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Christine Mallier | Petcurean
101 Plays5 months ago
This episode is an Aisle 42 first because we're talking about pets. Pet food commands serious shelf space in most of our grocery stores (and of course the category thrives in speciality stores and online) - all of it fuelling a global market worth around $150 billion in annual revenue.
The more we dug into consumer demands, values-based shopping treads, and the environmental impact of this industry the more we knew we’d need to chat with someone about it.
So I chatted with Christine Mallier from Petcurean, a BC-based company renowned for its commitment to producing premium, sustainable pet food.
We talked about their approach to pet food innovation, alternative proteins, ethically sourced ingredients, smart nutrition profiling and diet personalization using AI, their teams’ deep commitment to environmental stewardship, and even a wild picture of the future where the pet owners’ shopping experiences could also be augmented reality.
To learn more about this future-thinking pet nutrition company go to https://petcurean.com.
To learn more about who’s behind this podcast go to https://www.ethicalfoodgroup.com/podcast.
Here’s a summary of this interview:
Here are the 10 bulleted highlights from the interview with Christine Mallier:
Vision for the Future of Pet Stores: Christine envisions a future where pet nutrition, sustainability, technology, and consumer experience converge, featuring smart nutrition profiling using AI and augmented reality tours.
Sustainability Initiatives: Petcurean focuses on using sustainable and ethically sourced ingredients, recyclable packaging, and operating stores with renewable energy and zero waste.
Innovative Pet Nutrition: Christine discusses the importance of insect protein in pet food, highlighting its environmental benefits, hypoallergenic properties, and the success of Petcurean's insect-based pet food products.
Commitment to Recyclable Packaging: Petcurean has signed the Pet Sustainability Coalition Packaging Pledge, aiming to transition the majority of their packaging to recyclable by 2025.
Transparency and Accountability: Petcurean publicly shares their sustainability goals and progress, including a significant reduction in their scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 40%.
Community and Environmental Support: Petcurean donates meals to pets in need, supports habitat restoration projects, and encourages employee volunteering.
Focus on Reducing Waste: The company has achieved zero waste at their head office, reducing waste to landfill by 86% and continuing to improve waste management practices.
Use of Upcycled Ingredients: Petcurean has launched treats for dogs made with certified upcycled ingredients, reducing food waste and promoting sustainability.
Celebrity Endorsement: Christine expressed a desire for Taylor Swift to endorse Petcurean, highlighting her influence and alignment with the brand's values.
Sustainability Reporting: Petcurean publishes an annual sustainability impact report, detailing their efforts to protect the planet, empower their team, and uplift communities.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Pet Industry Episode
00:00:00
Speaker
This is aisle 42.
Exploring the Pet Food Market
00:00:06
Speaker
This episode is an aisle 42 first, because we're talking about pets. Pet food commands serious shelf space in most of our grocery stores. And of course the category thrives in specialty stores and online. All of it fueling a global market worth over 150 billion in annual revenue.
Interview with Christine Mallier on Sustainable Innovations
00:00:26
Speaker
The more I dug into consumer demands, value-based shopping trends, and the environmental impact of the industry, I knew I needed to chat with someone about it. So I connected with Christine Mallier from Pet Curian, a BC-based company renowned for its commitment to producing premium sustainable pet food.
00:00:44
Speaker
We talked about their approach to pet food innovation, alternative proteins, ethically sourced ingredients, smart nutrition profiling and diet personalization using AI, their team's deep commitment to environmental stewardship, and even a wild picture of the future where pet owners' shopping experiences could also be augmented reality.
Future Visions for Grocery Stores and Pet Nutrition
00:01:05
Speaker
So let's get to it. Here's Christine from Pet Curian.
00:01:10
Speaker
I love that we're having this chat today, Christine, because your legacy in the realm of sustainability precedes you. And I'm really looking forward to jumping into all the goodness that you guys bring to pet owners that are in our audience. But before we do that, let's kick it off with the big question. If you could imagine the future of the perfect grocery store or perfect pet food store, what would it look like?
Enhancing Pet Store Experience with AR and VR
00:01:33
Speaker
This is such a cool question. and and I love being able to hypothesize and and think about this. So I think in answering you know what I think the future of the perfect pet food store, I'll take that because of course I'm in the pet food industry. I really see it Corwin as a place where
00:01:49
Speaker
pet nutrition, sustainability and technology and consumer experience
Pet Stores as Community Hubs
00:01:54
Speaker
all converge. So I'm thinking like there's going to be smart nutrition profiling. The stores will use AI to create a personalized nutrition profile for for every pet based on their age, their breed, their nutritional needs, their activity level. And then that way they can use that information and match it up to you know recommend the the perfect food and treats for the pets in the
Personal Stories with Pets
00:02:21
Speaker
store. From the sustainability side, all of the food and treats would be made from sustainable and ethically sourced ingredients. All of the packaging would be recyclable and the stores themselves, they would be all you know they'd be run on renewable energy. They'd be zero waste. They're calculating their greenhouse gas emissions and sharing that transparently.
