{"id":15379,"date":"2014-03-19T09:48:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T13:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=15379"},"modified":"2021-04-23T17:08:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T21:08:02","slug":"videoarticle-postins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/","title":{"rendered":"Dog Food So Good You Could Eat It…Literally"},"content":{"rendered":"

Midwestern beef mixed with papaya and dandelion greens. Line-caught white fish with sweet potatoes and parsley. These are the meals that Taro and Willow, two Rhodesian Ridgebacks owned by Lucy Postins of San Diego, wolf down on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

Postins is the entrepreneur behind the Honest Kitchen<\/a>, a 26-employee company that concocts and dehydrates a range of delectable-sounding dishes for dogs and cats. Recipes are made with organic, non-genetically modified, gluten-free ingredients \u2014 the same ingredients that can be found in artisanal human meals. Pet owners who buy the dried dishes just need to add water. They can even grab a spoon themselves, if so moved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a few customers over the years threatening to feed the food to their husbands,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if anybody has, but there\u2019s nothing in there that you can\u2019t eat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Postins can market her pet food as \u201chuman-grade\u201d because she says she can prove that every ingredient in it is fit for human consumption and the food is prepared according to Food and Drug Administration standards for people. She was inspired to start the line in 2002, when her Rhodesian Ridgeback at the time \u2014 Mosi, who has since passed away \u2014 battled ear infections and a skin condition and then responded well to a raw-food diet that Postins concocted.<\/p>\n

Of course, a product that can be fed to both your dog and your significant other is not cheap. A 10-pound box of the Honest Kitchen food, which yields about 40 pounds of food when water is added, can run as high as $109.99. By contrast, 40 pounds or so of Pedigree or Purina \u2014 popular brands with crunchy kibble \u2014 generally costs about $20 at big-box stores.<\/p>\n

Some might question whether anybody would (or should) pay such a premium for pet food. But Postins has proved that the demand is there: Last year, the Honest Kitchen took in $17 million in revenue. The company sells about 3 million pounds of food a year, through 3,000 specialty pet shops in the United States and Canada, some Whole Foods locations and its online site. In recent years, she has taken on investors, including Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, the owners of Clif Bar<\/a>, and Alliance Consumer Growth<\/a>, a private equity firm in New York, although she and her husband, Charlie, are still majority owners.<\/p>\n

According to Postins, the company has pretty much grown on its own. When she first decided to turn her dehydrated blends into a business, friends helped her set up a website and PayPal account. When she logged into PayPal to see if her test order had gone through, she said, \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe my eyes. Somebody from Virginia had actually beaten me to it and somehow tracked down our website and placed an order. I was just absolutely flabbergasted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within months, mostly through word-of-mouth marketing, she was shipping enough that \u201cthe FedEx guy came to us\u201d every evening rather than her having to drop off boxes. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t got a business plan in the beginning, and we really didn\u2019t realize what we had created,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it turned out we sort of got a tiger by the tail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Postins, who has a degree in equine studies from Warwickshire College in her native England, said her blends are formulated to meet pets\u2019 daily nutritional requirements of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Early on, she said it was difficult for her to find a human-food facility that would make her products.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been to a pet food rendering plant and that horrific stench where you literally have to breathe through your mouth, it\u2019s just too awful,\u201d she said. Postins says she also declines to use ingredients from China, which has been implicated in a number of tainted pet food cases since 2007.<\/p>\n

In 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture objected to her use of the term \u201chuman-grade\u201d on her labels. \u201cIt was a really painful time,\u201d she said. \u201cAll these battles I\u2019d gone though, to make the product just the way I want, and have this line in the sand about quality. What was the point of even doing it if I couldn\u2019t explain it to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Postins reached out to the F.D.A.\u2019s Center for Veterinary Medicine<\/a>. She said she provided affidavits from all of her suppliers, attesting that the ingredient supplied (be it celery or cranberries) was for human food products. And the plants that manufactured her products testified that they made the Honest Kitchen food on the same equipment being used to make breakfast cereal and other human food. The F.D.A. dropped objections, she said. (The F.D.A. confirmed that it has worked with Postins, but doesn\u2019t maintain a public list of pet-food manufacturers that have sought to include term \u201chuman-grade\u201d on labels.)<\/p>\n

Today, Postins works out of an old Wonder Bread factory in San Diego. Many of her employees have dog beds next to their desks, so they can bring their pets to work. (Postins said she has a third dog, a blind pug named Johnson, who \u201cmostly telecommutes.\u201d)<\/p>\n

