Amy Zalneraitis – Co-Founder of We Feed Raw on Building a Mission-Driven Brand and Leading the Pet Wellness Revolution

Welcome back to the Casey Adams Show. Today we are joined by Amy Zalnaradis, the co founder and chief brand officer of We Feed Raw. Amy, thank you so much for coming to show today.

Thanks for having me, Casey. I'm happy to be here, of course.

And I'm equally as excited, you know, when I was learning all about We Feed Raw, and in this story, I gotta say, not to just start off this episode on, like, an emotional note, but I was really touched by just how you and your family and the business came about and how it's gotten to this point. And, you know, I don't want to tell the story for the audience, but I just want to say it's such a beautiful brand and company that I'm so excited to talk with you about and to really hear your point of view. And once again, I want to say thank you for taking the time today to share the story of yourself, the business, and to really just dive into all things We Feed Raw. So with that said, for people that may not know, you know, what We Feed Raw is, you guys are the leading provider of premium raw dog food. Where does this journey begin? Take us back to the beginning here.

Yeah, it's kind of a wild story as you touched on. So I never actually set out to have this job. This wasn't a job I applied for. I didn't set up, set out to be an entrepreneur. This was my younger sister Alyssa's company. She was a huge animal lover. We were raised by animal lovers. We both grew up to be animal lovers. She really hardcore animal lover. She was always rescuing dogs, and she had a bunch of rescue dogs and she wanted to feed them better. So she discovered raw feeding and became an expert at sort of making her own raw meals for her own dogs and then started making them for friends dogs and then friends of friends and, you know, like a lot of these sort of, you know, stories that you hear of companies and how they came to be. It was just not her setting out to, you know, start a business, but the business opportunity presented itself later. And so she was living in Austin, Texas, at the time, this was around 2009. And she and her fiance Rich, who was a sushi chef at the time, came together to make these raw meals. So they were making homemade raw meals, and they delivered them door to door. And it was really kind of an interesting time to start a company like this because there had been this big pet food recall, I think, either a year or a couple of years earlier that really changed people's minds, got them to think, start to think more critically about what they were putting in their dog's bowls. And I don't know if you've heard of this, but it was connected to contaminated wheat gluten. And what happened is there was a Chinese manufacturer that was selling wheat gluten as a protein source source to U.S. pet food companies. And they wanted to artificially boost the protein levels, so they use melamine to artificially boost them. And this got into pet food supply in the US and killed and made sick thousands of dogs and cats and canned and dry food. So it made headlines, it was big news. And it really kind of like my sister didn't lose a dog to this, but she was really kind of like shaken up by it and as were a lot of people. So that was sort of like why she even discovered raw feeding. And so she and Rich had this really nice growing business for from like 2009 to 2013. And you know, they were getting more customers. It was still very small, but, you know, doing well enough that they didn't need to have other full time jobs. Like this was for both of them, their full time jobs. And then in 2013, my sister, seemingly out of the blue, was diagnosed with late stage colon cancer. You know, she was young, beautiful, in her early 30s. So it was just devastating news for all of us. And we were all. My family and I were all on the east coast at the time. I was in New York City, my dad was in Maine, my mom was in Massachusetts. We all decided as a family to help move them to Maine to be closer to us so that we could help. So at this time, my sister moved her business from this sort of like Austin only business to a Shopify site where she could ship nationally. So it was for like, you know, this very sad reason, but helped to grow the company immensely because now she had this much broader audience that she could serve. And so my sister worked on this until the last week of her life. I always give that example because it's truly. She never gave up on this. She was always, this was definitely, I think she saw this as her purpose. I mean, she really saw herself coming here to help dogs and help animals. And the business was still very much an extension of her. So when she did die at the end of 2014, my family and I were completely grief stricken. Even though, you know, it had been like a year and a half of her being sick, it was really hard for us to accept, you know, that she was dying. Even for her, like, we didn't really talk about it. Because she didn't want to talk about it. We talked about her having cancer, but we didn't talk about the fact that she was going to die. And so I think when she died, you know, we had a moment of, you know, being like, what should we do with the company? But we knew that if we paused for too long, the company would die. And we really, you know, it's hard to say what really made us all jump in. My dad came out of retirement, rich went back to managing the production workers. I had a full time job in New York City. So I made this my second job. But I think, you know, the grief itself is probably a big motivate, motivating factor. And so we all came together to, to keep this going and you know, went back to New York where I worked as a creative and I. One of the first things I did was secure an angel investor and got some outside funding and I hired a creative agency that helped create We Feed Raw because up until that point it hadn't really been a brand. It was just name something else. It was more seen as a supplier of raw food versus like an actual brand. And working in creative and working and marketing. I knew how important it was to have the brand so that people remembered you and could, could connect to you. And so that's what we did. For about six, six months we worked with this creative agency and it was a very collaborative process and we created what We Feed Raw still very much is to this day. We've iterated on it a lot and you know, done some refreshes. But I still believe that our brand is one of our best assets after our product.

