5 Healthy Premium Food Alternatives

In 2015, a number of companies and new start-ups began debuting premium food choices for pets in a premiumization trend. The goals of these strategies were to design health-conscious food options for pet owners. The reasoning behind this is sound. Recent marketing pushes and demand for nutritious diet options have been on the rise, and the pet franchise industry are receiving the new inventory options.Splash and Dash for Dogs has found some of the more innovative brands that pet franchisees should be aware of.

TurboPUP ‘Complete K9 Meal Bars’

One of the most mediatized startups that began in 2015 is TurboPUP. The company gained recognition through ABC’s Shark Tank. Founder Kristina Guerrero created the meal bar when she was back-country hiking with her dogs and began to worry about their hunger. 4 years later, Guerrero began her Company TurboPUP which supplies 100% grain-free and all natural ingredients like Chickpea Flour, Pomegranate, and Organic Chia Seeds. The Bars have Omega-3s and 28 grams of protein. The bars are nice for convenience when on the go. The mindset of the company is to provide dog food that is held to the same standard of human food. Customers who like outdoor activities will be more apt to use these bars. They can be used supplementary to a dog’s diet, or just as meals when on the go.

Orijen Grain-Free Dry Dog Food

Orijen is another company the pet franchise industry should know. They pride themselves on making biologically appropriate and regional ingredients. The food itself is 85-90% meat based. Orijen believes that because dog ancestry traces back to the carnivorous gray wolf– despite domestication and breeding–today’s dogs still need the high-protein diet that mimics wolf diets. Orijen limits the amount of carbohydrates used in their food because dogs and cats posses no biological requirements for this and cite this as a leading reason for pet obesity. This is one of the only companies that specifically limits carbohydrates while other companies tend to use whole grains.

The Honest Kitchen

Another company that is both making and marketing their products as human grade is The Honest Kitchen. Human grade–an important term for the pet franchise–means that the products are safe for human consumption. The difference between human grade pet food, and feed grade pet food, are vast in terms of FDA regulating. Human grade is arguably much superior. The FDA holds much higher scrutiny to the formula and packaging process of human grade foods.The company states that their foods will boost dog energy, provide healthier body-weights, more vibrant coats, and better digestion. Honest Kitchen minimizes processed foods by dehydrating meats, fruits, and veggies and taste test all of their own products.

Earthborn Holistic Pet Food

Earthborn is a company that stands out from other dog food companies because of their investment into high quality ingredients. Holistic is generally defined as food without any artificial or synthetic additives and is unprocessed. Companies that use this term must be taken with a grain of salt. Company formulas strive to use ingredients that are healthier, but can include preservatives and other ingredients that can be unhealthy. Because the FDA has no clear definition of holistic, it is important to understand this before using a holistic pet food product. For the pet franchise industry, franchisees need to recognize the demand for holistic food when inventorying. The Earthborn formula includes: chicken and whitefish for proteins, oatmeals, barleys, and brown rice for easily digestible grains, proper calcium and phosphorous for mineral balance, L-Carnitine, Omega-3s, for muscles mass and coat vibrancy. Overall the formula is very healthy for dogs and cats, and consumers will be interested in this brand.

Blue Wilderness

Blue Wilderness from The Blue Buffalo company is another holistic dog food that has attracted the attention of Splash and Dash for dogs. The Blue nutrition philosophy aims to treat animals like one of the family. Although their food is not human safe, it does meet all the requirements of a healthy dog food recipe. Lamb, chicken, and fish make up the proteins while oats and barley make-up the whole grains used for carbohydrates to supply fiber. What makes Blue Wilderness distinctual is the use of chelated minerals and vitamins. Chelated minerals are attached to amino acids which help animals absorb the minerals quicker. Blue Wilderness is also one of the more recognizable brands that the pet franchise has embraced.