The Puppy Mill Debate – within our industry
As you probably know, The Honest Kitchen has taken a strong stance against puppy mills since day one. We’ve never allowed our products to be sold in stores that sell puppies – and we’ve been quietly celebrating the various stores like PJ’s Pets in Canada, who’ve made moves to remove themselves from puppy sales, and focus on pet adoptions in their stores instead.
I was dismayed to read in this month’s issue of Pet Age Magazine, an editorial in which readers (i.e. pet supply store owners, distributors etc) were encouraged to stand up in favor of puppy sales continuing in shops. You can see the editor’s note, along with my letter of response, below:
Read the Pet Age ‘Letter from the Editor’
At The Honest Kitchen, we’ll be continuing to advocate and champion stores who’ve been puppy-free from the day they began – as well as those who have eliminated puppy sales from their business more recently and taken their business in a fresh, new, ethical direction. We’re proud to work with such a wonderful group of resellers throughout the United States and Canada and applaud them on the way they do business.
I encourage you to support your local, puppy-friendly neighborhood pet supply store and boycott those stores who continue with puppy sales, (which in turn support the puppy farming trade). Hopefully this way, we can together show the pet products industry that there is a way forward that’s both morally sound and economically sustainable – and ultimately make the intensive breeding of dogs for retail purposes a thing of the past, to support rescues, shelters and responsible breeders instead.
Special Message from the President
As some of you know, we recently took on a small amount of outside capital for The Honest Kitchen, in exchange for a small minority stake in our company. A minority stake means that we, as founders of the company, remain the majority owners and retain full control over all aspects of operations, production, recipes, ingredients sourcing, manufacturing and every other vital component of the organization.
Those of you closest to our company (including some of the wonderful holistic veterinarians and valued independent resellers who kindly spoke to our investors about The Honest Kitchen’s products, our integrity & reputation in the marketplace) will know that we undertook a rather painstaking search over more than eighteen months, not just for any old investor, or even for the best financial deal – but for partners who understand & embrace our values, principles and the passion behind our family’s brand. We are thrilled to have found two fantastic partners who are so well aligned with what we are striving to achieve – namely providing ethical, whole food nutrition that can make a genuine difference in the health of pets while remaining truly sustainable and true to our roots over the long term.
The first of our two new partners is White Road investments, set up by Gary Erikson, the founder of Clif Bar & Co – an organic human food brand we have loved and admired for many years. Gary’s book ‘Raising the Bar’ was given to me many years ago and I have delved into it for guidance and inspiration dozens of times as The Honest Kitchen has grown: It’s about the journey of creating a sustainable brand that remains true to its core values, supports its people and the local community – and doing well by doing good. Our other wonderful partner is Alliance Consumer Capital, who has investments in Plum Organics baby food and Babyganics natural cleaning products, among others.
These new partners bring resources in the form of organic ingredient suppliers, new sustainable packaging options, know-how in community sampling, and a passion for doing the right thing – like free range meats and non GMO produce, giving to charity, and looking after our employees. Our investors fully support The Honest Kitchen’s own vision, values and strategy.
The small amount of capital that we’ve raised from these two amazing partners will be used to create jobs in sales and marketing, as well as providing support for our resellers, creating a new website and the ability to finally explore new options for human grade, organic ingredients. It also means we can do things like upgrade to resealable inner plastic bags, without increasing prices.
As the founder and owner of The Honest Kitchen, I remain in charge as President and CEO. My recipes and the ingredients used in them have not and will not be changed by the investors (we’re swapping green beans out for pumpkin in Zeal, based on feedback from our customers – but that’s my call and no one else’s); our production methods and facility are the same and the principles that we’ve stuck to for the past 9 1/2 years when I first started this company in my own kitchen, remain at the forefront of everything we do.
I’m proud to have brought in funding from such incredible sources, and would like to offer my personal assurance that absolutely nothing at The Honest Kitchen is or has been compromised in any way (in fact, the exact opposite is true), by our taking on this small amount of funding. As always, if you have any specific questions or concerns, please email – we are here to help and remain as transparent as always in responding to what you have to say.
Lucy Postins
Seminar at THK – David Getoff (Naturopath)
We had a visitor this week!
David Getoff, board certified traditional Naturopath & Clinical nutritionist came to our San Diego offices to speak on the benefits of Human Grade foods for pets, how food affects pets health, why colors are important in foods, the research by Weston A. Price and Francis Pottenger, amongst
an array of other topics.
We learned a lot and appreciate the extra layers of information to help us in further educating our customers!
Thanks for coming to speak to our team, David!
“There is no treatment or drug which can overcome or negate the effects of a poor diet, inadequate nutrition, lack of exercise, and an unhealthy
lifestyle.” – David Getoff
Fido’s Market Store of the Month
“Fido’s Market opened in January (this year), so we’re a whopping 6 months young. We are focused on all-natural and eco-friendly products, believing that what is better for your pet can (and should) also be better for the planet. This adventure began a couple of years ago, with me as a corporate burnout – quite dissatisfied with my job. Then one day, I literally woke up and knew “it’s not a job, it’s a business.” My husband and I spent several months researching business ideas and everything pointed us back to what we now know as Fido’s Market. Two years of writing business plans, researching products, looking at properties, designing the store…all led up to our opening in January. And not a day goes by that I don’t spend more time researching more products and looking for ways to improve the store and ways to improve my furry 4-legged friends’ health.
All of my life, dogs have had a major influence on me. And Zoe (my first Samoyed) changed my world. They say MAN’s best friend, but she was MY best friend. When she passed away from cancer, my world was flipped upside down. I couldn’t understand how that could happen. And then I learned. Even though this was four years ago, this was really the beginning of the path to Fido’s Market.
Every day, I go home from work and think “I can’t believe how awesome this is!” When people ask me if I ever have a bad day, I tell them “How could I? I get puppy kisses every day!”
We really do love THK. The food and the company!”
-Michelle (owner of Fido’s)
www.fidosmarket.com
From Thalia
Hi my name is Thalia. I’m 7 and my mom is the owner of The Honest kitchen. I am at the office every afternoon this week after my horse camp. I’m trying not to eat all the dog food ingredients. Please email info@thehonestkitchen.com if you’d like a sample of Perfect Form and I will send one to you.