I appreciate you sharing that and I, I have so much love, obviously without ever knowing what your sister and the, the family dynamic that steps in to not only continue her legacy, but to continue to build something that she was so passionate about. And to hear that it, it really does strike a chord. Not only just for myself, but I'm sure so many families that may be listening or people with siblings or, or entrepreneurial entrepreneurs. I gotta say, when I kind of look in the mirror a little bit here, where a lot of my family's in Virginia and I'm here in Los Angeles, I've had my podcast and I'm sort of like this lone wolf entrepreneur and I think it makes me think, and I'm one that over the years of doing interviews, not to make this conversation, you know, this darkness, like I think about death a lot. I interview like one of my favorite authors is a guy named Robert Green. And he talks about, like, confronting your mortality. And I think there's, like, the way you share the story and you're so comfortable with telling it. It's. It. There's so much beauty and love that I sense and feel. And again, I just want to. I appreciate your vulnerability and the story that's so deep here. And just wanted to mention that as we're diving into the story and everything.

No, it's like. It's a good. Yeah, it's a good point because, like, you know, for a while, I was very hesitant about sharing the story, and I was always conflicted because I knew deep down that there was. It was an important story to tell. Right. Because it's worth telling. Right. This was. This was a company born out of a love for animals, not because somebody wanted to get rich quick. Right. And I think my sister would want the story told. And it is a beautiful story, and it is a heartfelt story, and I think it does give shine a light on what we're doing here and still very much doing here today. None of us are doing this because we want to get rich quick, you know, and that's not the type of business. This is a very hard business, and it has required a lot of sacrifice and grit like. Like most businesses that you absolutely have to start from scratch. But, you know, I do think this is harder than the average business. You know, we're not selling dog leashes or dog clothes. Like, it's raw frozen food that we're shipping across the country. So there's a lot of legit, logistical.

Absolutely.

Nightmares that can happen. But I do think, you know, when I decided to put it out there, it was great. Of course you're going to have people that say things and. Oh, you know, we've had weird comments like people saying things like, you know, your food is so expensive, like, your sister would be so upset, or, you know, like, all of these things. But then mostly 95% of people are just really touched and moved by it and grateful for the transparency and, like, you're saying vulnerability. So it's been a big part of our identity is sharing that story and how we started our origin story.

Absolutely. And again, I appreciate that. And to. I know you mentioned it and to move the conversation to you. You prior to. We feed Raw. I know you said creative director, but I believe you were a senior copywriter, creative director at Kenneth Cole. Is that.

Yeah, I was there for, like, New York. Yep. Yep.

And when you make, you know, this jump of, you know, stepping into this entrepreneurial Pursuit with the family. This was as. Was it 2013 you said?

Yep, 2013 and 2014. I was still. I think I quit my job, my full time job in 2016. The years are kind of all blending together. But I still did both for a while because the company couldn't, we feed route couldn't afford to pay me any salary really for a while. So it wasn't until I could actually get paid a salary that I could leave. But. Yeah, yeah.

And one thing you mentioned, which I want to bring up is you said in this world of like angel investing, raising capital, you went out and secured an investment there in this, you know, in this phase of the business. Yeah. Up until then, I'm assuming the business was bootstrapped. Was there like any plans to raise capital? Then you step in and do this. Were you, you know, like, was the plan to go raise rounds of funding and like go pursue it, that scale or what was the, the mindset there? Because I know you mentioned that comment, so I'm curious.

Yeah, there wasn't really any of that planning. I think that the company was growing. Right. We were doing, you know, we could sort of like see that there was something here. And we always knew that there was something here. Just the idea itself, we knew that there was something here. And I think aside from having this like sense of duty to keep what my sister had started going, there was also this really fundamental belief that this was something that could be bigger. And so I just, it was sort of very like, you know, I knew that I had a friend that was an angel investor and that's who I, you know, went to first. And that's how we funded the actual brand. You know, Exercise with Preacher is the name of the agency that we use in Austin, Texas. And it sort of just went from there. We were bootstrapped for a long time and I think we would get some investments here and there to keep us going and ended up eventually in 2021 getting a much bigger investment that really sort of shored up the business and, you know, allowed us to, to, to become a true player, you know, but there wasn't some really elaborate strategy. And again, this wasn't me starting out as an entrepreneur, like even knowing what to do. Right. I sort of figured it out along the way and that was a lot of. That's a lot of the story is like figuring it out on the fly, right?

