First in Show Pet Foods

The first disappointment she encounters is the quality of the dog foods. Hodgman expected to open packages filled with real meat, as advertisers relentlessly remind buyers of a dog’s love for real meat. The Gaines burger could neither be described as poor beef, rich beef or even beef at all. It couldn’t be fried and did not have that “real beef smell”. Ann describes it as being very malleable, “something you could make at home if you had a Play-DOH Fun Factory.” (107). The Kal Kan pedigree meals were also amiss. Ann’s words to describe these are lumpy, purple, stringy and veiny.

Eating dog food may not be seen as the easiest thing to stomach because the smell, texture and by-products found within the mixture are thought of as awful and revolting. In Ann Hodgman’s “No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch”, although the title may suggest otherwise, different types of dog food are discussed. In this essay, Hodgman aims to inform her readers about the inequality in different types of dog food, as well as to entertain and amuse. Hodgman is writing to a broad audience, one of dog lovers and owners, as well as those that may be curious as to what is really in dog food, or more generally the packaging and processing of mass-produced food of any kind. Language, description and humor are

The Smackey Dog Food, Inc. is a family owned business. It was started by three sisters, Sarah, Kim and Jillian, in the kitchen of their home. They lived in a suburban area of Chicago, Illinois. Their business is making all natural dog food. After using their own dogs and the neighbor’s dogs as test subjects, it was discovered by local vets, pet stores and grocery stores. These local places began to distribute the dog food. The demand for their food began to increase and they moved their business to a larger facility and hired additional workers. As compared to competitors, Smackey Dog Food, Inc., began to rise

As this was Keller’s first audit on a dog Foods company, additional research was conducted to gain insight on some the most common risks that occur in the dog Foods industry. The audit team also went to visit the client prior to the audit to gain a clear understanding on how their business works. The audit team consisted of the audit manager Pete, and two audit staffers Maureen and Ben.

Representatives have approached breeder’s Own Pet Foods, Inc. from Marketing Momentum Unlimited, a marketing and advertising consulting firm. The reason for the meeting was to discuss the company’s possible entry into the retail branded dog food market in the Boston market.

Breeder’s Own Pet Foods, Inc. proposes to adopt a market penetration strategy due to having identified a growth opportunity in the dog food market, for its nutritionally balanced, high quality dog food brand, Breeder’s Mix. This premium product has been sold traditionally, to the show dog kennel market, but company executives are now convinced it can be repackaged and offered as a frozen premium product, to picky pet owners via general retail distribution channels. Since the product is considered premium, it should fetch premium prices because of its ingredients and its claimed benefits to

Effectively, Breeder’s Own Pet Foods will have to find an effectual manner in which it will overcome objections to frozen dog food, price of their food in contrast to their competition (350 various brands) , targeted geographic location and methodology they will utilize to successfully market their product to the world (Kerin & Peterson, 2013).

-After looking at the math we can see that Dr. Tim’s dog food is more expensive than the normal food you get at a superstore. Dr. Tim’s has to target consumers that are willing to spend that kind of money for their pet’s health. The best target groups for Dr. Tim’s are people with dogs that

Positioned to be perceived by buyer as the only dog food that they would want to purchase for a dog that is considered part of the family

Smackey Dog Foods, Inc. is a familiar story in terms of small business start-ups. They started in a family kitchen, experienced explosive growth, and have had some troubles handling the accounting and business side of the business. My firm, Keller CPA’s, does not have specific experience with auditing a dog food manufacturer, but we certainly have a good bit of experience with similar small business accounting and auditing issues.

Caninantics’s mission is to be the leader in introducing innovative, dog food dispensing product to the market. Through close customer contact and excellent relationships, Caninantics, will meet the needs of the customers. Caninantics, LLC, is a privately-held corporation and maintains an office and a small warehouse in a mixed-use area of North Beach. Three of the four investors in the company have full operational responsibility, the co-founders, have both entrepreneurial and industry experience to brings operational management, marketing, and financial skills

|Weaknesses: •   Lack of availability in all stores •   Lack of appeal to consumers due to thawing time / freezer space (convenience) •   Lack of appeal to supermarkets due freezer location •   Lack of brand equity in retail market •   Premium price | Threats: •   Store Location - Consumer must be educated to find product in different area of store •   Saturated market – sales top 14 million in 2011.   Dog food is also heavily advertised, so the challenge is to entice the consumer to buy Breeder’s Mix. •   Competition - 5 major brand name dog food companies dominate market with 75% of US dog food sales •   Challenge to get supermarkets to give up valuable freezer space for dog food |Evaluation of AlternativesBreeder’s Own Pet Foods product development strategy should be evaluated.   Currently only 1 out of 10 dog owners regularly buy frozen or refrigerated dog food and ¾ of those surveyed expressed no interest in purchasing frozen dog food (Kerin and Peterson, 2013).   This indicates that there is a limited market for dog owners who would be interested in a product such as Breeder’s Mix. Research does suggest however that frozen dog food dollar volume is increasing annually indicating there is a strong opportunity for Breeder’s Own to be the first to tap into the frozen dog food market in the Boston area.   Breeder’s Own Dog Foods needs a strong marketing campaign to convince consumers their brand is superior to

In reviewing the Zenith Pet Foods case, there are several facts that need to be assessed before offering a definitive answer on whether their potential program for marketing Show Circuit dog food will be successful. Zenith Pet Foods, Inc. is a major distributor of dog food for show kennels throughout the United States. The product that Zenith is offering is called Show Circuit, which is a highly nutritious and quality ingredient dog food. The product of Show Circuit, frozen pet food designed to enhance the appearance of the dog 's coat as well as providing a balanced meal, is planned to be placed in the frozen foods section of a supermarket. This is what Zenith is counting on to build a competitive advantage.

Dog food is an obvious choice for any dog owner. But sometimes a bad tasting or health risking food may result in a dog that has a strong dislike for its owner. In which case picking the correct type of dog food can result in a long and convoluted search that could even yield an undesirable outcome. Since this is a difficult search for many dog owners’ dog food manufacturers capitalize on this trend by persuading their customers with some very edgy ad campaigns. Nutri Balance takes it a step even further playing with the idea of murder. Though it is a very harsh topic the ad is very effective on creating a feeling that if a dog has bad food it could “rat out” their owner so to speak. The choice of spokespeople and dark colors adds another

Conventional marketing has appealed to consumers based on the idea that the pet food is enjoyed by the animal. Our product marketing will instead appeal to the parental instinct in pet owners, emphasizing health characteristics such as omega-3, senior pet health supplements, and calcium enrichment. Our preliminary research leads us to believe that consumers feel lost in determining which foods are safe, and which are potentially dangerous for their pets. Our campaign will attempt to create a memorable campaign to classify the relative health and safety qualities of a particular product in a simple way.