00:02:42
Speaker
and I love the idea of the stores really embracing technology and using AR, like augmented reality and virtual reality. Consumers can come in, put on a set of VR goggles and you know take a tour of the manufacturing plants and see where the ingredients are sourced and and learn more about you know pet care. and really create that like immersive experience for consumers. And then they would also have like a community space within the stores so consumers can, you know, come in and attend like a nutrition workshop or learn about sustainability or, you know, just all of these things and just really have a space where the community can come together.
00:03:21
Speaker
That is the most creative answer I think I've ever heard, especially in the pet food world. You win, you get bonus points for that one. It sounds like you should be charging admission for the store of the future that you've just described. Maybe $20 a ticket for a half day. I don't know what the ultimate scheme would be, but that's remarkable. Some of that I don't think is that far off actually. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Look forward to it. Now I am not a pet owner right now. We had a cat, ah a cat that I didn't really want to get, but my wife convinced me. And for many, many years we had a wonderful cat that I fell in love with. I think that's what happens, right? When you get a pet, you just fall in love with it. And, uh, and I'm not really a cat guy and I loved this cat, you know, until his dying day, many years ago, but
00:04:07
Speaker
When I look into the pet lives of my friends and my family I can't help but just see how much joy and comfort and and logistics and it's just it's a real mixed bag, but it's you know pets are real a real special part of the family and I think it's uh their nutrition and their health and their well-being really correlates very closely to our own as pet owners. So I think it's a really interesting space to be in. You yourself have a pet in your home. and ah I think it's a foster cat named Piper. Yes. Piper is a um a rescue kitty that I am fostering right now. She came into the rescue system because she had been living with an elderly lady who had to go into long-term care. And unfortunately she wasn't able to take Piper with her.
00:04:52
Speaker
So Piper's with me until she finds her forever home.
Pet Curian's Sustainable Brands Overview
00:04:55
Speaker
Bit of a change for us because I had actually spent about 10 years fostering palliative cats, providing long-term or like end of life care for them. And so Piper's a much younger kitty. And so it's certainly bringing a lot of energy to our home that we haven't had in a lot of years. So she's, she's really a lot of fun. Yeah. Little, little Calico kitty with a spitfire attitude. That's awesome. And I imagine there's a lot of discussion around the length of their claws and what they've destroyed recently. Yeah. She's entertaining. She was outside on our catio last night, actually, and looking at something. I thought, what is she looking at? And there were two raccoons in the backyard coming closer and closer. So she was having an encounter with the wild side last night. Did you just say catio? Yes, I did.
00:05:47
Speaker
You have to explain, what is that? That's our, we have ah an an outside deck and it is, it's fully enclosed with like mesh. So, and we've got like dog doors, you know, so she can, the cats can come and go and be in an outside space, get fresh air in a safe way. Man, is there augmented reality available too on the patio? Not at the moment. You have, you have upgrades to do. ah We jumped right in, but I actually would like to take a quick step back and talk about everything that Pet Curian makes. And for our listeners that might not know about Pet Curian, they'll probably have seen some of your product on their local shelves because you guys, um I feel like you are everywhere and making so many wonderful things. Why don't you walk listeners through what Pet Curian makes?
00:06:33
Speaker
Sure, you bet. So Pet Curian is actually the award-winning manufacturer of the premium pet food brands, ah Go, Go Solutions, Now Fresh, Summit, and Gather. And we were actually started, ah founded 25 years ago. This year's our 25th anniversary, founded by two best friends in Chilliwack, and you'll find our food in select pet specialty retailers. and online retailers and actually we we export and sell to more than 30 countries around the world. And sustainability really is embraced by everyone at our company and everyone's working really hard to you know make our planet um you know and and future better for pets and people and and all the communities where we live and work.