Yeah, I love that. And I gotta say, as when I, as someone, I don't currently have a dog, but I grew up with a, with A dog since I was 6 years old. A Yorkie. She passed away a couple of years ago. And I always wondered, you know, like growing up, you know, you were always feeding the dog the same food, the hard food. And I remember like when I moved away from home and you know, as someone that's entrepreneurial and you see like this like dog food market just from afar, I'm like, wow, like this all makes so much sense. Like healthy food treating your. Like there's, what are we feeding our dogs? And I, I want to ask when it comes to your like, personal perspective and like this industry of, you know, like just healthy dog food or raw dog food, in a sense, it's changed so much, I'm sure over the years, especially with the rise of E commerce and direct consumer and also just like social brands. Right. Like your guys's presence and community online is so incredible how you speak to like these, the dog lovers and that community. But I'd love to get your perspective on just the industry at large here in terms of, you know, dog foods and how it's shifted over the years and really what led to this movement in a sense?

Yeah, I mean, well, I think we're, you know, it's so awesome that we're in the middle of this like wellness revolution, right, for humans. People are really thinking and considering, you know, what they're putting in their bodies and you know, recognizing that proper nutrition, you know, is a direct investment in long term health and that I think that shift is extending to our pets as well. That being said, I think that there's a lot of pet owners that, you know, most pet owners view their pets as family members, but we've been misled into thinking that the modern dry diet is the best option. So there's still a lot of. I think we have to undo a lot of this marketing from big pet food that, you know, we've been served up for, you know, since 1956 when Kibble was invented. It does dominate the market. I think like, you know, over 80% of dogs eat kibble for, you know, that's their, their meal. And I think over 90 eat some form of kibble. 80% are only eating kibble and like 90% are eating kibble maybe like you know, half the time or more. So we really are seeing a shift. Like the pet food market is a $45 billion market. Fresh and raw make up about 3 billion of that. It's the fastest growing segment, but it's still a small piece of the pie. Right? There's just a lot. We are going up against the incumbents. We are going up against the industrial pet food complex. You know, conventional vets are very much sort of aligned with the industrial pet food complex. So we have a lot of work to do still. And I think that even people that are aware about health and wellness for themselves, you know, don't always think about what they're putting in their dog's bowls because we just take. Not because they don't care about their dogs, but we just have accepted that kibble is the best option and haven't really thought about it. I know that's kind of contradictory when I'm saying that we're in this wellness revolution, but I do think what I'm saying is that we're in this re. Wellness revolution and it's amazing, but we have so much work to do still. Right? And so every day we see that. We see it in, you know, our business growing. We see it in the way that people approach us, the questions that they're asking. People are a lot more informed. They love having the light bulb moment about, you know, when you explain to them why dogs should be eating this way versus ultra processed dry food. It makes sense, but there's still a lot of pushback. There's still a lot of uncertainty and fear around what we're doing. Right. So we do take a very education driven approach and everything we do. And that's why I love doing podcasts like this because it, you know, we do try to prioritize these platforms that allow us to have these longer conversations and they're thoughtful and we can really help to explain to people why this is the optimal diet for dogs.

Excuse me. Absolutely. And I was just going to mention that of the, the educational aspect of this business, and I wanted to know, you know, when it comes to your position of obviously many positions, but the chief brand officer and your background in brand, having this segment where you're, you know, you're speaking to a consumer that's buying something for someone they love, like a, like a bed, like a dog. There's the educational aspect and I was going to ask you there, like over the years of building this brand and really like leaning into that customer education, like what have been some of the, the most challenging aspects of that, but also maybe some of the most rewarding because I think it's one of those messaging, you know, frameworks that is just so unique when it comes to any other product that you could be building a brand around when it comes to, like, what you're feeding your dog. And the relationship, the education and you know, I'm sure that they're like, there's a, there's a love there for a brand and a community that like really is, wants to do what's best, you know, especially if they're out there in that health minded perspective.

Yeah, I mean, I think the most challenging part of this has been the education in itself. Right. So like getting people to think differently and getting them to, I mean, the vet community again has been a tough one for us because, you know, vets are amazing. They do an amazing job. Our nutritionist says vets fix broken animals. Nutritionists keep them from breaking in the first place. So like, you know, I do think that vets aren't nutritionists. Right. They, they do a great job at what they do, but they're not taught a lot about nutrition. I read recently that 100% of the nutritional information they get comes from big pet food. Right. So this is, they're starting from a very biased place. And then, you know, this is what they're telling their, their clients. So we have to really work against that. There's also, you know, a lot of fear mongering coming from big pet food too. Like, don't feed your dog raw meat. Rami is going to make your dog sick. But then the most rewarding part is the transformation stories that we see every single day. I mean, these dogs going from eating an ultra processed diet to a diet that's most biologically appropriate for them. And we see dogs recovering from allergies and joint issues and you know, obesity. Like all of the things that, you know, come from eating a diet that's packed with fillers and ultra processed. So that to me is the most rewarding part of this.

