Pet Food For The Win
Host Janelle Maiocco and Farm Account Manager Cory discuss how Independent Farmers can tap into a massive market and boost profits by offering premium pet treats.
For more Farm resources, visit: barn2door.com/resources
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Hello and welcome to the Independent Farmer Podcast, the go to podcast for do it yourself Farmers who are taking control of their own business, skipping the middleman and selling direct to local consumer and wholesale Buyers. This podcast is hosted by Barn2Door, the number one business tool for Independent Farmers to manage their business, promote their brand and sell online and in person.
Let's dive into today's Independent Farmer Podcast.
Janelle Maiocco: Welcome to the Independent Farmer Podcast. I'm Janelle Maiocco, CEO of Barn2Door and your host for today's episode. As you may be aware, Barn2Door is all about helping Independent Farmers make more money, ditch the office work, and look like a pro. By getting a system in place to sell direct, market under their own brand, and manage [00:01:00] orders, Farmers can skip the middleman and build a strong local business with loyal customers and recurring sales.
In today's conversation, we will discuss how your Farm can win by offering pet food. Today, I'm happy to welcome Cory, who is one of our Farm account managers. Welcome, Cory.
Cory Hutsen: Well, thank you for having me, Janelle. Excited to be here and very excited about a topic I'm reasonably familiar with.
Janelle Maiocco: Cory, I feel like you get to talk about the most, sometimes the most interesting things in the whole business because you literally tell folks, like you are talking to hundreds of Farmers weekly, 40, probably 40 or 50 a week, and it mixes it up.
But you're talking about business strategy.
Cory Hutsen: Yeah. Business strategy and everything in between. I mean, that's a lot of the focus. But then, you know, conversations with Farmers, I've learned so much just about Farm practices in general, what's working well for them, and, you know, picking little things from each Farm that I can pass on to the next Farm.
And yeah, so my, my brain is full of Farm business strategies [00:02:00] and tactics and little tricks.
Janelle Maiocco: I swear I walk by your desk and sometimes I'll hear like you talking about breakfast bundle boxes with eggs and bacon, or I'll overhear you talking about CrossFit gyms as a great pickup partner. So it's just really neat to see the accumulation of knowledge that you have in your brain, and I'm excited to focus on pet food, which is another one that keeps popping up over and over again across various Farms who have tried it.
And I understand you even have your own-- have a dog and you buy quality food for your own dog. Yeah.
Cory Hutsen: Yeah, which I am able to relate to Farms on buying for my dog just as I am buying for myself, right? Which is what I always said a lot of conversations with Farms when I'm doing my handoff or having my first meeting is, "Hey, I can speak to you on what I see work well for other Farms, but I can also speak to you as your ideal customer," because I am.
I am an ideal customer for Farms. I prioritize sustainability, nutrition, [00:03:00] quality. I love to cook. I'm v- very into fitness. I buy almost all of my proteins and produce directly from Farms, and I'm also part of a generation that's kind of raising my dog as a little bit of a dau- you know, more of a daughter, probably more than I should.
And so I also care a lot about what I'm feeding her and the, you know, where I'm sourcing her food and treats from.
Janelle Maiocco: That is so amazing, and I'm so glad we started off saying that. Yes, you are an ideal customer for those Farms, so they can really test their ideas on you. so we're gonna dive into this, just to, pull forward all the opportunities with pet food, everything that Farmers might want to think about.
So let's get started. I did wanna share a little bit of an agenda. We're gonna talk about why pet food, as a revenue opportunity. We're gonna talk about what are the product options. What are you gonna package? What are you gonna price them at? You know, everything from broth to bones, et cetera.
And then how it works. We have advice, both from Cory, who has talked to so many Farms on this topic, but also from a few of our own Farms that we [00:04:00] work with closely, who we sent out a survey and they gave us some great feedback. So a great litany of like getting started, how it works, what you need to think about, even some regulatory tips, et cetera.
Um, and then we wanna also talk about marketing, and what are some good marketing practices to get that pet food part of your business up and running and successful. I wanna jump into why pet food might be a good revenue opportunity. First, I'm gonna tell you a couple of stats just because I had the team pull these, which is really cool to understand, and then I wanna get into what are some of the pet food options from a product perspective.
Like what could you actually put live in your store and start to sell? So from a revenue opportunity, folks might not realize, Cory is very normal in this world. Like, over 60%, closer to 70% of families in America have a pet. So it's an incredibly large market opportunity to be selling pet food.