00:07:22
Speaker
So good. And just to be clear, I'm from Chilliwack. I grew up in Chilliwack. I went to 80 Rundle, the scrappy junior high down in the flats. And and I loved growing up in Chilliwack. It's a wonderful community. And I don't know if I'll ever move back, but I'll tell you that the memories I have of being on my bike and doing my paper route and going to the pick-a-pop shop for my birthday. And I had some really great memories at the Chili Bowl. So that's awesome. Chilliwack's a great town. Yeah, it's beautiful out there. Talk to us about ingredient sourcing. How does pet curian ensure the ingredients you guys are using are sustainably sourced and are the best ingredients that you guys can put in your food? You bet that there's a number of things we're doing Coron. First and foremost, we source all of our proteins, fruits, vegetables, grains, all of those things as close to our manufacturing plants as possible.
00:08:18
Speaker
With the exception of a couple of ingredients like our grass-fed lamb and venison, we get those from Australia and New Zealand. But the reason we source it all these ingredients as close to manufacturing plants as possible is to maintain the freshness and the nutritional integrity of the ingredients that we require for all of our recipes, and also to cut down on the transportation emissions. You know, there's ah less emissions associated with transportation. the the closer you are to manufacturing plants. So you're not you know shipping things in from from all around the world. On top of that, we also have a supplier code of conduct in place, which holds all of our suppliers to really high social and environmental standards for their practices.
Insect Protein in Pet Food
00:09:05
Speaker
And I'm happy to say that 100% of our major suppliers have signed that code of conduct. And that's something that we um we we uphold.
00:09:14
Speaker
Remarkable. I think that level of operation must be difficult to keep all those pieces. And you talk about them in sweeping statements, but the reality, they represent hundreds or thousands of hours of work and legal work and accountability and hard conversations and personal commitments by business leaders to dig into the hard areas. So that is a, that's a remarkable thing to do. Yeah, and and I'm a team of one for sustainability at Pecurium, but it takes a village and it's, you know, it's a team. I work with every department across our organization and everybody's got their hands in all of this. So we yeah, it's a big job.
00:09:51
Speaker
You know, one thing that really bugs me about pet food is bugs. It's sort of this mysterious dark. Uh, I don't know. There's something it feels like as consumers, as pet owners, we don't really know or understand it very well. You kind of see it at times, but the insects are coming into pet food, especially obviously because of the protein. Can you walk us through it? Like why is insect protein so important to the future of the pet food industry? for sure, you know, really these sustainable ingredients are a major trend in pet food in terms of like plant-based ingredients and especially insect.
00:10:30
Speaker
protein and I call it a trend, but it's not going anywhere. In fact, it's only going to increase the insect based pet food market is actually forecasted to reach over 30 billion. That's billion with a B $30 billion dollars by the year 2031. That's more than doubling what the market is valued at right now. So it's, it's not going anywhere. It's only going to increase. And you know, the reason is insect protein in pet foods is so good for the planet because, you know, the insects, when they're like raised and processed, they use 80% less water and land, 80% less water and land than traditional proteins in pet food. And in addition to that, they're also easily digestible and hypoallergenic. And so they're really good for pets who have a lot of food allergies and sensitivities. In fact, Pet Curian actually released our own
00:11:29
Speaker
insect recipe last year. It's a single source protein made from black soldier fly larva. And we've got that for dogs and for cats. And it's it's going gangbusters. It's such a good protein for the planet in terms of environmental ah sustainability. And black soldier fly larva, ah is that the primary insect protein? Are there other insects like grubs and ants or beetles or other insects we should know about? No answer beetles that I'm aware of. Black soldier fly larva typically is is one of the most prevalent ones, but you I have seen other things like crickets when it comes to to treats especially.
00:12:14
Speaker
My wife and daughter would like it if you could harvest spiders, the ones that hide in our house. If you could get
Sustainable Packaging Initiatives
00:12:20
Speaker
on that, that'd be great. Spiders eat all the other little things, so they're i'm I'm happy to see a spider. So true. PetCuring is one of five inaugural companies that I know of that has signed the Pet Sustainability Coalition Packaging Pledge. There's a mouthful. Put that on a bumper sticker. It's a bold initiative. Can you just walk us through, like, why is PetCuring involved with that? why is Why are you guys so committed to this initiative?
00:12:49
Speaker
Pet Curian actually has long been so ah has long been viewed as a leader, a sustainability leader in the premium pet food space. And so when it comes to the recyclable packaging, we really wanted to be on the forefront of this and you know leading the charge. And so that's why in 2022 we wanted to be one of this you know inaugural group of five companies to sign the Pet Sustainability Coalition Packaging Pledge. And by signing this, we and the other companies are committing to transition the majority of our packaging to recyclable by the end of 2025. And that's that's a big undertaking, but I'm happy to share that, you know, we did our due diligence with our packaging, did all the testing and all, all of that stuff. Cause we wanted to make sure that we weren't compromising on, you know, the quality of the, the food that our customers know and love. And.