Yeah, absolutely. And something you, you mentioned there just in terms of kibble and like the, oh, shoe I feed my dog the raw meat and the education aspect around that. I remember growing up, like when I was younger, my mom would always like, she was, she was so adamant of like always feeding our dog. We had this small Yorkie, her name was Zoe and loved her. And it was, she was so adamant about like, we have to feed her this food. Not for the health stuff, but just like, this is what she knows and if it's anything else, she's gonna get sick, she's gonna, it's gonna not be good. And I'm curious, like, as someone that doesn't currently own a dog right now, and I'm not in the market of buying dog foods, what is like that change process? If you're someone that, like, okay, you're listening to this podcast, you have a dog. You know what? I want to give this a shot. I see the research, I see the education. I guess what I would be curious, like, if you're making a shift like this for your dog, like, are there, like, is this applicable for every dog? Or, you know, like, what are the some, like, thoughts that you would say that customers may have when they're, like, looking to make that shift, Especially when they're going through this learning phase around, like, okay, I'm gonna make the shift and if this is best, I want to do it. But, like, how's my dog gonna think about it? Or how are they gonna react to it? I'm curious to hear that.

I mean, I just give a little background on, like, why raw, right? Like, so. And then I can get, like. Because it does help to sort of know, like, why this diet? So, you know, dogs, this is the dog, this is the diet that nature has decided is best for them. We have bred dogs for their looks and their temperament, their behavior. We haven't bred them for digestion. So their, you know, biological makeup is essentially identical to their ancestors. They not only survived, but thrived on a raw meat based diet for millennia. So this is really just based on their ancestral diet, what they would naturally eat in the wild. We are PhD nutritionists that we work with wrote a book called Ruined by Excess, Perfected by Lack. And in it, he sort of, he explores sort of the evolutionary design of mammals, and he specifically focuses on canines. And what he says is that, you know, canines were never built to handle an abundance of calories, especially in the form of soluble carbohydrate, which is kibble. Right. They were, however, designed to endure temporary food shortages. So this is, you know, the way they lived in the wild, the way their biological makeup works. But today we're doing like the exact opposite, where, you know, feeding them, overfeeding them, usually under exercising them, and on top of it, you know, overfeeding them with an excess amount of soluble carbohydrate in the form of kibble. So what he goes on to say is that the central problem is that you have this system, the canine system, that was, you know, built for the occasional very rare blood sugar spike in nature that now on a daily basis is confronted with these, like, constant blood sugar spikes coming from the soluble carbohydrate in kibble. Right. So then we know that, we know that this causes inflammation, obesity, you know, all sorts of, like, metabolic dysfunction. So really when you look at it like I think people, I started referring to kibble as ultra processed food instead of kibble just so people would like get it like it is also it is the definition of ultra processed food. What is ultra processed food? Ultra processed food is, are foods that have been heavily modified through industrial processing with, that contain additives like emulsifiers, you know, sweeteners, artificial preservatives and flavors. They're usually very low in whole food ingredients and high in sugars, fats and salts. That's like the definition of kibble. Right. So we really just are trying to get back to basics, get back to what dogs, canines would have eaten in the wild. And so I think explaining that to people, that's part of the education. They're following us on social, they're, they're in our email, you know, flow, they're, they're getting this like they're come to our website like we try to educate, educate, educate as much as we possibly can so that people can have that light bulb moment. Now when you ask me like, can every dog just start this? There's, there's a transition, right? Some dogs, they can transition right away with no problems. It really just depends on the dog. Also the health of the dog's gut microbiome when they start this. So like if you have a dog that's you know, really unhealthy from eating kibble for many years and you know, has a really unhealthy microbiome, gut microbiome, they're going to have a harder time. So we, we, that's part of our transition process is they get a starter box. We send them very specific instructions on how to transition over a 10 day period where they're gradually missing, mixing in the raw with their old food until they're day 10, you know, transition to raw. Yeah.

So, and that's so great. And again that's coming as someone that I, we I watch one of my fiance's cousins dogs every now and then and just understanding like the, the way that he eats and I'm forgetting the exact product but when it comes to yeah like that 10 day transition and also too as someone like if I was about to go get a, like you know, go adopt a dog or whatever it may be like are there, I guess I don't want to say studies but like yeah, having a dog that eats raw from day one versus you know, the dog that's 10 years old, that's transitions and I'm sure you can see a lot of these benefits but I'm curious to know, like, what, what that looks like, if there's like, studies on that or like your perspective on, like, if you're starting your dog from day one eating raw, like, what is, what are the benefits there and what can people, like, what should they think about when it comes to that?

