What percentage of your overall food sales come from frozen raw and gently cooked foods?

Which do you sell more of?

Rank these factors by the impact they have on sales of frozen raw and gently cooked foods in your store:

RETAILER WISHLIST

What do you wish existed in the frozen raw and gently cooked categories?

• Butcher paper between patties. During the summer, patties have a tendency to stick together. — Stacie Oehlerich, Fluffy and Floyd’s Pet Supplies, Tumwater, WA
• Scoopable options in gently cooked. — Penny Murano, Unleashed, New London, NH
• Stop selling direct to consumers. If you have to, charge MSRP plus shipping — no subscriptions/discounts. Retailers, especially us micro businesses, can’t compete. — Nicoll Vincent, For K-9S & Felines, Westfield, MA
• Bird flu batch testing. — Ashley Lancaster, Hot Diggity, Hyannis, MA
• More bulk options in the gently cooked category. We have a lot of large dog or multi-dog customers, and bulk options would be helpful. — Beth Kidd, Dogs By Design, Irwin, PA
• Smaller bags or sample sizes of frozen cat food for trial feeding, especially for first-time raw feeders. It is a shame when a 3-pound bag of food comes back because a cat would not eat it. — Victoria Park, Park Pet Supply, Atlanta, GA
• White label products in these categories. — Gary Hughes, Gangsta Dog, Norfolk, VA
• Would love to see more fish formulas. — Sarah Terrill, A&A Pet Supply, Frisco, CO
• Better packaging. The bags are so hard to make look great, neat and organized in the freezers. It is a constant battle to get freezers organized, looking good and appealing. I wish there was a better way to package the food. — Alina McCue, Toiffer Pet Outfitter, Missoula, MT
• Vet recommendations! We need more vets to understand the value of raw and gently cooked diets to really make the diets more mainstream. — Joanna Shaw, All Pet & Equine Supply, Mountain Home, AR
• Built-in supplementation: raw goat milk chunks, pumpkin chunks. — Megan Kurzwell, Forepaws, Minooka, IL
• Mixed-protein cases. — Diane Mullen, Winni Paw Station, Wolfeboro, NH
• More options without synthetic vitamins and minerals, and starchy or sugary vegetables, for our yeasty pups. — Sheena Kirkwood, Felicity’s Pet Supplies, Bellefonte, PA
• Individual wrapping in bulk boxes works so much better. When bulk boxes have nuggets or patties, they seem to have so much moisture, and customers get frustrated and end up returning them. Our top-selling brands are individually wrapped. — Lacey Welcher, Firehouse Pet Shop, Puyallup, WA
• More smaller “sample” bags. Even with food guarantees, customers can be hesitant to try raw. A smaller bag or sample could be given out along with feeding/transition guidelines, and customers would be more receptive. — Stacy Busch-Heisserer, Busch Pet Products, Cape Girardeau, MI
• More cost-effective bulk sizes. Right now, there are only two or three that offer bulk sizes in my distribution area. — Diana Farrar, Fifi & Fidos Pet Boutique, San Antonio, TX
• Compostable packages and cost-effective meat blends. For people adding some raw or formulating their own diets. For a family feeding raw to more than one dog, the packaging being compostable is really helpful! — Morgan Monty, The Cheshire Horse, Swanzey, NH
• Better educational signage that we could display in our store. — Pat Schiek, Lucky Dogs, Skaneateles, NY
• Consumers crave education. Brochures, POP and QR codes make a huge difference. Small or sample bags are also critical. If they can try the product for themselves, they’re far more likely to come back and buy it again. — Katherine Ostiguy, Crossbones, Providence, RI
• More variety of proteins in gently cooked. — Anna Woodcock, Brown Dog Bakery, Ankeny, IA
• More sustainable proteins. — Amber Sutfin, Pet Wants South Hills, Pittsburgh, PA
• More knowledgeable manufacturer reps willing to spend time educating consumers and staff in store. — Brett Foreman, Eupawria Holistic Pet Center, Owego, NY
• Fewer seed oils! — Dani Cunningham, Lewis And Bark’s Outpost, Red Lodge, MT