In 2025, Americans spent 68 billion on pet food and treats. Um, 75% of pet [00:05:00] owners prioritize buying higher-priced premium pet food brands focused on health and raw or fresh, and 95 million US households own a pet. Folks, that is a lot of people out there who would buy quality pet food for their animals, and the majority of those are dogs and then cats, et cetera.
So, there's a huge opportunity here. Cory, any other thoughts on that before we dive into the product options?
Cory Hutsen: I think you set the stage well, I mean, with those stats. I did just read something that it's pretty much escalated in terms of per spend based on generation: Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, to Gen Z.
As you go younger, the more they're spending on their pets.
Janelle Maiocco: Love it. Okay. So let's dive into the variety of pet food options. And you can probably list off the top of your head a lot of different things that people are selling.
Cory Hutsen: So, and I think the most important place to start here too is our most successful Farms, and you'll hear this in our connect sessions with our Farm advisors, know their [00:06:00] margins and are constantly trying to capitalize and increase their margins.
And pet food is such an incredible way to do that because it creates a premium market for products that have little to no market at all. Things like chicken heads, chicken feet, chicken organs, beef, pig organs, pig feet, pig snouts, pig ears, right? These are all things, chicken skins, like these are all things that either are discarded or are sold at, for a very small market.
You know, there's gonna be a Buyer here and two, uh, here or there for those things, obviously. But as you'll see and we'll talk about more, you're generally gonna see a lot higher pricing, um, for those things as pet treats than just as, you know, in frozen packaging direct to consumer.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah, I love that. I actually asked one of our Farmers, um, I said, "Hey, is this an all new revenue stream?"
And his feedback said on, the [00:07:00] chicken parts, he says, "We could sell those at quite a discount," to your point, for much less to a restaurant, right? 'Cause they're gonna often make their own broth, et cetera. He said on beef, it's about 50% new revenue from bone dust and tendons. Um, but then it includes offal that we would normally sell in our beef ancestral blend.
So there's, there-- it's just good fodder. Like, in other words, what Cory is saying, yes, there's a huge revenue opportunity. It might not be all new revenue, but it's definitely higher, higher margins, um, if you're gonna package it as pet treat or pet food. So in terms of market-facing, like you talked about all the different parts that can go into it, Cory, we're seeing what?
We're seeing bone broth for sure, some, um, raw organ blends. I know you talk a lot about ancestral blends because that is sort of repurposing that, for maybe even raw pet food. And then dehydrated treats. Is there anything else? Bones, are we seeing bones? What else are you seeing that they're selling, like, on their storefront?
Cory Hutsen: Yeah, you'll see bones. You'll see big, uh, you know, cow femur [00:08:00] bones and the raw hides, which make great chew toys. Definitely most common because it seemingly has the lowest barrier to entry is the dehydrated organ meats, feet, head from chicken or, um, pigs.
Janelle Maiocco: Sort of packaging, do you have any recommendations around packaging and pricing? I know we talked about it being a revenue stream, but how do I price it? How do I package it?
Cory Hutsen: So for packaging, most common I am seeing, which, you know, I just looked up on Uline and not overly expensive at all, but is the sealable, like, paper pouches, which is actually what you're gonna see very oftentimes at high-end pet stores.
That's how they sell the treats. When you buy organ blends or dog treats from the pet stores, they're in those same pouches, and that's what I'm seeing Farmers use at the market and in their online stores. they look good, they present well, and they're relatively cheap. And I have talked to some Farms very recently, kind of getting into the pricing side of things, which I think [00:09:00] would, you know, if this is your first time and, you know, especially if you're a Farmer, and you don't know totally how, you know, people in cities are treating their pets.
Well, I was talking to a Farm who explained that she virtually had very little market, if any at all, for her, uh, chicken liver and her hearts just selling, you know, frozen at the market, and she was selling those for about 10 bucks a pound. She can now, and sells out consistently at every market, she sells three-ounce packs of dehydrated chicken hearts and livers for $16.
Janelle Maiocco: I feel like you should drop a mic. Drop a mic.
Cory Hutsen: Yep. Three-ounce packs for $16 and honestly, that's not like... I talk a lot with Farms about, you know, having your prices at a point where it makes sense because a customer buying directly from the Farm, like your ideal customer, wants to pay a premium. They are buying from you because they understand Farm [00:10:00] to table is the best quality food.
