Freshpet
When Scott Morris and his partners launched Freshpet in 2006, they were challenging a century-old assumption: that pet food came in kibble or cans. The concept of fresh pet food—meals that looked wholesome enough for human consumption—was revolutionary and, frankly, radical to the industry. But Morris and his team believed pets deserved better nutrition, and they set out to prove it.
The biggest obstacle wasn't product development or manufacturing. It was getting retailers to stock the product. Store managers saw fresh pet food and asked a simple question: where would it go? Traditional pet food sat on shelves at room temperature. Fresh food needed refrigeration—an infrastructure investment retailers weren't prepared to make. So Freshpet made a bold decision: they would provide the refrigerators themselves. This turned out to be a logistical nightmare that nearly destroyed the business, but it was the only path forward. More than 30,000 refrigerators later, that bet paid off spectacularly.
Freshpet now commands a 96% share of the fresh pet food sector, an almost monopolistic position in a category they created. Their customer base includes 10 million dog and cat households, making them the undisputed leader in fresh pet nutrition.
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