In this episode of the Achieve Podcast, host Taylor Baker interviews Kelly Haag, CEO of Boulder Dog Food Company, about the company’s recent transition and growth strategy. Kelly explains how he and his family took over the business after his father‑in‑law’s retirement, describing the small 11‑person team and the three sales channels (wholesale pet stores, Amazon, and direct‑to‑consumer). They discuss a comprehensive rebranding effort—new logo, packaging, and website—that has begun to unlock sales potential across channels. Marketing learnings include building effective email flows, leveraging Meta and Google ads for the first time, and uncovering missed revenue opportunities. A major focus is the use of AI, specifically Claude, to integrate Amazon, Shopify, and Klaviyo data, creating a custom CRM that provides alerts, drafts emails, and surfaces hidden insights. Production constraints are highlighted, such as ingredient shortages (the “Great Turkey Crisis”) and oven capacity limits, which shape product prioritization. Kelly shares a costly mistake of over‑scaling Meta ad spend, leading to algorithm breakdown, and emphasizes an incremental approach to paid media. Looking ahead, the company aims to double gross sales within a year, expand into new states and high‑end pet stores, and tighten financials after a period of heavy investment. The conversation ends with a call to support local pet stores and purchase through the company’s website or Amazon.
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Welcome to another episode of the Achieve Podcast, the show where we highlight leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs, those who are building meaningful businesses, shaping their industries, and having an impact. I'm Taylor Baker Baker, your host, and excited today to be joined by Kelly Haag, the CEO of Boulder Dog Food Co., and you can find them at boulderdogfoodcompany.com. First, Kelly, thanks for joining us today.
Thanks for having me.
Happy to be here. I appreciate this. So give us real quick the backstory for those getting to know you and the company. How did you get into this space and who are you currently serving?
So that story is an interesting one because I spent 24 years in asset management as a product executive and found myself sort of in between jobs and looking for something I guess, more interesting. And it just so happened my father-in-law was ready to retire, and he had been running Boulder Dog Food Company for 20-plus years. So my wife, my business partner Jason, and I decided to, to jump in and, uh, try to figure it, figure it all out. So, uh, yeah, we've been at it about, uh, 10 months, um, and we've made a tremendous amount of changes, which we can talk about. But yeah, the backstory is jumped into the new industry and We're on the front lines of CPG every day.
So, so how big is the team, the organization right now?
So we're, um, about 11 people. Um, most of the people are dedicated to production. So the lean mean marketing team is my wife and I, and, uh, Jason, you know, my business partner, wears the CFO hat and 10 other hats. Uh, so we do a lot of the sort of front office stuff, the 3 of us, but we're, we're 11 strong right now.
That's awesome. And what would you say is driving growth for you guys right now?
Well, um, we sell through 3 channels. So we sell to pet stores on the wholesale side. Um, we sell, uh, through Amazon and then we've got our, uh, direct-to-consumer website. And, um, I think the backstory on what's, what's working in that regard of sales is that when we took over the company, um, Ed, my father-in-law, had done no marketing. So he had over 20 years ended up in 26 states in pet stores and a loyal Colorado following with basically no marketing. Um, he did send out emails, but, uh, the bags he was using were extremely old and, um, In fact, I can show you one right here. This is the old bag and this is the new bag. So I tell you this because, um, all of the sales channels are starting to behave differently because we just got through all the rebranding. So new logo, new website, new bags, and, um, there's things that weren't working 6 months ago that are starting to work now. So that's kind of a long-winded answer to your question, but Uh, there's a lot of story and stuff moving right now.
That's awesome. That's good to hear that. And so for you, looking back, what turning points have had the biggest impact or shaped the way you think about running the organization?