The same translates to pet ownership, but while those, that number, you know, three ounce for $16 might seem high, you go to these, you know, Chewy, which is kind of the Amazon for dog treats and pet food and pet supplies, very similar pricing even from commercial brands. So I think there's even more opportunity, for Farms to capitalize on that as, you know, selling this Farm to dog premium, um, treat, which I don't know if Farm to dog has been used before, but...
Janelle Maiocco: Cory runs to check it out. Chewy might be a good place to, uh, to get some pricing benchmarks, um, for people who are, like you said, Cory, living in the city and feeding them- their animals, at very, very high quality. That's great. Okay, so she was selling mostly the chicken hearts and livers, right?
Or were they dehydrated?
Cory Hutsen: Yep, they were dehydrated, and she also was selling her [00:11:00] dehydrated chicken heads and chicken feet at a very similar price point. She was selling those more as like an eight-pack, but was getting $16 to $18 for those. So, you think about an eight-pack of chicken heads, which, if you were using those, whether for a broth or anything at all, now all of a sudden, you know, you're getting a really strong return on those.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. I appreciate that. And then do you have any recent conversations around some of the, uh... I think there's a lot of pork certainly pork treats, and probably even some beef related.
Cory Hutsen: Yeah. For pork, pig ears are a favorite for sure. And I am seeing that more and more with our hog Farmers.
But that's also a favorite of dogs, and this is something important to note too, like Dogs know when they're getting something real. Like the single ingredient deal, like you can tell as a dog owner the excitement for getting, a pig ear versus, you know, a manufactured [00:12:00] treat that has a bunch of ingredients in it.
Dogs know what, uh, the real thing is. So things like pig ears, snouts, pig feet, like those are all things that dogs go absolutely crazy for. You know, cows, which you're having a much bigger, like, one liver you can probably break apart into, you know, multiple bags of dog treats and really, cover a lot of ground after processing one head of beef.
And then you have the femur bones, you have the rawhides, all those different things-- parts of the cow that you can utilize.
Janelle Maiocco: I'm, I'm cracking up because God bless Farmers who work so hard to educate consumers on that exact thing, which is this is real, this is not, this is real, this is not. You know, this has 40 ingredients, half of which are, I don't know, seed oils and petroleum and who knows what else, chemicals, and been sprayed and, versus the real deal.
And yet you put that in front of an animal, and they know instinctually, like, you know, if it's, if it's okay to consume or not, right?
Cory Hutsen: [00:13:00] Well, and it's-- it gets in a little bit to the marketing conversation we'll t-touch on later, but that exact thing, the thing we talk about with Farmers, like why someone's buying from you, things like corn-free, soy-free, grain-free, that is the marketing that's used in the do- you know, when-- what consumers are looking for when they're buying for their pet.
They're starting to look for the same things, you know, they would base their own buying decisions on, that now they are basing those on for the buying decisions for their dog.
Janelle Maiocco: I've heard a lot from Farms that we work with around dehydrated, um, treats, et cetera, and we can talk more about that. Um, one of the Farms I chatted with recently was talking about raw pet food. Did you-- have you seen a lot of that come across? 'Cause I know that can be a different endeavor in some instances.
Cory Hutsen: Yeah. I think, I think dog f- like dog, cat food, you would definitely wanna, you know, make sure you're checking out your own state regulations because I believe it is just a little more complicated. Like, there [00:14:00] tends to be very low barriers for dog treats, and especially if you're sticking to single-ingredient stuff.
Now that being said, like I have had very successful Farms processing a whole quail and that's all it is, is one quail being processed down into just ground quail and selling that as a premium dog food, right? so I think there certainly is an opportunity there and, you know, quail's one of those low barrier for entry, items that has a really quick growth, you know, six weeks to fully grown and being able to process and I've had Farms, make a giant niche for themselves selling directly to high-end dog kennels ground quail.
Janelle Maiocco: Wow. I am so glad you mentioned that. It's almost these unique, nuanced cases too. I think you even work with some Farms who all they do is pet food/pet treats.
Cory Hutsen: Yeah, absolutely. There's some Farms that make a lot of their bones doing that. Even you get into some of these things you may [00:15:00] not think of, but rabbit, duck, like all these things have different nutritional properties, and just like humans, like every dog's different.
Like you see there's billion-dollar businesses now that are generated around customizing dog food plans just for your specific dog, right? And there's a lot of people that are paying for that, I can assure you. Which, you know, this is-- when I have this conversation, I have to remind Farmers like, "You are not your own ideal customer.
