“$17 billion was spent on cat food in the U.S. over the last year, and that was up 14% from the same period two years ago… people in general are having kids later if they have them at all. And so there's more willingness to spend a lot of money on pets.”
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Kai Ryssdal asked whether it pays off for Mars to run a large taste-testing center for cats and dogs in France. Gross, who reported on it, says dog food sales are roughly flat but cat food is growing quickly.
And so they call that, they look at the quality. But yeah, a lot goes into it. And then there's a whole other area about special food for aging cats and dogs.
Right, right, right. So this place down in the south of France, 377 cats and dogs with scientists and all of that, the facilities. Obviously, not cheap. The ROI on this for Mars, which owns this place, must be the payoff, right? I mean, it's worth it to them to go to all this expense.
Yeah, exactly. And I think it's, look, it's hugely profitable for these companies. And prices across the board, as we all know, are increasing. Wage growth hasn't kept up with those prices, but the pet food market keeps growing. So I think the number, it was $17 billion was spent on cat food in the U.S. over the last year, and that was up 14% from the same period two years ago. Dog food sales are roughly even from two years ago. But a lot of it is, I mean, what some of the executives I spoke to said was that, you know, people in general are having kids later if they have them at all. And so there's more willingness to spend a lot of money on pets. And companies are completely tapping into that, you know, offering really high-end food as well.
Well, I mean, you walk down the pet food aisle in your local Biggly Wiggly, and it's, I mean, it's, you know, blinding practically the number of options that are out there.
Yeah, and it's not just cat food and dog food, it's also supplements. So something these companies are really focusing in are, you know, supplements for dementia even to support healthy brain aging. A lot of it is around the fact that the pandemic cat pets that many of us adopted in 2020 are now…
Jenny Gross, the New York Times. Jenny, thanks a lot. I appreciate it.