Well, I think there's probably a few buckets here. I mean, one, um, just sort of the identity shock of having, you know, a title and being in an organization and, and you know, there's, you know, politics and all this stuff. It's like an ecosystem. And now you're— it's, it's you. Like, if, if, you know, no one's gonna turn the light on or turn it off, it's just you. So I think the— that's been a big adaptation for me because I spent so much time in the corporate world. Um, I think honestly the biggest thing so far has just been, um, you know, I used to tinker with AI, uh, when I was in the corporate world. And the problem there was if you had a legal question, you asked legal. If you had a finance question, you asked finance. And that kind of, those types of silos or bubbles, it doesn't allow you to really run with AI. And so I think the biggest thing, maybe even shocking thing over the last, like, you know, 9 months, especially the last 3 months, is just what we've been able to do. To modernize the company and the things we've been able to build, um, sort of within our AI ecosystem.
It's amazing. I'd love to get into those in just a minute then. So as far as your rebranding, your outreach, your marketing systems, what's been working well to attract and retain good clients or customers?
Well, it's interesting because, um, you, you kind of enter problem-solving phase on some of these things, like the topic of emails. And I thought I understood email marketing and I thought I understood the architecture. But when we got help from an external source that was, that was very good, we just found that we were leaving so much on the table. You know, abandoned cart wasn't being followed through properly, all types of things like that. So I think, you know, email is one thing. And then our ability just to I guess target on Meta and Google is a new thing for the company. There was no Google or Meta a year ago today. Wow. So this is, these are new channels for us. And so we've had to learn those from scratch as well.
Gotcha. A lot of education. So when it comes to your sales and marketing, where do you feel like there's still more opportunity or money on the table?
I think that there's, I think when we took it over, I thought the brand had more brand carrier penetration across the United States. And so brand awareness, um, is, is something that's really top of mind, both with wholesale pet stores and with D2C. Um, because I think we've learned that people don't know us, um, like we thought they knew us. And so Getting the word out by just being more visible and telling our story in a very sort of punchy way. I think the thing that attracts people when, when it's sort of a cold interaction is that we've got that 20-plus-year legacy and we only use 1 or 2 ingredients in any of our treats. And so that's sort of the quality legacy intro to what we do. So we're trying to get the word out a lot more than what was done in the past.
Wow, that's crazy to use such few. That, that's impressive. And legacy is phenomenal. I'm sure it helps a ton. Now you touched on the AI. Where have you guys found ways to utilize AI and automation internally?
Well, I think there's a couple really interesting examples. One is we've been able to hook up AI to speak specifically Claude to speak to all the major applications we have. So it talks to Amazon, it talks to Shopify, it talks to Klaviyo. And it cross-references data that would be really difficult to do. And a powerful example of this is I'm now able to have a CRM, an actual customer relations management system that we built because it's pulling customers like pet stores and it's showing me, like giving me alerts when this person usually orders every 30 days. It's been 45 days. So here's your heat map. And it even sends emails and drafts them. We always like to put a custom feel on them, so we always touch them ourselves. But paying for an expensive CRM system when you have all the data in front of you and you can build a UI with Claude, it's pretty powerful to be able to interact with customers that way. And you can even ask it, give me insights I'm not asking about which are important. And all of a sudden you'll get these, these ideas and these data points about certain customers you would have never had before. So that's been a big deal, uh, for us, is the CRM.
That's awesome. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. And if you learn how to use those tools effectively, it's amazing the mileage you get out of them. So Kelly, if you had to think about with the trajectory of the business, one constraint to focus on and solve over the next 90 days, what would it be?
Well, I think one constraint we have is— it's funny because I wasn't in manufacturing before, so I'm dealing with issues I would have never even dreamt up. So there's a couple— there are some production constraints. So we have to sort of pick and choose which products to lean into. We have what I called last November the Great Turkey Crisis, where turkey just disappeared in November. Of course, it's Thanksgiving, but we didn't anticipate that. There's— so there are production constraints. And so we have to be careful again, where we lean in. I think there's also manufacturing constraints. It's a very physical thing to make these treats. And, you know, we have two large ovens. But, you know, It takes bones X number of hours over another product. It's like you're using up your ovens and there's an energy analysis there. And so I think our constraints have been mostly just in the actual manufacturing and trying to make that more, more efficient.
Mm. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. And you're right. It's like until you're there, those questions don't even come up.
So yeah, I've never, I've never, I've never stood in front of 600 pounds of lamb before. I will tell you that before this.