She is currently working on new recipes, swapping in chard for dandelion greens and debuting new packaging at this month\u2019s Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, Calif., and Global Pet Expo in Orlando, Fla. The dogs (and sometimes cats) in her office give final approval to new offerings.<\/p>\n

Postins said customers often tell her that the Honest Kitchen products have cured their pets\u2019 chronic health issues or allowed them to stop taking steroids or antibiotics \u2014 \u201cnot that there\u2019s something magic in our food,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s literally just sensible whole food.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now, with the organic food movement trickling down to pet food, Postins said, \u201cthere\u2019s definitely a sense of being in the right place, at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lucy Postins sells ‘human-grade’ pet food, meaning you could grab a spoon and eat it with your pooch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":16007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[187,3],"tags":[19470,19444,19450,20090,20162,19731],"class_list":["post-15379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-entrepreneur-videos","tag-consumer-products","tag-animal-business","tag-immigrants","tag-organic-products","tag-pet-food-industry","tag-women-entrepreneurs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLucy Postins: The Honest Kitchen: Dog Food So Good You Could Eat It...Literally - The Story Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lucy Postins sells 'human-grade' pet food, meaning you could grab a spoon and eat it with your pooch.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dog Food So Good You Could Eat It...Literally\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lucy Postins sells 'human-grade' pet food, meaning you could grab a spoon and eat it with your pooch.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Story Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-19T13:48:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-23T21:08:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/07141342\/Lucy-Postins-Marquee-New.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Colleen DeBaise\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheStoryXchange\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheStoryXchange\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Colleen DeBaise\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lucy Postins: The Honest Kitchen: Dog Food So Good You Could Eat It...Literally - The Story Exchange","description":"Lucy Postins sells 'human-grade' pet food, meaning you could grab a spoon and eat it with your pooch.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dog Food So Good You Could Eat It...Literally","og_description":"Lucy Postins sells 'human-grade' pet food, meaning you could grab a spoon and eat it with your pooch.","og_url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/","og_site_name":"The Story Exchange","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange","article_published_time":"2014-03-19T13:48:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-23T21:08:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/07141342\/Lucy-Postins-Marquee-New.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Colleen DeBaise","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TheStoryXchange","twitter_site":"@TheStoryXchange","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Colleen DeBaise","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/"},"author":{"name":"Colleen DeBaise","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/person\/37ea4af04b473a35e85983067534a6b6"},"headline":"Dog Food So Good You Could Eat It…Literally","datePublished":"2014-03-19T13:48:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-23T21:08:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/"},"wordCount":979,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/07141342\/Lucy-Postins-Marquee-New.jpg","keywords":["1000 Consumer Products","Animal Business","Immigrants","Organic Products","Pet Food Industry","Women Entrepreneurs"],"articleSection":["Features","Video Profiles of Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/","url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/","name":"Lucy Postins: The Honest Kitchen: Dog Food So Good You Could Eat It...Literally - The Story Exchange","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/07141342\/Lucy-Postins-Marquee-New.jpg","datePublished":"2014-03-19T13:48:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-23T21:08:02+00:00","description":"Lucy Postins sells 'human-grade' pet food, meaning you could grab a spoon and eat it with your pooch.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/07141342\/Lucy-Postins-Marquee-New.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/07141342\/Lucy-Postins-Marquee-New.jpg","width":640,"height":360,"caption":"Dog Food So Good You Could Eat...Literally Lucy Postins sells 'human-grade' pet food, meaning you could grab a spoon and eat it with your pooch."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/videoarticle-postins\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dog Food So Good You Could Eat It…Literally"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/","name":"The Story Exchange","description":"Inspiration and information for women entrepreneurs","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#organization","name":"The Story Exchange","url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/24161459\/TSE-logo-web-e1525383604615.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn1.thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/24161459\/TSE-logo-web-e1525383604615.png","width":500,"height":180,"caption":"The Story Exchange"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange","https:\/\/x.com\/TheStoryXchange","https:\/\/instagram.com\/thestoryexchange\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-story-exchange","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/StoryExchange"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/#\/schema\/person\/37ea4af04b473a35e85983067534a6b6","name":"Colleen DeBaise","description":"Colleen DeBaise is former small business editor of the Wall Street Journal. Her most recent book is \u201cStart a Successful Business.\u201d She has also written about the rewards and challenges of entrepreneurship for Inc., Entrepreneur and BusinessWeek, among others. She has been interviewed on MSNBC, Fox, CNBC, CBS and NPR. Colleen has a master\u2019s in journalism from Northwestern University. Contact her at colleen@thestoryexchange.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/colleen-debaise-at-the-story-exchange\/"],"url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/colleen-debaise-at-the-story-exchange\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48883,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15379\/revisions\/48883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}