The story of Jost Chemical

Jost Chemical was founded in 1985 by Jerry Jost, a chemical engineer who had worked for several companies in various manufacturing roles.

In the fall of 1985, production began at the company’s first manufacturing plant located within “The Hill” area of St. Louis. The company initially manufactured high purity magnesium phosphate for the food and nutritional market. These efforts rapidly expanded into the manufacture of calcium citrate, magnesium citrate and zinc citrate for the nutritional market and inorganic salts for the pharmaceutical market and the precision industrial markets.

By 1994, Jost Chemical relocated their plant and office to a 40,000-square-foot plant in St. Louis County near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. In 1997, the new plant was expanded by an additional 50,000 square feet. In 2004, a new 100,000-square-foot plant was completed on the adjoining five acres.

As the business grew, expansion of Jost capabilities grew with it, from product innovation to manufacturing and distribution. In 2012, Jost added a 20,000-square-foot building to support research and development. The following year saw another acquisition: a 100,000-square-foot building for finished goods warehousing. In 2021, a 185,000-square-foot building was purchased, completing the current five-building corporate campus.

In 2019, a 57,000-square-foot production facility was opened in Kościan, Poland to meet future growth projections in the region and maintain our high level of responsiveness.

Jost now manufactures and ships more than 250 high purity specialty chemicals to more than 60 countries. This includes Jost’s family of ultra-pure calcium salts with very low levels of aluminum. In addition to manufacturing high purity chemical salts that meet compendial monographs, Jost’s products meet customized particle size requirements from free flowing granular to ultrafine powders.

Recent innovations include Jost’s exclusive Infant Pure, Ultra Pure and Pharma Pure lines of minerals and JOSTCOTE® microencapsulated mineral salts.

Jost Chemical takes great pride in being operated by those responsible for its growth. Jost employs over 400 employees, a quarter of which are chemists and engineers. It’s a family-owned company and much of the leadership has been on staff for more than 20 years.

Jerry’s early decision to employ experienced chemical industry experts has continued to be invaluable to the growth of the company. Now celebrating 35 years in the industry, Jost has never wavered from his commitment to excellence in quality and service – producing high purity specialty chemicals that meet customer requirements. As Jerry always says, “It’s in the details.”