pets

Doggy Taste Tests: PetPlate's Revamped Food Passes Tough Criteria


 

D2C pet products marketer PetPlate has revamped its frozen foods based on focus groups conducted with dogs -- because they have “no one to please but themselves.”

Having started as a one-man operation in 2016 in a Brooklyn, New York kitchen, PetPlate came early to the now popular “humanization of pets” trend, says founder Renaldo Webb.

As the business scaled up, the company began working with USDA-approved facilities whose equipment is owned by Pet Plate.

Last year, the company reviewed customer feedback and found that pet owners wanted PetPlate food “to look even more human than it already was,” Webb tells Marketing Daily.

“We also rethought how some of the food was cooked. We’re now using a gentler and longer cooking process to lock in more of the flavors and nutrients.”

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Then came “palatability testing” with dogs across a variety of breeds, ages and genders because “they eat with their noses.”

The resulting data indicated that “our new recipes were preferred two to one,” says Webb, who appears in this new campaign spot with his dog Cooper, who is PetPlate’s CTO: chief tasting officer.

“Unlike human focus groups—where you might say what you think the moderator wants to hear—dogs don’t care,” says brand senior vice president Matt Sherman.

“They go with what they want to eat first and foremost. It’s a really interesting way to get very accurate feedback, because they have no one to please but themselves.”

Shipped frozen and containing no preservatives, PetPlate foods—bearing names like Chompin’ Chicken Entrée and Tail Waggin’ Turkey Entrée—are sold on the company’s website and have gained retail distribution in nearly 400 independent retail stores.

The company’s treats and supplements are sold on Amazon.

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