00:13:43
Speaker
In October of 2023, just last year, we had our first recyclable bags roll off the production line, which was so exciting for all of us. And we are well underway ah with that transition, which is really, really cool to see. And, you know, consumers might think, well, why do you have to take two years to transition it, right? Why don't you just like automatically just put everything in the new bags? Well, us and, you know, many of the pet food companies out there, we have a stockpile of bags on hand already, right? And so it wouldn't be sustainable to just turf all of those bags that we have on hand into the landfill and start with the new ones. So, you know, as the bags come up for reorder, that's when we're putting and the recipes into the new, into the new bags. And so that's why it takes a little bit of time. And what's the feedback been like so far? What are consumers saying? What are pet owners saying about the new packaging?
00:14:38
Speaker
Feedback has been tremendous. We know that sustainability is is top of mind for consumers around the world, and that extends to pet food. And research is showing that consumers are more purpose-driven than ever. And when they're making their purchases, they're looking at ingredients and packaging and all these things because they want to make decisions that benefit the planet. In fact, McKinsey actually recently did a study that showed that I believe it was 65% of consumers consider sustainability when making a purchase. And that number increases to 70, I think it was 75% when you just look at the millennial demographic.
00:15:17
Speaker
We've been hearing for a number of years from our consumers calling into our customer service line, hey, is your packaging recyclable? Oh, it isn't. When is it going to be recyclable? So we knew that that was important to our consumers. And we know that sustainability is a core value of you know our consumers. And so this was a big factor for us in making that decision to switch. And since we have made that switch now, the feedback has been just overwhelming. We've got customers calling in to our customer service lines saying, I love the new packaging. This is fantastic. Whenever we do social posts online, you know we see in the comments, people are commenting, I love, love, love this. So it's been really exciting to see the feedback from consumers. It's it's important to them. So we were happy to be able to deliver on that.
00:16:02
Speaker
You guys are obviously having a lot of fun with the sustainability efforts. And I've seen that you even have, you track your carbon paw print. that is That's the catchy title there, catchy name. ah So how is, when you look at the greenhouse gases and gas emissions and that carbon impact, what are you guys doing at Curian to address that? First of all, I have to say i'm I'm super passionate about all things sustainability, but greenhouse gas emissions is like really my jam. like it I love talking about greenhouse gas emissions. No one has ever said that before, by the way. Most people are terrified of it. I love it. So last year we implemented a number of measures to reduce our scope one and scope two greenhouse gas emissions. and And for your listeners who may not be aware, scope one and two emissions, that's all of the emissions associated with things like your heat, your electricity, your AC, and the gas you know that gets burned in our fleet vehicles.
00:17:02
Speaker
And so last year, after implementing a number of different measures, like starting to switch our vehicles over to hybrids, that type of thing, we were able to reduce our scope one and two emissions by 40%. And we were so excited about this. And the reason that for that is because we had actually set a goal previously to reduce these emissions by 20% by the year 2030. So not only did we double our reduction, we achieved that goal like many years earlier than expected.
Transparency and Future Goals in Sustainability
00:17:32
Speaker
And then we also, because I love greenhouse gas emissions, we also calculated what's called our scope three emissions. And so that's all of the indirect emissions across our supply chains. So things like the emissions associated with the ingredients, transportation of the food, the manufacturing, all of our business travel, all that kind of stuff. Because we know that scope three missions typically account for like 90 to 98% of a company's total emissions.
00:18:00
Speaker
And so we really wanted to understand what our total paw print was. So we needed to have those scope three emissions. And so now that we have calculated that, this year we can work on a reduction plan for those scope three emissions. And you published this stuff like on your website. It's very, very public. It's the transparency. And I think and that's one of the things about sustainability that a lot of people don't realize that It's hard for brands to do everything, everything that they want to do. It's hard to afford these things. But the transparency of that process of the goals that are being outlined and the work being done to get there, ideally, like you said, faster than expected. That's a really important thing. So I just want to say thank you for being so transparent with the process that you guys are going through and totally get that. It's really difficult to do. You're welcome.
00:18:53
Speaker
Sustainability, when it's considered outside of the sort of planet, comes down to the community. And I'd love to get a sense in knowing that your team is quite large and you guys are working you know and selling all over the world. What are some of the other initiatives you guys are doing at Pet Curian to make the world a better place? Yeah, sustainability has really been part of our corporate DNA since since day one. And that extends all across ah across all areas of our business. And, you know, we've undertaken a number of initiatives, like I mentioned, like with the releasing the insect recipes and the greenhouse gas emissions calculations and reduction and, you know, switching to the recyclable packaging. But we've also done things like we've now achieved zero waste at our head office. So last year in 2023, we reduced our waste to landfill by 86%. And so now less than 10% of our waste goes to the landfill.