So yeah, I mean, just, just bringing it in, processing it, storing it, right? All the things that come with that with fresh products. So when you think about your journey, the wins, the mistakes, what lessons stand out to you, and which ones do you feel like maybe took longer to learn than they probably should have?
I think the one lesson, the hard lesson that stands out, um, is we started to ramp in Meta and Google, and I had some early wins with a few creatives and a couple campaigns. And so I thought I was off to the races. I thought I had it figured out. And so, you know, why not turn it— instead of turning it up to 10, turn it to 11, you know? And so we ramped our budget really fast, and the whole— it broke the algo. So basically it couldn't spend the money properly, so it kind of shuts down. And so we went on this great clip and then it just crashed. And so we spent like 5 times what we should have spent that month. That was a very expensive mistake. So I've learned my incrementalist lesson as it comes to things like Meta.
I can see that. And diversifying as well, so that way you have multiple—
absolutely.
'Cause if community guidelines change and it shuts it down—
That's right, that's right.
So last question for you, Kelly. When you think about the next stages of the business, what are you most excited about?
I'm actually most excited about just getting the, truly getting the word out so that our company is sort of known broadly in the United States. I, you know, we bought this company 'cause we knew we have the best product. We absolutely believe that. And so I really just want to— now that we have a fresh look, we're modernizing, I'm looking just to expand. And we're really excited about it. We're seeing behavior across all the channels right now that we haven't seen before. People coming back that purchased years ago and now are active again. We've taken on 3 new stores in the last week. So, you know, the whole look and feel is starting to work. Work. And I, I think that it's, it's hard when you're in the skunkworks of it because you're like, is this all this work ever going to make any difference? We're just starting to see that pivot. So yeah, it's been, it's been an exciting, exciting time.
That's awesome. And what do you feel like has to line up or go right for this to— your goals to be hit?
Honestly, at this point, I think the financials have to line up. Um, we had some big spend for a number of months on different things. You know, we, you know, paid agencies in a couple places. We did a lot of stuff ourselves, but, you know, a bag run is a very expensive exercise. And so right now I feel like we've got the chess pieces on the board properly, um, but we've got to tighten up on the financials. I think that's the next thing.
Gotcha.
We're post-big spend.
I can see that. Where do you want to be in 12 to 18 months from now?
Well, Um, my aspiration is to, you know, double our, our gross sales in the next, um, year. Um, that, that's one goal. And we're just starting to think about KPIs and this because we, we were fixing so many things. Um, I would also like to expand into some of the states, uh, in the pet stores where we, we don't exist. Um, and I think, you know, we're doing things like looking at dog-centric cities and the higher-end pet stores within those because our price point's pretty high. And we're really looking to sort of expand in certain states. So yeah, I think it's, it's all about expansion and getting the word out right now.
That makes a lot of sense. And for those who want to learn more, who want to order, want to— so obviously LinkedIn, but they can go to boulderdogfoodcompany.com. Your.com, anywhere else you want to send them?
Well, I would prefer if they came to the website, but if you, if you want to pay Bezos, and you know, people love to shop on Amazon, we're on Amazon as well. Um, and we are in local pet stores, which we would love to support. Um, it's a very important thing. Plug on that, Ed, the founder, he wouldn't sell them to PetSmart and the big stores. He would only support the mom-and-pops. So, um, if you're in a town that has us, go, go find us in the pet store too.
That's awesome. I love that. Support that local business, the local pet stores.
Absolutely. You got it.
And for those who are curious, reach out, jump on again, go to their website, boulderdogfoodcompany.com. Go to your local pet store, support the local backbone of America. And thank you to our sponsors of today's episode as well. Achieve Fractional, which provides fractional executive leadership for growing businesses. And if you enjoyed the episode, share it with a friend, with a dog lover, with an enthusiast. It's like, take care of your animals right, give them good healthy ingredients that are US-based and simple.
And just one or two, just one or two ingredients.
That is fascinating to me that you have such a simple, clean, healthy food at choice. So get it, do it right, do your animals right, and we will see you on the next episode of the Chi Podcast.