I know a lot of this sounds crazy, but your ideal customer is paying for these things."
Janelle Maiocco: And Cory raises his hand because he pays for these I love it. Okay, there's so much to talk about, but one quick little how-to: I wanted to share some tips from a couple of the Farms that we work closely with, um, in terms of what's worked for them and any suggestions they had to all the Farmers who might be listening.
But one thing that came up that I thought you might be able to comment on first, Cory, is [00:16:00] the do-it-yourself versus partner, because I think in some instances you can easily dehydrate yourself and get a whole lot of that done. And then there's also this separate piece of, I, you know, "Hey, yeah, I send all my bones out to somebody else.
They make all the broth," or, "They do XYZ for me." Like, do you need somebody else to help you with it? At what point does it make sense, and what are some examples?
Cory Hutsen: That's a great question. And the first thing, when it actually comes to the process of it, whether it's Farms who are listening right now who are either already with Barn2Door or considering joining Barn2Door, is talking to other Farms who are already doing it.
So we host connect sessions every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, which is an open opportunity to talk to some of our most successful Farms, a lot of which are already doing this and doing dog treats. So when it comes to more of the actual practices, like I'm always gonna wanna connect you to a Farmer.
Now I can share my own insights, and the little bit of I know for a lot of Farms who are doing, [00:17:00] you know, we talk about chicken as kind of a, a gateway Farm food, right? So many of our-- some of our most successful Farms started with, you know, broilers doing 50 to 100 meat birds, and it just, they built their customer base that way, and it naturally escalated into, you know, they started adding hogs and raising cattle and, you know, one thing after the other, but they started with those chickens.
You can even look right now on Amazon or any of these sites, and you can get a dehydrator for relatively cheap. I've seen dehydrators for under 200 bucks that you could probably easily dehydrate 50 chicken livers or hearts at a time. Probably more than that. which that's a very, you know, that speaking again and using this term too much, low barrier to entry, that's a pretty low barrier to entry.
And now all of a sudden you're being able to process your own chicken. You're selling those [00:18:00] directly to consumer, and now you have a product, for those dog treats as well. Once you get escalate, which a Farmer I was talking with, like she said this, they started dehydrating their own, which is really easy and affordable.
But then when it organically their business started ramping up, they went from one Farmers market to three Farmers markets. They started doing delivery. They started going from processing 200 birds a year to 2,000 birds a year. Then they invested in their own freeze dryer, which a commercial freeze dryer. Now you're probably looking, you know, $3,000 to $5,000. So you can al- also see though, like there is a kind of a path there where it's, "Hey, we can do this ourself to start. We can afford a dehydrator, invest in it because we're gonna increase our margins and we're gonna get a huge bang for our buck by doing this. And then if it scales, we can look at alternatives.
We can look at buying our own freeze dryer. We can look at what partnerships would look like." Um, whether that's, you know, finding someone to help you [00:19:00] make broth, dehydrate these treats at a high volume. So it's whatever, you know, wherever you're at with your Farm business, I think there's a pretty good, plan of action there.
But at the end of the day, there are very successful Farms who are going to be very open in sharing with you what's worked well for them and what they think you should do
Janelle Maiocco: I love that so much. I literally, we had, um, a couple new employees start this morning, and when I was in my session with them, I'm like, "We have helped Farmers go from hobby Farm to full-time Farming, and we've helped Farmers go from zero to seven figures."
And by help, I mean, we, like, the structure of like, you have people like Cory who, I mean, obviously there's the software helping you run your business, making it easy for everybody to buy from you online or in person, um, giving you a polished brand, all of the basics. But then you also have w-what Cory just said, which is s-su-such a strength of ours that I think is often overlooked, which is we will meet you where you're at.
Like, [00:20:00] let's start with chicken. You're gonna learn that, and then if you wanna diversify that into even more revenue, make more money, let's try, you know, pet treats. Uh, if we have questions about the regulations in your, um, in your particular state, you can go to a connect session and talk with other Farmers.
We can refer you over to the Farmer Consumer Legal Defense Fund to check specifically with your state, um, and get all of the state and federal regulations that you need, any hoops you might need to go through. Like what do you need today to be successful today, to make more money, have it become more efficient, more effective, and scale and grow to the number that you're targeting in terms of the size of your particular Farm?
And there's so much rich advice coming all the way through resources, advice, software to support your Farm and make it easy. But it's, it's exciting to be part of just Farmers' businesses taking off, and going and then running into that next good problem to have, which is, "Oh, wow, now I'm actually deli-delivering three days a week."
