J. M. Smucker to focus on dog snacks and cat food portfolios

The American manufacturer expects its dog snacks range to register sales of $1 billion annually over the next few years.

The business will shift from two-thirds pet food and one-third pet snacks to 60% pet snacks and 40% cat food, which, it says, will substantially enhance the company’s bottom line.

“For the US retail pet foods segment, our strategy is two-fold, first prioritizing and accelerating growth in dog snacks and cat food, and second improving our overall pet segment profit margin,” Mark Smucker, the company’s Chair of the Board, President, and CEO revealed at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) Conference 2023.

He added that J. M. Smucker is “well-positioned to allocate resources and increase investments into the fast-growing and high-margin dog snacks category.”

For the company, dog snacks deliver considerably higher margins than pet food. The brands it divested earlier this month account for almost 20% of total company net sales while only contributing a mid-single digit percentage to its profits, he declared.

Strong performance

The manufacturer’s snacks range has produced year-on-year sales growth in 16 of the last 18 quarters, and it predicts the dog snacks portfolio to grow to $1 billion in annual net sales in a few years. Its Milk-Bone brand is expected to lead growth in dog snacks.

Cat food sales have grown substantially in 19 of the last 20 quarters, led by the Meow Mix brand, which is gaining an advantage from the humanization of pets.

“Dry cat food is still our key focus,” Smucker points out. It sees a significant opportunity within wet food even though only 20% of its Meow Mix business is wet.

With the brand equity of Meow Mix and momentum in dry cat food, we will unlock further growth for the brand in wet food,” he noted. Adding that Meow Mix is outpacing its category growth.