Growing your business through niche nutrition

What is niche?

Search pet food industry websites like FEDIAF, Pet Food Institute, AAFCO and you will struggle to find ‘niche nutrition’ defined. So what does it mean? 

The Brand Marketing Blog website gives a useful insight stating that ‘a niche brand is one that is very meaningful to some people, but not applicable to most people’. Niche products appeal to dedicated groups of consumers who strongly believe in the product concept, such as less processed, raw, pesticide-free, organic, or a natural pet food using wild game, rather than a mass-produced pet-food. 

Currently, niche nutrition applies more to smaller pet food brands who have quickly seen the market opportunity, rather than ‘mainstream’ brands from corporations like Mars and Nestlé. Consequently, these more agile companies have stolen market share from their bigger competitors. 

A hot trend

A recent article in Forbes magazine, ‘The Biggest Trends In The Pet Industry’ (November 2018) highlighted that niche pet food is continuing to grow and is one of the hot trends, boldly stating that ‘consumers don’t want traditional pet foods’.

So what is driving this growth and the decline in sales of ‘traditional’ pet food? For many years, pet food has followed human food trends like nutraceuticals, GMO-free, gluten-free, and organic. Here the rationale is the belief that ‘if it is good enough for me, it is good enough for my dog’ and the desire for both pet and owner to enjoy a healthy life, supported by their food choices. 

Recently, consumers and especially millennials have been deserting ‘mass-produced’ foods for those with perceived benefits around health, authenticity and naturalness. They are willing to pay more for less processed products with ‘clean’ labels and transparency in ingredients and sourcing. Translated into pet food, this has resulted in strong market growth and profitability in niche pet foods like organic, raw and wild. 

But is it safe?

Besides ensuring that niche products are nutritionally adequate for the needs of our pets through kitten / puppy, adult and senior life stages, we must consider the question, ‘are they safe?’ 

Globally and especially in mature markets like the US and the EU, pet food manufacture is highly regulated through a combination of laws, industry regulations and codes of practice. For example, in Europe, the regulations published by the European Pet Food Industry Federation, FEDIAF, are endorsed by the EU member states and linked to EU law. This ensures that pet food sold and manufactured in Europe – whether traditional or niche – is safe for our pets, nutritionally adequate and correctly labelled.

In practice, we see product recalls for all pet food formats, indicating that both traditional and niche pet food have associated food safety risks. 

Trust in the safety of raw pet foods has been damaged, with many reported market recalls due to the presence of foodborne pathogens like Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli that can cause illness in both the pet owner and the pet. However, the sector continues to grow strongly and the industry is actively building trust in ‘safe’ products through initiatives like the 2017 PFMA voluntary Guidelines for the Manufacture of Raw Pet Food in the UK.  

Turning to other niche pet foods, the use of human-grade materials does not imply that a niche pet food will be safer than traditional kibble or wet pet food. Why? 

The answer is simple: both niche and traditional foods are made from natural ingredients and are susceptible to the same sources of naturally occurring food safety hazards. Whilst organic wheat might be free from pesticide residues, it is still susceptible to contamination from other environmental hazards like heavy metals. The fact that chicken might be free range does not mean it will be free of foodborne pathogens. 

Fit for the future

To grow their business, all pet food manufacturers, niche and traditional, must provide safe, nutritionally complete products, or they will fail. Ask yourself: are your business and your products fit for the future?