Yeah, I know we get asked this a lot because that's one of the big sort of kibble arguments is like, where's the science? And like, you know, kibble has always sold us on like, science fact, quote unquote. But there's overall, there are not a lot of pet food studies in general to say that, right? And the ones that are sort of kibble pro kibble are funded by the kibble industry. There, there is, however. Well, first of all, I would say the science is in what we've seen in nature. Like nature already has told us, right? And you can look at a dog's biological makeup and their anatomy and see that they are built. They're meat eaters, right? They have short pointed teeth for ripping and tearing meat. They have jaws that snap open and shut, not side to side like, you know, horses. They have short, fast digestive tracts with a high level of hydrochloric acid in their stomach to break down bacteria, meat and bones. So that alone, right, shows us. But there are great studies coming out and there's a one out of the University of Helsinki that's being led by a PhD and vet named Dr. Anna Bjorkman. And she is looking at the benefits of raw dogs being fed raw diets versus kibble diets. And they've already discovered that dogs being fed raw have a reduced likelihood of developing IBD and allergies as adults. I think they did a recent study too that was looked at puppies and one of the things they discovered, even just feeding your puppy 25% raw, they had a dramatically reduced likelihood of developing ear infections as adults. Just a lot of great stuff coming out of there. They've looked at the digestibility of raw compared to kibble diets. Raw is much more digest, digestible. All of the things. I mean, to me it's like, duh, like when we put it out there, like our followers are like, well, obviously. But I do think it helps to have those studies, right? Because people, they need to know, they. I think we've been told a lot of things that, no, kibble is just fine. Kibble is what's safe. Kibble is carefully scientifically formulated by the experts, you know, so the studies are.

Great to have absolutely no I. I appreciate you sharing that for sure, to pivot the conversation a little bit. I know when it comes to the dynamic of the business, even from the origins of your sister wanting to create something for animals, I know that you and your family growing up, animals have always been a huge part of your upbringing. And I want to talk about that because I think a business like this is on one end, so personal of why your sister started it and why you and your family feel called to not only continue the legacy, but from just the origin of who you are and your background. Like, talk to me about this love for animals and where this stems from for you and why this is such a personal, just passion for you from, you know, the early developments of your life.

Yeah. I don't know if it's like something that you're taught or something you're born with. I do think it's probably in our DNA. Like my dad and mom, who are. Have been divorced for many years, but both sides of their. Both families that they came from also, you know, equally big animal lovers. We just come from a long lineage of. Of animal lovers. And we were taught, you know, to be a good person and be kind. That does mean you're good to animals, too. So I think it's combo of being raised that way, but also just having it in our blood. And I do think, you know, we've domesticated dogs and cats to, you know, be our companions, and we have a responsibility to take care of them well. And they are living things with feelings. And I do think we're doing a disservice to them by not caring for them in the way that they deserve. You know, we've sort of accepted these crazy statistics where, you know, 60% of dogs in the US are overweight or obese. 50% of dogs will get cancer by the age of 10. 4.5 million dogs are diagnosed with cancer each year. I think I read a statistic recently that like, 80 to 90% of dogs will have some form of periodontal disease by the age of three. So these are not normal statistics, but we're just sort of accepting and we have to look at, like, what. What are they being fed? Why is this happening? And it's not only the food, but that's a huge part of it.

Yeah.

So I do think I love animals, and we all love animals. And even now, I'm. I think I'm the only one left in the family that's still actually working at the company. We've since grown the team and we have, like, an amazing team. Everyone on the team, everyone that comes to work here is a huge animal lover. Like we don't have.

Yeah, you know, you have to be.

Yeah, you have to. Right? But we're all sort of, it's great because we're just feel like we're with our people. Right. And even our customers, it's the same thing. Like they feel that from us. And like I love this job. Somebody said to me recently like, oh, it's so great what you've done. You sacrificed so much to keep your sister's story going and her legacy going. And I actually had to correct them because I don't feel like I've sacrificed. I feel like this is a gift too. Like of course I've had to sacrifice and I've had to work really hard to keep this business alive. But I do see it as a gift too because it's really gratifying to be able to wake up and do something I love every day and feel like I'm actually contributing to making the world a better place. And you can't say that about every job. Right. Like I did good job before, but I couldn't say that about. So, um.

So yeah, that's, that's so, that's beautiful. And I think that perspective of like, you know, it's not a sacrifice by any means and, and even to like to speak on that, I think where my mind goes here is, you know, back when this, the family stepped up and obviously the business has changed so much since that time. As you mentioned, as you said, like being the only person still in the family that's like in it. I feel like with any business and you know, with all the different founders that I've interviewed, like when the, when a company grows it's, it's obviously easy to lose like that early stage startup mentality and that's what makes some of the biggest companies in the world so great is like their ability to remember where they came from, to have that like purpose and that startup mentality. I'm curious to know like in terms of the day to day now in the business and the just the mission overall, what would you say is like the internal culture? What's most important to you and the team of how you all show up internally together as a team in terms of that. The leadership point of view.