• More exotic proteins in gently cooked foods. And in freeze-dried. Customers like that when traveling. — April Wright, The Dog And Cat, Essex, VT
• Individual wrapping in bulk boxes works so much better. When bulk boxes have nuggets or patties, they seem to have so much moisture, and customers get frustrated and end up returning. Our top sellers are brands that individually wrap. — Lacey Welcher, Firehouse Pet Shop, Puyallup, WA
• More smaller “sample” bags. Even with food guarantees, customers can be hesitant to try raw. A smaller bag or sample could be given out along with feeding/transition guidelines, and customers would be more receptive. — Stacy Busch-Heisserer, Busch Pet Products, Cape Girardeau, MI
• More knowledgeable manufacturer reps willing to spend time educating consumers and staff on location. — Brett Foreman, Eupawria Holistic Pet Center, Owego, NY
• We need more small samples of frozen raw so clients can try it with their pet before they invest in a big bag. — Sherry Cassin, Meow Mini Mart, Jersey City, NJ
• More cost-effective bulk sizes. Right now, there are only two or three that offer the bulk sizes in my distribution area. — Diana Farrar, Fifi & Fidos Pet Boutique, San Antonio, TX
  Consumers crave education. Brochures, POP and QR codes make a huge difference. Small or sample bags are also critical. If they can try the product for themselves, they’re far more likely to come back and buy it again. — Katherine Ostiguy, Crossbones, Providence, RI
• More variety of proteins in gently cooked. — Anna Woodcock, Brown Dog Bakery, Ankeny, IA
• Compostable packages and cost-effective meat blends. For people adding some raw or formulating their own diets. For a family feeding raw to more than one dog, the packaging being compostable is really helpful! — Morgan Monty, The Cheshire Horse, Swanzey, NH
• Better educational signage that we could display in our store. — Pat Schiek, Lucky Dogs, Skaneateles, NY
• Fewer seed oils! — Dani Cunningham, Lewis And Bark’s Outpost, Red Lodge, MT
• More gently cooked variety for cats. — Loree Shirazi, Paw Pleasers, San Diego, CA
• Trial-sized samples. It’s too expensive to just dive in for a lot of folks. Would also like for someone else to do the work on teaching folks that it actually ends up costing less due to not needing to feed as much. — Adina Silberstein, Queenie’s Pets, Philadelphia, PA
• I love what Raised Right is doing right now with veterinary diets for pancreatitis and renal disease. I wish there were more companies doing this and that any company would formulate this for cats! — Johnna Devereaux, Fetch RI, Richmond, RI
• I would sell a lot more of it if there were a few that were more cost effective. — Melissa Loy, Bark & Co., Blowing Rock, NC
• Competitive DTC pricing from the brands with the same discounts. — Beth Staley, Happy Dog Barkery, Grove, IL
• I have a lot of customers who have dogs allergic to many different things. I would like to see fish option(s) in raw and gently cooked and more limited ingredient options in gently cooked foods. I love that they are human grade, but just fewer ingredients. — Kimberly Gatto, The Wagging Tail Pet Grocery & Supply, Las Vegas, NV
• Lightly cooked in a scoop and serve. — Jennifer Guevin, Holistic For Pets, Sarasota, FL
• I would like to see more limited ingredient white fish, in products with no synthetics added. — Julie Sterling, Julz Animal Houz, Marysville, WA
• It would be nice to have someone do an educational social media campaign to promote the benefits and educate our community. It is on my list to do, but our community is behind the norm — a lot of farmers, rural people who think all food is the same and cost conscious. — Shari Wilkins, Lake Dog and Their People, Eufaula, OK
• More novel proteins. Also larger bags of scoopable small sized bites. Many people don’t like the patties and want little nuggets scoopable directly from the bag. — Dana Julian, Furbaby Boutique, Holly, MI