[00:21:00] And we're like, "Well, that's a lot. And if you wanna offload that because you're at a good place for that, hey, let us help with, you know, introduce you to a delivery partner," et cetera. So it's right-sizing where you are at in your business. Are you beginning? Are you just beginning as a Farmer? Are you half, you know, are you at six figures yet?
Do you wanna get to seven figures? You know, what does that pathway look like and what are the decisions you need to make as a Farm business owner? And what are the opportunities that you have in front of you? So it's just great to be able to talk through those. And Cory's a great example of somebody you might talk to, along with him saying, "Hey, talk to this Farm.
Do this. This is what I've seen." Um, and just get all that rich, valuable information. That was awesome. Thanks, Cory. Appreciate it. Okay, I have to read from you literally from some of the feedback from some of the Farmers we work with. One Farmer said, "Get a restaurant quality dehydrator." he says, "I use all the extra bits of the pig and put them in there.
Pig tails, ears, snouts, and feet." And here's- this is the thing I love about the how-tos. Here's what didn't [00:22:00] work. He said, "We tried to use the pigskins to make rawhide rolls, but my butcher, um, left too much fat on the skin, so it didn't work out well." But if you can get more of the fat off the skin, you can literally make pigskin rawhide rolls, which are super popular.
So that's just a good note. Make sure that there's more fat off because moisture is your enemy. You have to get rid of all the moisture. and then he said one of his bestsellers is dehydrated chicken skins. He says, "We save the skins from our boneless, skinless chicken breasts and slap them on the drying racks, and they sell very well."
And then he was saying that he was-- he's trying to sort out raw pet food, right? That was the thing. In the chicken raw pet food, he does ground chicken backs, livers, hearts, and skins.
In his beef raw pet food, he does tendons, cartilage, scraps, bone dust, liver, and heart. He says they sell okay, but they're-- and they're still working out some tw- some tweaks, which is great. But it sounds like the chicken skins are the ones flying off the shelves there. And then another one of our Farmers, totally different, um, different size, different scale.
We never give le- [00:23:00] legal advice, just for the record. But he says most states require no licensing if it's a single ingredient. Um, I think you said that too, Cory. Multiple ingredients bring red tape, but it's doable.
Cory Hutsen: No, that's, yeah, that, that's the common feedback I've heard.
So Janelle already referenced like Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund. That's a great resource to answer some of those questions. But the single ingredient stuff, which is why I've talked so much about it, does not seemingly have that red tape. So it's a good starting point.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. Get your packaging, dry it out, and put $16 on three ounces.
Like, that's it. And then he says low temps are key for dehydrating safely for pets. He said 140 to 145 is the sweet spot. He says your oven can't go this low, so get an electric smoker, open the vent halfway. That was his advice. And he says it's an art, not a science. Adjustments for ambient humidity and other factors are learned over time.
Great advice. "Moisture is the enemy," he says. Get it all [00:24:00] out. Pig ears take about 27 hours.
Femur bones, pig skin rolls, and chicken feet take two to three days per cycle. Boy, this is great stuff, isn't it? This is what you get going to the connect sessions, by the way, that Cory was talking about: you can get into the nitty-gritty.
Cory Hutsen: I was gonna say exactly. It's actually hearing directly from Farms who are doing it themselves, and when you were referencing, you know, the 140 to 145, because I may or may not have looked into doing, dehydrating my own chicken feet, and the oven only goes down to 165, and you have to have it on for 24 hours straight.
I was just like, "All right, this is not something I can do at home." So, this is why, you know, Farmers, if y- Farmers are able to do it, there's a big need for it.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. Well, and if it's a business, right? You're turning it into this business. And at scale, I love when Farmers start to grow enough where they're like, "Okay, it's worth the investment in the commercial-grade dehydrator."
Or, and o- other Farmers are like, "Oh, it's a worth investment for their, like, their walk-in freezer or whatever," you know, that they finally need [00:25:00] that. He gave a marketing tip, which was easy impulse buy at checkout that turns into a must-have. He says, "We have them at buckets of different treat types near our checkout at the Farmers markets, and people will see them and say, 'Oh, a pig ear or two.
I'll get one for my dog.' Then they come back every week to get their dog a pig ear. Becomes a thing for them at the markets each week."
Cory Hutsen: And we can, uh, go s- this is probably my biggest marketing, to do here, and because of that exactly. The in-person element is, especially if you're new at a Farmers market or looking for a way to differentiate yourself, having dog treats is such a huge bonus because I've been to a lot of Farmers markets in a lot of different cities.