Yeah, I mean we're definitely, we have a great leadership team. We actually brought on a new CEO and CMO last summer. Who are these amazing women who have a lot of experience in the health and wellness space. And in D2C, health and wellness specifically, they're very elegant leaders. They're very kind, but also like so hard working and tough when they need to be. I think, you know, our, we're really focused on sort of growing this very lean team of super talent. You know, high performance is expected, but we're also very kind to each other and very close and tight knit and it's still feels sometimes like a startup. So we have to operate like we're, we always say like we make slow. Sorry. We make good fast moves. Not slow, perfect ones. Right. So, yep, we're, we're have to keep moving, we have to keep testing things, we have to try things. If we fail, then we get up and try something else. So this sort of resiliency that I think is very much integral to you know, being a founder and like having this business from the start where you're like getting knocked down constantly. I think some of that still lives on today where you're like, okay, that didn't work. Let's move on to the next thing, you know, so, and being so involved as somebody like, you know, I guess co founder is what I call myself now because having taken it on from my sister is like I come to the table with a very unique perspective and a deep passion too that I think people appreciate. And also it's, it's. Everyone is passionate, but a founder's level of passion, the most intense. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And 100 and something that you mentioned there is like testing new things. I, I saw recently that I wanted to bring up how you guys launched a new product line. The launch of freeze dried raw food for dogs. Yeah, I want to talk about this. I know it came. I saw the article back in early March here. This is new for you guys. I would love to hear kind of like how long have you guys been working on this and what led to wanting to launch this new product line?

Yeah, so we are sort of original product and that is still a product today is our frozen raw meal plan. So they come in these sort of like rectangular patties and you saw them and you feed them. They have everything your dog needs in there. They do require you to store them in your freezer. They do require you to thaw them. It's as easy as frozen raw can get in the sense that like all you have to do is thaw and feed, but it's still harder than like feeding a shelf stable product. So our mission really has always been to get raw into, you know, as many bowls as possible. And we believe that raw has a place in every bowl even if you're not feeding 100% raw. Like even some raw. And so offering freeze dried raw is basically, is a raw. I don't know if you're familiar with it. People are. It's funny because I'm so in this world and we introduced it now. Yeah. So freeze dried raw is basically raw ingredients where that are put into this sort of like they're frozen at very low temperatures and then they're put into this like vacuum chamber where all the moisture is removed. And then you get this amazing shelf stable product that is still raw because it's never heated or cooked. It's sort of like the same technology that's used in astronaut food.

Okay.

So very cool. It's cool because it's raw, but it's shelf stable. I mean, you can't, once you open the bag, it does, you can't like have it forever, but it's like you store it on your, in your pantry. You just open it and feed it. You draw, you know, it's basically the convenience of kibble, but with the nutritional power of raw. So it's really been an exciting launch for us because, yeah, I do think as much as I love frozen raw as our, you know, initial product, I do think that, you know, not everyone can feed that way. People have, you know, space constraints, people have to travel a lot, people board their dogs or have other people watching their dogs that don't want to feed that way. So it's an exciting product. We just launched it in, gosh a few weeks ago. So it's still new.

Yeah.

But we're really excited to see what this will do as far as, you know, getting our food out there to a much broader audience. I do think we can go after more of the kibble feeders now. It's a much bigger job to go from kibble to fresh raw versus kibble to a freeze dried raw because it's essentially the same corn. It is a lot more expensive than kibble because it's an amazing quality and it's raw food and it's, you know, 85% muscle meat and organ and 15% non GMO fruits and veggies. We use, oh, cage free chicken, grass fed and grass finished beef. So it's like this. Nutritionally, it's the opposite of kibble, but it's the same level of convenience. But we have to get, we have to educate people on that too. Like, well, this looks like kibble, but why is it so much more expensive and you know what, talking about price, like, one of the things that we. That's definitely something we've had to deal with. Right. Like educating people on, like, what we've been taught to believe is the cost of feeding a dog is actually not right. Like, you should be spending more on, you know, nutrition up front.

Totally. And I think it goes back to, like, the. Like, the consumer behavior, too, of even as, like, when you're buying things for yourself or your family, like this era of like, spending more on the organic or, like, cage freely, all these different aspects of food that people have learned, I feel a lot about. There's that same experience of, like, the education there, as you've mentioned many times now.

