Global Pet Expo Takeaways Chews

Fewer people in attendance might have been a negative in years past; however at this year’s Global Pet Expo, dog chews exhibitors were thrilled with the attendance numbers and the resulting tempo of the daily foot traffic. Having fewer retailers in attendance, exhibitors had more time to listen to retailers’ perspectives and concerns and come up with solutions together. The experience solidified partnerships with retailers and allowed for chews exhibitors to share their stories about obtaining safety and quality certifications and refreshing their packaging to pop on shelves.

“Global Pet Expo was great this year,” said Rod Herrenbruck Vice President Sales and Innovation for Rush Direct. “The camaraderie in this industry is unparalleled. I’ve been in the industry for over 25 years and it’s like old home week to a degree. I’m getting toward the backend of it, but it’s exciting to see people and talk about concepts and what’s going on in the industry. It’s fun.”

In the early 2000s, Herrenbruck operated his own pet toy and treat company, giving him a level of understanding and empathy to green manufacturers. “I didn’t know what I was doing,” he quipped. “But by the end of it when I sold it, I was a well-oiled machine. I would say 95 percent of the people that are there are well oiled machines. They have it down; they’ve assigned people to be the coordinators for the show, and it’s really amazing the people hours that companies put in to putting their best foot forward at the show. It’s truly amazing; the booths and the coordination. I tip my hat to the exhibitors. Global Pet Expo is still a great experience. To me it’s a great learning curve, and I come back with different ideas every time I go, and I’ve been going since 1997. There’s a lot of time energy and money put in by the exhibitors and I don’t think people realize that.”

“The show lived up to our expectations,” said Rick Ruffolo, CEO and President of Phelps Pet Products. “We were able to meet with many of our top customers who were in attendance, as well as set up meetings with new customer prospects looking to bring trend-right innovation to their dog treat assortment. Wednesday and Thursday were packed with meetings which then allowed us time to connect informally with many other customers and colleagues on Friday.”

Even though fewer people passed their booth, the Canine’s Choice team was satisfied with the quality of the conversations they had with the retailers who visited their booth. “We felt that the traffic was down at our booth, but we did make some new connections and left with new prospects,” said Bob Kramer with Canine’s Choice.

Similarly, Earth Animal noticed the drop in attendance levels but recognized the opportunity to spend more time with retailers. Rather than rushing to their next appointment, this year, retailers could slow down and have mindful conversations with exhibitors and offer their undivided attention. “Despite the smaller footprint and decrease in attendees, Global 2023 offered Earth Animal the ongoing opportunity to connect face-to-face and to communicate fully with key folks, who have a high level of interest in Earth Animal’s mission and product offerings,” said CCO Chris Moore.

A refresh and mindful improvements granted Earth Animal the impetus to share its story with retailers and draw their attention towards the results of Earth Animal’s dedication to pets’ safety, comfort and overall well-being. “Our larger imprint and new look gave us more of an opportunity to tell our stories with regards to No-Hide innovation, No-Hide Strips, Wisdom Original Dog Food relaunch, new Nature’s Protection Skin Defense Chews, protection against fleas and ticks as well as a skin remedy and detoxifier from chemicals,” explained CEO Stewart Shanley. “It was extremely gratifying to announce our B-Corp accreditation and the work Earth Animal is doing as a force for good, as well as profit.”

“The Global Pet Expo far exceeded our expectations,” said Nick Ebert, VP of Sales for Vital Essentials. “It was clear that the refresh of the Vital Essentials brand and story resonated exceptionally well with current and prospective customers from across the globe. Our message of butcher cut quality protein, that provides the best nutrition for our pets, was received well. You could see the impact it had on pet owners particularly when it came to thinking what exactly is in the food they feed their pets. We anticipate this messaging will carry our brand forward.”

“Global Pet Expo 2023 far exceeded our expectations of building and cultivating new and existing relationships throughout the industry,” said Rob Johnson, President/Managing Partner for Canophera. “We unveiled a new booth design and exhibit space that displayed real coffee wood trunks, which was a tremendous draw for all those that passed by and gave us the platform to really highlight what we are about and what we are doing as far as sustainability.”

“It went better than my goals. We had a lot of big retailers come in and look at our products,” said Michael San Roman, CEO of M Pet Group. “[In person shows] give you the ability to meet face-to-face and explain as opposed to people just accepting what’s written or on a Zoom call. I would agree 100 percent—faceto-face in those shows and the people can understand the products much better, they can understand the manufacturer’s capabilities much better, they can see it so all of that plays out much better.”

“Conceptually the industry is going to continue to grow,” Herrenbruck said. “The main message from the retailers is innovation. People want things that are new and unique. We feel like we’ve got some of those items. We’re very excited about the future, and we’re also excited about our existing business brands and the new look and some things we’re going to do with that to help keep it modern and fresh and keep excitement in the double treat bone and some of the other chews.”

The majority of the retailers who visited the Phelps Pet Products booth identified innovation as their top goal for the year in the form of clean ingredient decks, protein variety in pets’ diets r Cont'd on Pg. 25 r From Pg. 23 and food ingredients that are organic, have a health halo around them, are functional, plant-based and even are upcycled. “Everyone we met with had ‘innovation’ as their No. 1 growth objective for 2023-2024,” Ruffolo said. “It was clear that ‘innovation’ is alive and well in the pet category after so many retailers and brands found themselves stymied by the pandemic. More than 80 percent of the innovation requests focused on clean-label and protein diversity strategies including USDA certified organic, superfoods, functional ingredients, plant-based recipes and expansion into certified ‘upcycled’ ingredients – an area of expertise for Phelps being the first contract manufacturer certified by the Upcycled Food Association. There is no doubt that the Phelps team will be hard at work in our state-of-the-art ‘mini-kitchen’ developing real-time samples for customers looking to commercialize innovative new treats.”

In light of feedback gathered that competition from the online channel continues to loom over brick-and-mortar retailers, Canine’s Choice is doubling down on its endeavors to support and bolster the company’s retail partners and help them compete against juggernauts like Chewy and Amazon. “From our meetings it appears the online sellers are outpacing the brick-and-mortar stores,” Kramer said. “We still believe in the brick-and-mortar accounts and gear our marketing in this direction.”

From their experience at the show, “We took away the enormous sense of joy and satisfaction experienced by winning the third place award for Best in Show for Dr. Bob’s Wisdom Original Dog Food,” said Earth Animal’s Bob Goldstein. “It is an honor to be in the company of so many other renowned pet food companies at Global. The fact that we were the only dog food voted on is awesome.”

“I took away the strong sense that Earth Animal’s vision for helping animals, people, and the environment is truly noticed and shared by others in the industry,” said Dr. Kris Hansen, Head of Product Remedies and Supplements. “It was never more evident than the traffic in our booth and the generous