Nestlé Purina PetCare
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nestlé Purina Petcare (), or simply Purina, is an American subsidiary of the Swiss corporation
Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
, based in
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
. It produces and markets
pet food Pet food is animal feed intended for consumption by pets. Typically sold in pet stores and supermarkets, it is usually specific to the type of animal, such as dog food or cat food. Most meat used for animals is a byproduct of the human food ind ...
, treats, cat and dog litter. Some of its
pet food Pet food is animal feed intended for consumption by pets. Typically sold in pet stores and supermarkets, it is usually specific to the type of animal, such as dog food or cat food. Most meat used for animals is a byproduct of the human food ind ...
brands include Purina Pro Plan, Purina Dog Chow,
Friskies Friskies is an American brand of wet and dry cat food and treats owned by Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, a subsidiary of Nestlé global. Friskies was initially introduced by Carnation Company in the 1930s as a dog food brand. When Friskies c ...
,
Beneful Beneful is a brand of dog food products by Nestlé Purina PetCare global that includes wet dog food, dry dog food and dog treats. As of 2012, it was the fourth most popular dog food brand, generating more than $1.5 billion in annual revenues. Ac ...
and
Purina One Purina One, styled as Purina ONE ("optimal nutrition enhancement"), is a brand of premium dog and cat food made by Nestlé Purina PetCare. Purina ONE foods typically contain some type of meat as their first named ingredient, while still containi ...
. The company was formed in 2001 by combining Nestlé's Friskies Petcare Company with
Ralston Purina Ralston Purina Company was a St. Louis, Missouri,–based American conglomerate with substantial holdings in animal feed, food, pet food, consumer products, and entertainment. On December 12, 2001, it merged with Swiss food-giant Nestlé's Fri ...
, which acquired it for $10.3 billion. , it is the second-largest pet food company globally (with the first being
Mars Petcare Mars, Incorporated is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$40 billion in annual sales in 2021. Mars was ranked as the fourth-largest priva ...
), and the largest in the United States.


Corporate history


Origins

In 1894,
William H. Danforth William H. Danforth (September 10, 1870 – December 24, 1955) was an American businessman known for founding Ralston Purina in St. Louis, Missouri in 1894. He was a co-founder of the American Youth Foundation (AYF) and the author of the book, ...
, partnered with George Robinson and William Andrews, entered the business of feeding farm animals by founding the Robinson-Danforth Commission Company. The name was changed to Ralston Purina in 1902. Nestlé Purina Petcare was formed in December 2001, when Nestlé acquired Ralston Purina for $10.3 billion and merged it with Nestlé's pet food business, Friskies PetCare Company. Ralston had marketed the Dog Chow, Cat Chow and Pro Plan pet food brands, while Nestlé produced Friskies and Alpo brand pet foods. The merger was opposed by consumer advocates, such as the
Consumer Federation of America The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1968 to advance consumer interests through research, education and advocacy. According to CFA's website, its members are nearly 300 consumer-oriented non-profits, w ...
, due to anti-trust concerns. The two companies combined would become the largest pet food brand by market-share with a 45 percent share of the cat food market. The
Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
approved the merger after the Meow Mix and Alley Cat brands from Ralston were sold to J.W. Childs Equity Partners, creating the separate Meow Mix Company. Ralston's St. Louis, Missouri location was chosen as the new company's North America headquarters.


Early history

Nestlé Purina Petcare continued integrating the two companies through 2002. It cut back dry dog food manufacturing at facilities inherited from Friskies PetCare Company in Jefferson, Wisconsin, St. Joseph, Missouri and Arden Hills, Minnesota, then moved those operations to manufacturing facilities acquired from Ralston. Expanded manufacturing facilities were planned in
Dunkirk, New York Dunkirk is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It was settled around 1805 and incorporated in 1880. The population was 12,743 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Dunkirk i ...
and the St. Joseph location was later expanded for wet-food production. In Asia it shifted from a "dealer system" to managing its own distribution. In 2004 Nestlé Purina merged its North American and Latin America operations into a Nestlé Purina PetCare Americas division. In 2003, Nestlé Purina Petcare formed a partnership with the Canine Health Foundation to advance veterinary research. The following year the company donated 80 tons of pet food to pets affected by
Hurricane Charley Hurricane Charley was the first of four separate hurricanes to impact or strike Florida during 2004, along with Hurricane Frances, Frances, Hurricane Ivan, Ivan and Hurricane Jeanne, Jeanne, as well as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to ...
in Florida and donated $100,000 to local animal shelters. Nestlé Purina Petcare grew from about 11 percent of Nestlé's revenues in 2001, to one-third by 2005. By 2006 it was the largest market-share holder in the pet food industry with 32 percent of the market.