Yeah, yeah, totally. I think, too, one of the things that we talk about a lot is that it's not all raw or nothing. Like, you. However you want to get raw into your dog's bowls and whatever works for your budget and lifestyle, we want to support that, too. So feeding raw as a topper or a mixer or, you know, for every other meal is still amazing, right? You're still going to see a very meaningful difference in your dog's health if you add some rots like you or me eating McDonald's every day or, you know, McDonald's a few days, and then some, like, healthy whole foods in between. So. Yeah, I love that.

No, that's beautiful. Something that's important to me and that's. I. I want to bring up that I. If I was you. I'm sure it comes up a lot, which is, you know, Amy, when it comes to the perspective of your sister and this being like her, the. The origin of this company, I'm curious to know, like, you ever sit back and just ask yourself, you know, what would your sister think about the growth and how proud would. How proud would she be? How would she think about it? What would she say? And it just, it. I feel called to ask you about this and to kind of spend some time on this, because I think as someone that has two older brothers, they keep coming up in my mind just out of the blue in conversation, and I'm like, wow, if I was you, I'm sure that'd be very heavy on my heart. And that's something that I would think about a lot. And I'm curious, what do you think your sister would say about where the company is now and just the passion and purpose that you and the family have carried into where we feed Raw is today?

It's a great question. And it's funny because I just still talk to her. Like, in my mind, we were very close. We were, like, only two years apart, and we knew each other so well, like, better than anyone. So I hear her voice. Like, I. I know what she would. I know she would be so happy. Like, this is what she wanted. She didn't want this business to die. My. My sister was the visionary. You know, she was the one who thought of this. She was that type of person. She always was thinking outside the box were kind of, like, different personalities in that way. But I. It was a baton pass almost. And, like, I was like, okay, then I'm going to take this and I'm going to. I knew how to tell a story. I knew how to make this something bigger, and that's what I did. And I do think it wasn't this easy gift. I've talked about this in the past where it's like, here's my company, and it's $100 million company, and, like, go have fun and work when you want. It was like, now you're going to have to really turn this into something, and you're going to have to, like, work harder than you've ever worked. You're going to have to be more scared than you've ever. You're going to have to really navigate so much uncertainty. And because of that, that was the. A lot of the gift was in that. Right. Is a having to grow through those times and also teach myself that I could do it. And so I think that was my sister's biggest gift to me, and I think that that's what she would be most proud of. As much as she would be proud of the success of the business, I think she would be most proud of how I stepped up for her and myself, you know, and I'm. I'm proud of that, too. I think that doing this now, we're in a much more secure place. You know, it's still. We still running a business, and, you know, this is a tough business, and every day we have wins and losses and. But there was a period when we were still really, you know, bootstrapped, and we didn't know if we were going to make it to the next month. Yeah, a while that required a lot of digging down deep, finding the right people to seek advice from, learning who not to seek advice from and who not to talk to about it even. I think that when you're an entrepreneur, there's a lot of people that think you're crazy and will tell you you're crazy and be like, what the heck Are you doing? Like, this is stupid. So I always tell the story about what happened. I had this sort of turning moment where it was one of the lowest points I was with this business. I didn't know if we were going to survive the next month. My husband was actually involved in the business at the time. He was the only one in the family with an mba. So I was like, you. You have to come over now. He didn't want to, but he reluctantly did. But, you know, we were, like, kind of pulling rabbits out of hats every other month to keep it going. And somebody sent me a text out of the blue, seemed like. And was like, have you heard of this podcast? How I built this? And I hadn't heard it yet. And so I literally binged that podcast. I'm a runner. And I ran and I listen to that podcast, and it saved me because I was like, oh, my gosh, there are other people out there that are going to, like, this. This is okay. Like, people. It was like a support group, you know?

Absolutely. The podcast is beautiful. The special podcast, for sure.

Yes, totally. So, yeah, I mean, it was just a really interesting, hard, painful time, but also a time of immense growth and digging deep and, like, realizing, like, you know, pushing through the hard is really one of the most amazing things you can do. I always talk about Jay Z's quote where it's like, the most genius thing we did was we didn't give up. And, like, sometimes that's true. It's like, you just so many people give up because things get hard, right? And just because it's hard doesn't mean it's wrong, which you can apply to a lot of things in life. But I do think, like, it's sometimes it's supposed to be hard, right? And that you just have to keep going.

