we did ourselves,” Raleigh said.

New equipment was bought and refurbished and in time, Everlast was back up and running, producing premium grade dog food. Today, the company has relationships with customers in nine states, selling private-label products by the pallet of 50-pound bags.

“We stay very busy doing what we’re doing,” said Raleigh.

Reliant on word of mouth, which was initially built by Raleigh’s door-to-door efforts, the company manufactures approximately 5,500 bags of dog food each week. One customer buys two truckloads - or 44 tons - of feed a week.

Raleigh spent a lot of time on the road, bringing Everlast dog food to kennels, fox and racoon hunts - anywhere he could think of - to introduce the product.

“Once they tried it, a lot of people would want more,” he said, estimating he was working 18 hours a day, seven days a week in those days.

“It was hard,” Raleigh says. “But if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t be doing this today.”

From there, organic growth took over.

Raleigh also credits the company’s unique formula, which includes pasta and his state-of-the-art analyzer ensuring quality.

In all, Everlast produces eight different blends of dog food, sold in 50- and 40-pound bags. The company has eight employees, Darin Raleigh Sr., Darin Raleigh Jr. (DJ), Katie Raleigh, Jason Brooks, Khayleb Fetterhoff, John Matich, Franklin Young; and a welcoming committee of dogs, including border collie, Panda; two pomeranians, Toby and Buddy; and a pug, Tuffy.

“This is dog heaven,” Raleigh said with a smile.

And there’s also a parakeet for good measure. When asked what its name is, Raleigh shrugged, smiled and replied, “Bird."

On a recent day, the factory was busy with incoming and outgoing shipments, including 50,000 dog-food bags arriving, ready to be filled. The factory is open five days a week, closing at 5 p.m. After years of long hours and hard work, Raleigh is quick to add, “That’s all there’ll ever be, too.”