Freshpet co-founder Scott Morris reflects on consumer behavior and marketing efficiency while working at Ralston Purina in the 1990s.
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Morris: New Tyson CEO Blocked Freshpet Funding to Force Distressed Takeover
“The last CEO that came in did not get along. And he said, let's get rid of all these other businesses. And they were basically like, well, what do we want to do with Fresh Pet? And he said, I don't care. Don't give them another penny. And because they had the …”
Assertion Partly supported
Morris: Commercial pet kibble originated from mid-century farm animal feed
“Because initially kibble came from animal feed in the forties, fifties, sixties. That's really where that grew out of the idea of having a kibble.”
Assertion Supported
Retailers Refused Equipment, Forcing Freshpet to Buy In-Store Refrigerators
“Yeah, we, and that was us kind of starting to launch into owning all of our refrigerators, but it was, we not only ended up in the pet food business, but we ended up in the refrigerator business.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Morris: Consumers Will Buy Fresh Pet Food In-Store, Not DTC
“We feel as though the opportunity to deliver fresh food is where people are going to buy their fresh food over time, and that's going to be, they're typically going to make a trip to a store to do that. So that fresh trip is owned by the brick and mortar guys,…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Morris Shifted $70M From Discounting to Brand Building at Purina
“Him and I, I'd say we were the key catalysts in really changing the way we started moving away from discounting, and it was, at the time, it was seventy million dollars in all kinds of discounting and couponing. That we were able to move out of those kind of i…”
Assertion Supported
Morris: Refrigerated pet food did not exist in US in 2006
“No, it didn't exist at all in the U.S. There was some raw food in the U.S., like what was originally done in Australia but it was frozen”