Recent history

By 2009, Purina was one of Nestlé's fastest-growing divisions, due to an increasing willingness by consumers to spend more money on petcare. In 2008, it formed a separate company called PurinaCare with headquarters in San Antonio, Texas that sold pet insurance. PetCare was later acquired by Pethealth Inc. in 2013. By 2009 Purina had also introduced pet litter products and built new manufacturing facilities in Russia and Thailand. Its Colorado plant built the largest privately owned solar panel system in the state. In September 2010, Nestlé reached an agreement to acquire Waggin' Train, a producer of pet treats with $200 million in annual revenues. In 2013, Nestlé Purina Petcare acquired the pet adoption website Petfinder. The following year it acquired Zuke's, a producer of cat and dog treats. From 2010 to 2012, Nestlé expanded its manufacturing operations in Australia, Hungary and Germany. It also implemented the company's largest solar panel farm at its facilities in Atlanta, Georgia. In April 2014, Nestlé Purina Petcare opened the first
cat café A cat café is a theme café whose attraction is cats who can be watched and played with. Patrons pay a cover fee, generally hourly, and thus cat cafés can be seen as a form of supervised indoor pet rental. "Cat café" has been officially reco ...
in the US. In February 2019, the company announced plans to spend $115 million to expand its factory in
Bloomfield, Missouri Bloomfield is a city in Stoddard County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,933 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stoddard County. In September 1864 during the Civil War, the town was reduced to ashes. History The first p ...
, to support the demand for Tidy Cats. In November, the company invested $320 million in an old textile factory in
Hartwell, Georgia Hartwell is a city in Hart County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,469 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Hart County. History Hartwell was founded in 1854 as seat of the newly formed Hart County. It was incorporated ...
. In April 2020, Nestlé Purina Petcare acquired Lily's Kitchen, a UK-based natural pet food brand. In November 2020, Purina announced Nina Leigh Krueger as the new company CEO. Krueger is the first female CEO Nestlé Purina PetCare for the Americas. Purina has partnerships with several non-profit organizations, including Urban Resource Institute, which operates pet-friendly domestic violence shelters in New York City.


Legal issues

In May 2014, Nestlé Purina Petcare began a legal dispute with Blue Buffalo regarding its advertising practices. Blue Buffalo advertised that its products contain no meat byproduct or corn, whereas Purina said independent lab tests confirmed that they do. Blue Buffalo made similar allegations against Purina in a counter-suit less than a week later. It also alleged Purina was engaging in what it characterized as a "smear campaign". The National Advertising Review Board and the
Advertising Self-Regulatory Council BBB National Programs, an independent non-profit organization, oversees more than a dozen national industry self-regulation programs that provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services to companies, outside and in-house counsel, ...
found that Blue Buffalo's advertising was misleading and its claims that competitors were hiding information about their ingredients were unsubstantiated. Blue Buffalo said it disagreed, but would obey the ruling. In 2015, after a dog died and others got sick, a
class-action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...
lawsuit was filed against Purina alleging that the company's Beneful brand of dog food contained
propylene glycol Propylene glycol (IUPAC nomenclature, IUPAC name: propane-1,2-diol) is a viscous, colorless liquid, which is nearly odorless but possesses a faintly sweet taste. Its chemical formula is CH3CH(OH)CH2OH. Containing two Alcohol (chemistry), alcoho ...
and
mycotoxins A mycotoxin (from the Greek μύκης , "fungus" and τοξίνη , "toxin") is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by organisms of kingdom Fungi and is capable of causing disease and death in both humans and other animals. The term 'mycotoxin' ...
produced by mold found in grains – grain being a major ingredient in Beneful. The lawsuit was unsuccessful when the judge ruled that the plaintiff's attorneys did not prove that the food caused the dogs' illnesses, and the dog's death was found to have been caused by a heart tumor. In April 2017, another lawsuit, regarding Purina's Beggin' line of dog treats and the accusation that its advertising fooled consumers into thinking that it was full of bacon, was dropped. In January 2017 Nestlé Purina was responsible for the death of Tyson, a cat used in their testing facility. Tyson was boiled alive.