• More options without synthetic vitamins and minerals and starchy or sugary vegetables for our yeasty pups. Also, more samples!  — Sheena Kirkwood, Felicity’s Pet Supplies, Bellefonte, PA
• More hands-on selling support and store check-ins. This category is definitely one that needs to be sold to customers, and I feel like unless you have a salesperson truly dedicated to feeding the product, it’s a hard category to grow. — Cassie Nilsson, The Mill Stores, Whiteford, MD
• More novel proteins, unique and different options other than the basics of chicken, beef, turkey, etc. — Samantha Youngblood, Youngblood’s Natural Animal Care Center and Massage, Wilkinson, IN
• To be more cost effective, especially for large dogs. — Susan Roraff, Susies Petpourri, Reedsburg, WI
• Unlimited freezer space!  I could probably sell more of it if I had more room. — Susan Weyrauch, Total Dog Company, New Hope, MN
• Some novel proteins would be appreciated. There are some customers with special dietary needs for their pets that don’t include the normal meats and fish. — Michele Saharic, Barkley’s Marketplace, Flemington, NJ
• It’s very challenging for people with very small dogs to feed frozen without having to thaw a larger amount needed. That causes it to appear messy to the person and turns them off. — Lisa Kirschner, Sit, Stay, ‘N Play, Inc., Stroudsburg, PA
• Is “bring back Rad Cat” an answer? More globby-textured raw cat food please! My picky 16-year-old will eat only one locally made brand, and we have tried so many. — Shane Somerville, Paddywack, Mill Creek, WA
• Gently cooked cat food. This is not an easy product to manufacture, but there is a lot of room for innovation and a great need for it in the market. — Molly Lewis, Dog River Pet Supplies, Hood River, OR
• Better way to package bones or frozen body parts — these do not stack well. A gently cooked duck or rabbit option. — Cynthia Mckinney, Loyl’s Natural Pet Grocery & Groomery, Houston, TX
• Gently cooked in a nugget form, packed in a bag containing several pounds. More bulk buy offerings for gently cooked. Largest size we have is 7 pounds. — Jodi Etienne, Razzle Dazzle Doggie Bow-Tique, Bradley, IL
• Variety packs in the bulk boxes instead of just single protein. We get a lot of requests for that, and there is only one brand that I know of that offers a variety pack in their bulk boxes. — Krista Schmidt, St Peters Bark!, St Petersburg, FL
• Since the pet food industry is creating more condition-specific foods, the same should be in the frozen raw category. — Doug Staley, Pet Palace of New City, New City, NY
• Raw without all the veggies and fruit. Canids don’t need that every day. — Jennifer Pastorini, Dusty’s Den, Sonora, CA
• More in-freezer merchandising options for goat milk and some of the other supplements. — Jeffery Jensen, Four Muddy Paws, St. Louis, MO
• Lightly Cooked food that is a bit more affordable. I would love to see a lightly/gently cooked food that retails in the ballpark of $7-$8 dollars per pound. I feel it would entice more people to feed fresh. A lot of customers want to feed fresh, but the price sometimes scares them away. Plus fresh is a good step towards raw, and a lot of customers want to start with fresh before going to raw. — Bill Huffor, Furry Friends Inc, Colorado Springs, CO
• More raw chewing alternatives, ribs, esophagus, glandular, etc. — Becci Scott, The Fetching Dog, Scottsdale, AZ
• We would love to see more exotic proteins available in the frozen raw and frozen gently cooked categories, such as kangaroo, alligator, wild boar, venison, pheasant, and quail. These novel proteins are excellent options for pets with food sensitivities and allergies, providing more variety for pet parents looking beyond traditional choices like beef and chicken.Having more diverse protein sources would allow us to better meet the needs of pets with dietary restrictions while also appealing to owners looking for unique, high-quality nutrition. — Victor Santucci, Garden State Pet Center, Audubon, NJ
• More consumer education to combat vets saying raw is bad. — Pam Alerine, Style Mutt, Cleveland, OH