As a pet food retailer I was invited by one of my vendors to tour their plant on June 29th. The company hosting the tour was Eagle Pack in Mishawaka, Indiana. This is a very established company of many years. Because it is made in Indiana, we the citizens are loyal to the brand. We love to buy local. To that I say "Yeah! And keep it up". It is one of my best selling brands. When companies are family owned and they have their blood, sweat and tears invested they are passionate about quality more than bottom line. Recently the founder of Eagle Pack died and with him so did his family dedication. The family sold the company to another large premium pet food company - Wellness. With the merge came the new name (WellPet) and the concern of retailers as to would the quality remain the same. Rumors were rampant as sales reps changed and internet users shared their qualms. You see this also happened with the IAMS brand. It started out in independent stores, where those retailers made the brand as only a small retailer can. They have more ability to talk to the customer in depth and can develop a following. I am told before my days in the business this was THE brand. It was sold to Proctor and Gamble, taken out of independent stores and stocked in big box stores. Now WellPet, needed to allay our fears that this might be history repeating itself. None of us want to see our best sellers go to the big stores. So a chartered bus was ordered and many of us were invited up to join other independent retailers from Indiana and Michigan to take the tour, have a BBQ on the lawn and have a question and answer session with the new company executives. Kevin, the plant manager with Eagle Pack for thirty years, was our guide. At times the process was deafening so I missed a lot of what was said but my eyes got the picture. We followed as the cat duck formula was being processed. This is a holistic formula with cranberries and blue berries. We were told that these components are all human grade and procured from the same source to the cereal companies. I'll cut to the chase by telling you how immaculate the facility is and most importantly how on top of quality control they are by taking samples every hour and detailing reports in their labs. Raw materials delivered by their vendors are tested and sampled before acceptance. The manufacturing decision makers all have food industry backgrounds. They treat this pet food manufacturing no differently than the other human food plants they worked in. I'm not so sure that I am convinced that they will remain loyal to the independents but it was a good start that they care enough to open their doors. I am hopeful that we will remain strong partners. It was especially good to know that among us they had invited the editor of Whole Dog Journal, Nancy Kearns, from California. This is a publication that is the industry bible. Every February the top super premium dry dog foods are released with great detail on their manufacturing methods and ingredients. She demands company transparency. Those that don't comply are called out. Those that excel are recognized and published as "approved". It is imperative for a manufacturer to be included in this issue and suicide not to be.

Fast forward three years later, this past June we were again invited to tour the plant only this time we were a small select group and no charter bus was ordered. They had not been loyal to independents. Their product, for nine months, was tried at PetCo and Pet Smart. The Holistic Select Brand was recently taken out from those stores and brought back to independents only. It seems we little guys do matter after their trial didn't pan out so well. There were many changes on the tour itself. These past years have seen pet food recalls, so the manufacturing process has become even more safety stringent. Views were from behind glass windows, walks from room to room were through foot baths, etc. Many new regulations are in place industry wide. Two years ago Proctor and Gamble did it again. They went after another pet food manufacturer that was totally top notch. The owner sold it and retired. And then, last spring there were two salmonella concerns followed by voluntary recalls. The company is Natura whose brands are Evo, Innova, California Natural, Karma and Healthwise. They will be back in stock soon, if not already, but it has been a challenge for the company, the consumers, and the retailers. We had been proactive and as soon as we heard they had been bought by P&G, pretty much ushered them out the door. They are not loyal to independents despite their lip service. We are a dying breed. Thank you for being loyal. Pets make you smile.