Recalls

In 2005, Nestlé Purina Petcare voluntarily recalled all of its dry pet food produced from a plant in La Encrucijada, Venezuela after an internal investigation verified contaminants that were causing illnesses in pets. According to ''Fortune Magazine'', in 2007 the pet food market "plunged into turmoil" due to the widespread discovery of contaminated ingredients. During this period, Nestle Purina voluntarily recalled some of its Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy product in the US that contained wheat gluten from China contaminated with
melamine Melamine is an organic compound with the formula C3H6N6. This white solid is a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 67% nitrogen by mass, and its derivatives have fire retardant properties due t ...
. In August 2013 Purina recalled some of its Purina ONE Beyond dog food, because of one bag that was found to contain
salmonella ''Salmonella'' is a genus of rod-shaped (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' is the type species and is fur ...
. In 2012 a consumer sued Nestlé Purina Petcare when his pet died after eating Waggin' Train treats. The
Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
received more than 900 reports from grieving pet owners that alleged the treat was causing illness or death in their pets due to chicken products from China. The FDA had issued warnings regarding these ingredients, but lab tests repeatedly confirmed there were no contaminants. Later that year, another consumer started a petition on Change.org asking retailers to voluntarily stop carrying the product. The petition attracted 60,000 signatures. The following year, Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek dog treats were voluntarily taken off the market temporarily after the
New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets is the department of the New York state government that enforces laws relating to agriculture, weights and measures, and the production, processing, transportation, storage, marketing and d ...
identified trace amounts of antibiotic residue, which is allowed in Europe and China, but not approved in the US. In early 2014, a $6.5 million settlement was reached, pending approval by the court. According to ''The Washington Post'', the company later re-introduced the brands after "revamping its manufacturing process and overhauling its supply chain".


Products and services

According to a
SWOT analysis SWOT analysis (or SWOT matrix) is a strategic planning and strategic management technique used to help a person or organization identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to business competition or project planning. It ...
by MarketLine, Nestlé Purina Petcare's pet food brands that contribute substantially to revenue include Purina, Purina Dog Chow, Friskies, Purina Beneful and Purina ONE. Some brands, such as Alpo are intended for budget shoppers, while others like Purina ONE and Beneful cost more and are for health or ingredient conscious consumers.
Purina ONE Purina One, styled as Purina ONE ("optimal nutrition enhancement"), is a brand of premium dog and cat food made by Nestlé Purina PetCare. Purina ONE foods typically contain some type of meat as their first named ingredient, while still containi ...
has been its fastest-growing brand. The company introduced an appetizer cat food, Fancy Feast Appetizers, in 2009. A Purina Pro Plan line for senior dogs was introduced in 2010. It contains medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) for brain function and has whole grains for digestion. A grain-free product, Purina ONE Beyond, was introduced in 2011. Purina Pro Plan Sport, which contains extra fat and protein and is intended for athletic dogs, was made available in 2013. In 2014 Purina introduced a product for the growing Brazilian market called Ravena, which used locally available ingredients, such as acerola and jabuticaba fruits. Purina-branded accessories, such as training pads, beds, leashes and cleaners began being sold in 2011 under the Purina PetGear name through brand licensing agreements with other manufacturers. Purina's significant brands and product lines include:


Marketing and advertising

In the mid-1970s, the Purina Cat Chow brand launched the "Chow-Chow-Chow" advertising campaign, variations of which would run for the next 20 years. The television commercials featured cats seemingly dancing the
cha-cha-cha Cha cha cha may refer to: * ''Cha-cha-chá'' (music), a style of Cuban dance music * Cha-cha-cha (dance), a Latin American dance accompanying the music Film and television * ''Cha Cha Cha'' (film), a 2013 Italian crime film * ''Cha Cha Cha'' ...
, by means of a post-production and editing trick that involved rapidly playing the film forward and backward, giving the humorous illusion of the cats dancing as they walked or ran in time with the music. The earliest such spots featured character actress
Patsy Garrett Virginia "Patsy" Garrett (May 4, 1921 – January 8, 2015) was an American actress and singer. Beginning her career as a radio performer at the age of seven, Garrett is best known for her seven years on Fred Waring's ''Pleasure Time'' radio sho ...
, who would appear in several other Cat Chow spots as an official spokesperson for many more years. In 2006, Nestlé Purina Petcare introduced a sponsored email application, Doggie-Mail, that could send messages online through a talking dog. In 2009 it sponsored the PawNation.com site developed by
AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017 ...
, which hosted crowd-sourced pet videos, tips, Q&As and other content about pet ownership. Purina also sponsored
Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pub ...
's pet tips site, Living Omnimedia. The company introduced an advertising campaign for the Alpo brand with the slogan "Real dogs eat meat". In the ad, over-pampered pets were "rescued" and fed Alpo, implying that pets needed to stay in touch with their primal nature by eating real meat. In 2009 it released a free iPhone app called "petcentric places" that allows users to map local pet-related locations, like dog parks or
pet-friendly hotels Pet friendly are hotels which offer a range of amenities designed to accommodate pet owners. In these hotels pet owners get gourmet room service menus for their pets. Examples include, JW Marriott Hotels, Renaissance Hotels, Ritz-Carlton. Servic ...
. In 2010, Purina released a branded Facebook game called Purina Pet Resort, where players manage a virtual pet resort. In 2011, Nestlé Purina Petcare became the official sponsor of the Westminster show hosted by the
American Kennel Club The American Kennel Club (AKC) is a registry of purebred dog pedigrees in the United States. In addition to maintaining its pedigree registry, this kennel club also promotes and sanctions events for purebred dogs, including the Westminster Kenn ...
. The company introduced a competition for pet owners to win a part-time job earning $50,000 annually to travel with their cat, interview other pet owners and write for the Purina website. Nestle Purina also produced television advertisements intended for Austria that had audio effects only pets could hear. It was the first set of advertisements targeting pets directly, rather than their owners. In 2012, Purina and another Nestlé business,
Jenny Craig Jenny Craig, Inc., often known simply as Jenny Craig, is an American weight loss, weight management, and nutrition company. The company has more than 700 weight management centers in Australia, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. The pro ...
, jointly created "Project: Pet Slim Down", an online program intended to help pets and pet owners lose weight together.
Grumpy Cat Tardar Sauce (April 4, 2012 – May 14, 2019), nicknamed Grumpy Cat, was an American Internet celebrity cat. She was known for her permanently "grumpy" facial appearance, which was caused by an underbite and feline dwarfism. She came to promi ...
became a "spokescat" for the Friskies brand in late 2013. In 2013, Purina featured ads during the Westminster Show that featured crowd-sourced videos submitted to Purina in response to the question "How is Your Dog Great?"


Operations


Headquarters

Nestlé Purina Petcare is operated as a subsidiary of Nestlé. It is headquartered in St Louis, Missouri and has operations in North America, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and Oceania. There are sixteen buildings on 50 acres at its headquarters, including a 15-story main tower, four-story
research facility A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...
built in 2010 and a Learning and Training center built in 2011. In 2010, Purina built the $10 million Purina Event Center for dog shows and competitions. Nestlé Purina Petcare sponsors various charitable activities, such as the Pet Care Pride Day annual event where employees do volunteer work. Employees are allowed to bring their pets to work. The company has on-site gyms, physical fitness trainers, medical care, and an employee turnover of approximately 5 percent. NestlePurina also has its own in-house creative agency called, CheckMark. Purina's St Louis headquarters houses between 2,500–3000 employees and also houses IT and auditing departments as part of Nestle Shared Services.


Statistics

As of 2005, Purina Petcare was Nestlé's second most profitable division behind pharmaceuticals. It was the largest pet food manufacturer by market share in the US and the second-largest in Europe. As of 2012, globally Purina has a 23.1 percent share of the pet food market, while its largest competitor,
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
, has a 23.4 percent share. According to a Research and Markets report, competition between Nestlé and Mars has been "fierce." In 2010, Nestlé Purina Petcare won the
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the highest formal recognition of the performance excellen ...
based on organizational and manufacturing performance. Its manufacturing operations have continuously reduced the amount of materials used in packaging, increased the recycling of waste product and reduced water usage, in addition to installing solar panels to produce electricity for its offices and facilities. In 2011, Nestlé Purina Petcare was ranked as one of 11 most sustainable companies in Two Tomorrow's annual ranking. As of 2014, it has 19 manufacturing plants.


See also

*
W. Patrick McGinnis W. Patrick "Pat" McGinnis (born ) is the former CEO of Nestlé Purina PetCare Company (formerly Ralston Purina Company), serving in that position from 2001 to 2015; and non-executive chairman of the board from January 2015 to January 2017. Perso ...
, former president and CEO (2001–2015), then non-executive chairman (2015–2017)


References


Notes


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nestle Purina Petcare Ralston Purina Nestlé brands Cat food brands Dog food brands Food and drink companies of the United States American companies established in 2001 Food and drink companies established in 2001 2001 establishments in Missouri American subsidiaries of foreign companies