00:19:48
Speaker
We also donated, we've got a big heart at Pet Curian for supporting pets in need. And we donated more than 2.4 million meals to dogs and cats in need through more than 700 rescues, shelters, and community groups all across North America. And you know we've gone out and done habitat restoration um you know with some of the our local First Nations communities to support the salmon habitat. And our kind our employees you know just love volunteering. And it's the the heart at our company is just tremendous. I love it so much. And all these initiatives, like we say, are all captured in our third annual Sustainability Impact Report, which we you know publish and make available to the public on our website. And it talks about everything that we're doing to you know protect our planet and empower our team and uplift our communities and our commitment to governance. you know All those things around
00:20:48
Speaker
transparency, you have to be transparent. People want to see what you're doing. And it's important to us that we be transparent and share, you know, we're not, we're not perfect. And so we want to show what we're doing and what we still want to achieve.
Innovative Dog Treats from Upcycled Ingredients
00:21:02
Speaker
And speaking of transparency, though, you might not be able to divulge what sort of products or projects are coming up that maybe people might not know about, but you're really excited about. Like I could say, it's when it comes to sustainability, we really are taking things one day at a time. We don't believe in trying to perfect sustainability because that's that's just not achievable and that's that's demotivating, right? But we really do we really are working on translating our the ambition that we have in into action. And you know one of the very recently launched things that we did was, and this is like just within the last few weeks, so this I can share,
00:21:42
Speaker
We launched our Go solutions benefit chews for dogs. And these are treats for dogs made with certified upcycled ingredients, which are really, really cool thing to use. It's these upcycled ingredients and it's in recyclable packaging. And so it's a very sustainable way to to treat your pup. And what kind of ingredients are being upcycled? um I believe there are carrots and cranberries and there's something else. in now So sort of down the deformed or a little bit beyond shelf life or that type of ingredient? No, it's all still premium quality ingredients, but it tends to be
00:22:27
Speaker
ingredients that are like, there's just over, there's overproduction. And so it's not like it's like beyond its shelf life or anything like that. It's still a premium and quality ingredients that just, there's, there's overproduction and you know, rather than it going to waste and going to the landfill, we up cycle it into these really tasty treats.
Celebrity Endorsements and Final Thoughts
00:22:47
Speaker
Yeah. It's terrifying to know that too much produce is being grown and then chucked. That just, And then you look at the prices of produce and you're like, but I'm paying premium. Yeah. Oh, the mysteries of produce. Amazing. All right. So here's a fun one for you. If a celebrity were to organically endorse pet curian, who would you want that to be? Corinne, I have to say I have to go with Taylor Swift. mean Not only is Taylor Swift a huge animal lover,
00:23:22
Speaker
But the woman is a marketing mastermind right when it comes to engaging with her fans, having a loyal fan base, and and maintaining a consistent brand image over all the years that you know she's been doing her thing. And you know that an endorsement from Taylor Swift has a tremendous impact on the buying habits of her fan base and would bring just incredible brand recognition to Pet Curian and all of our brands. And honestly, with the number of Swifties in our office, Corwin, if I was to choose any other celebrity, they would be so disappointed. Well said. My daughter is a Swiftie. ah I guess I am because I listen to it constantly in the vehicle and at home. And I think I know all the lyrics.
00:24:11
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say the era's tour pet curian collab would be a pretty good marketing place. So get on that. Yes. On top of it. Christine, thank you so much for your time for all that you and your team are doing for pets and for pet owners and the planet and the communities in which you work. I really appreciate everything. And for this time, it's really my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me today. It's ah been awesome having a chance to to chat and and share what we're doing with your audience. Thank you.
00:24:41
Speaker
Thanks for listening to OWL 42. I'm sure you agree the future of the pet food industry is brighter because of people like Christine. The next chance you have go to petcarion.com to learn more about their pet products and their sustainability initiatives. On behalf of my entire team here at Ethical Food Group, we appreciate every listen, every download, and every review of this podcast. It's a passion project that flows out of our work, which is to help value-based food and beverage brands scale sustainably, faster, and widen their consumer base with shoppers that give a damn. I'm glad we're in this together, so thank you. Okay, that's it for me. I'm Corwin Hebert, and I'll see you in the future.
00:25:32
Speaker
you