Oh, yeah, yeah. I'll second that, too. Just, I mean, I. After 500 or so interviews on this show, and, you know, people always ask me, like, oh, what's, like, the biggest thing you've learned? And I think there's a level of, like, delusional. Like, there's a level of delusion that I've had from now hosting this show of, like, oh, yeah, like, you just can't quit. Like, through it all, like, I have this plaque that, like, a huge part of my origin story was just with a quick context. I almost got paralyzed. And I was 16. I was in a neck brace for six months. And now I have this, like, neck brace trophy that this artist made for me one day. And there's this Plaque, it says, keep going, never quit. And it just, like, it's the whole, like, takeaway from this show. And what inevitably led to this was this, like, transition point in my life when I got injured. But I think it's. It's so great to hear you say that, and I think it's so true, because as much as you can, like, know that it's like, when you're going through it, hearing that confirmation bias of, like, wow, like, someone else is in my shoes. And that's why I still love doing the show, because I know, you know, there's moments of myself and anyone who's listening that's trying to build something, or you're just going to question yourself every single day and ask yourself, why am I doing this?

Yeah.

I'm glad that you brought that up, and it's great to hear you reference that show because I know it's been awesome for me and so many other awesome founders out there.

And it's so true what you're saying. Like, there is something so, like, cheesy about, like, never give up. And, like, people say it and you're like, if in the abstract, it doesn't really mean much. Right. But, like, when you're in it, you're like, oh, wow, there is really something here. And when you actually get to the other side and you actually stay with a heart or you keep getting up, too. Like, you keep getting up and you keep getting up and you keep getting up. It's like, then you're able to start getting up easier, too. Like, you don't get knocked down for as long. And, like, even discovering within yourself that you have that in you is, like, something that not a lot of people get to. Right. So I do think that that has been the biggest gift that I've seen through all of. Through all of this. And it sounds like, you know, you going through that. Gosh, you were. For six months, you were in a neck brace or you could. Wow, that's.

Yeah. Neck brace for nearly six months. This was when I was a sophomore in high school and, you know. Yeah, I was, like, depressed, had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was like, athlete identity. That sort of, like, lost myself. And inevitably that led to, like, learning marketing and entrepreneurship and kind of following people like Tony Robbins and all these guys online. And.

Yeah.

Then I started my first company, like, a year later and led to the podcast and all the different tech media stuff that I've now done the last eight years. So, yeah, blessing in the skies, right? Like, with anything hard in life, I think it's the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we begin to believe is that's where you can draw, hopefully, positive meaning from, even during the hardest times.

Yes. Yes, exactly. Yeah.

Yeah, I love it. Well, Amy, before we wrap up here, I know you mentioned running, and we could talk for hours about that, but I think there's the. I've been someone the last three years. I've done a marathon every year. Last year I did New York. And I think there's so many parallels of running and business and just the pursuit of anything. Great. Curious to know what that journey has looked like in your life as someone that's just super passionate about running. Enjoy it. And I think there's so many personal reasons why people do it and really identify as, like, hey, I'm a runner, and this is why. And curious to know what that looks like in your world.

Yeah, I've been running for it since probably I've been 15 or so. It's just. For me, it's meditative. If I want to work out a problem or figure something out, I go running because I always do. Right. I often, sometimes even have to force myself to not listen to podcasts so that I can have more of that time to, like, actually work through things and. But, you know, podcast time is great, too, but I really almost look at it more as a mental exercise than a physical one. Even though, you know, I do like the physical part of it, as I'm getting older, I have to, like, force myself to do more strength training and not just running, but it is something I've done forever and it feels like. And I will continue to do because it's just such an important part of my mental health and clarity. You know, I run usually I'm doing five to seven miles, and that's like, you know, I. No matter what's going on before that, if I go for a five to seven mile run, everything's different after. Right. Like, you feel so much better. Like, whatever problem you have before is just doesn't feel as monumental. And it was a saving grace for me going through building this business. You know, I. I worked through a lot of things on runs with myself, so.

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I appreciate you sharing that. And before we wrap up here, Amy, I first off, want to say I appreciate you so much and really find so much, like, purpose and meaning and, like, just overwhelming love coming from you and your story and. And the purpose behind the company. And I appreciate you so much for the vulnerability, the awareness to share and tell this story. And before we wrap up, I want to first say where is the best place for everyone watching, listening to, learn more about We Feed Raw yourself to stay in touch and to just be a part of this awesome community that you all have built.

Thank you and I appreciate you too, Kasey. It's been really great talking to you. So we are direct to consumer only. We deliver everything directly to your doorstep. Free cold shipping and I guess not just cold shipping now because we have a shelf stable product but free shipping anywhere in the contiguous US and you can order our meals online at wefeedraw.com you can find us on social media at We Feed Raw. But yeah, very easy to go to our site. You click, create a meal plan and you can set something up for your dog. You don't. We're not like a ironclad gym membership subscription. You can cancel, change, edit anytime. But we do have people set up meal plans so that we can sort of take them on this journey and like, you know, be close to them through the process. But very easy and flexible subscriptions.

Love that. Well, once again, Amy, thank you so much for taking the time today. I'll be sure to link everything down below so everyone can go check that out. Share with a friend. And once again, I really do appreciate your time today.

Thank you.