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Like any
child who grew up with four dogs, I have 1) slept in a dog house 2)
barked like Eliza Thornberry and 3) ate a kibble pellet I can only
describe as tasting “brown.”
But pet food
has come a long way since I had my little snack. “Human-grade” food
fills doggy bowls and, just this week, Ben & Jerry’s launched a line
of frozen “Doggie Desserts.”
Horsemeat hawking  nearly $100 billion industry
Dog food’s earliest recipes, as chronicled by Quartz,
should be added to the list of “least fun historical facts” and
promptly forgotten—horse meat was a primary ingredient in pet food into
the 1940s.
But if we can learn anything from comparing Snoopy’s lifestyle to Jiffpom’s,
it’s that pets have dramatically climbed the household status ladder.
Spending on pets and pet care has increased 4%–5% every year since 2008.
Dog treat sales in particular have spiked 44% in the past five years,
per Euromonitor.
The reason why is simple: Most US households (an estimated 57%–67%) have a pet, and that number’s only growing. Animal shelters are being emptied out, with 25% of pet-owning homes adding another
to their families last year. And—judging from a sample size of my
70-ish coworkers—many WFHers are adopting their very first good boys and
girls, too. (Shoutout to Morning Brew CEO Alex Lieberman’s bernedoodle
pup, Rambo.)
Consumer
goods giants have noticed the increased spending on kibbles and other
bits, and are nudging their noses into the growing category. Roll the
acquisition reel...
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General Mills bought upscale pet food maker Blue Buffalo in 2018 for $8 billion.
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Smucker’s acquired Big Heart Pet Brands (the maker of Meow Mix and Milk-Bone) in 2015, which quickly became a “key driver” of sales, and scooped up Ainsworth Pet Nutrition (Nutrish) in 2018 for $1.9 billion.
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Nestlé bought natural pet food brand Lily’s Kitchen last year, adding to its existing portfolio of Purina and Friskies.
Beyond the
big dogs, boutique brands for gourmet pet meals, supplements, CBD
treats, and more health products have cropped up to cater to
anthropomorphizers everywhere. Moving down the supply chain from
production to distribution...
If pet store aisles are yellow, e-commerce sites are gold
Online pet
food sales grew about 32% last year, spurred by more frequent shopping
from home during the pandemic. The industry’s alpha is Amazon,
accounting for 39% of all pet food and supplies sales. But legacy
retailers are learning new tricks, too:
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PetSmart acquired
online pet product retailer Chewy in 2017. Thanks to the tremendous
growth in pet e-commerce, Chewy shares gained more than 270% over the
last year.
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Petco poured $300+ million into its
digital operations during the pandemic. This Thursday, Petco went public
to a warm reception from investors, jumping 63% on its first day of
trading. (For more on Petco's IPO, read Retail Brew's interview with the CEO.)
Zoom out: Pet
food sales were already shifting online pre-Covid, but like Hollywood
blockbusters debuting on-demand, the pandemic sped up the transition by
years.
Warning: Health fads aren’t always good for Fido
Grain-free
food has been investigated by the FDA for reportedly causing a heart
condition in some dogs. On Monday, a Midwestern pet food company expanded its recall of dry dog and cat food products after more than 70 dogs died and 80 became ill.
- The FDA was empowered to investigate cases like these in 2011 with the passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act.
Zoom out: As
greater attention (and money) is spent on pets, animal rights advocates
are pushing the legal system to treat pets more like family members
rather than property. A few years ago, Alaska became the first state to
require courts to take pets’ “well-being” into account during divorce
cases.
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