One thing that is common, no matter what market you're going to, is people bring their dogs with them. It's generally an outdoor activity. It's a way to knock out a walk and get your dog out of the house. So people love bringing their dog to the market, and if you have treats, well, guess [00:26:00] what? The next time they go to the market, that dog's gonna remember, and I know this from experience: they know where they got a treat.
They are gonna be dragging their owner to your Farm stand looking for a treat and getting that consumer right back in front of your table. So that's such a huge way to start just building up a presence at Farmers markets is having dog treats ready to go. Whether you're giving samples and then you have bags out, it's just, I think it's such a huge thing you can be doing.
Janelle Maiocco: I love that so much. Oh, I can just see that, like the, you, you, you create two loyal customers, right? The, uh, the animal and the pet owner, which is just incredible. And by the way, win-win, if you are giving some of those treats away, just look at it as a marketing, um, cost or investment I should say, because if you can gain the dogs and then gain their owners and they buy some steaks or, um, or pork chops or whatever it is from your stand, you just got their email, 'cause the Barn2Door POS, once they make a [00:27:00] purchase, you capture their email and you just gained you know, somebody that now you can go back, you can email them, send them your newsletters.
They're gonna find out when there's a sale, and you got-- you can start to build that relationship. So it's a, it's a win-win-win. Get that crack out the door for dogs and differentiate yourself, which is just great. Here's the other... You're, you're gonna get a kick out of this one, Cory. This Farmer out of Georgia who does a ton of pork and chicken, he said, and he always thinks at scale, so lis-listen to this: "We turned our greenhouse into a big dehydrator by adding an industrial fan to move air and a propane brooder lamp for supplemental heat On poultry processing day, we put all of the feet, head, wing tips, and organs in on the racks that air can flow all around them and dry them out.
Isn't that epic?
Cory Hutsen: Yeah. That's, that's incredible. That's, that's what we're talking about when we talk about scaling.
Janelle Maiocco: That's right. Amen. I love that. I was giggling 'cause I know this Farmer well, and he's great. He's just a businessman, and he knows how to think at scale. He [00:28:00] says, "Ensure the product is fully dehydrated, then allow it to fully cool, cool before putting it into packaging.
If there's any moisture or if the-- or if you put it in the package while it's still warm, that'll cause condensation and then mold will grow and spoil the treats." So moisture, get rid of it, don't invite it. He says he even puts little desiccation packets into the bags to minimize moisture.
Cory Hutsen: Yep. Well, and part of that too, like dehydrating this stuff, like makes it...
This is a little inside baseball for dog owners, but when you dehydrate this stuff very well, it breaks apart into pieces. So, you know, you can stretch out one treat as, you know, whether you're training a puppy, um, or just, you know, giving your dog little treats one at a time on a walk. But when you dehydrate these, it's, you know, one chicken liver can turn into, you know, 10 different treats for your dog.
Janelle Maiocco: That's incredible. That is... What did you say? Insider... What did you just call it?
Cory Hutsen: [00:29:00] Inside baseball.
Janelle Maiocco: For, for pet owners. Oh, that's great. I love it. And then he said what you said earlier, and I think it merits repeating, which is, "Make sure you sell pet treats, not pet food." There's a much lower, almost nonexistent regulatory hurdle.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't go after the pet food, labeling, but just know that that will be more regulation and you need to make sure to look into that. Whereas treats is a broader, less regulated category. He said, "We also began turning our backs and necks into broth."
And then he said, "Chicken broth, unlike pork and beef broth, is a non-regulated product." I'm just gonna say, go look into this all yourself. This isn't, this isn't, you know, we're not like anointing this as legal. Talk to the Farmer to Consumer Legal Defense Fund. Um, they're incredible for Farmers. Um, they will give you all the advice for like pennies basically.
Um, and then the other one is just look up, I think, do your own research in your own states, right? To find [00:30:00] out the, the-- and confirm the rules and regulations, if you will. But great fodder. Definitely look into, I-- it sounds like lower hanging fruit would be pet treats and chicken broth over the other kinds of broth.
Cory Hutsen: Yep. No, I mean, you covered a lot of the, a lot of the bases there. You know, and it's great hearing from Farms. Like that's, that's one of the biggest things, and why in my first meeting with Farms, um, here at Barn2Door, I show them how to register for our connect sessions to talk to these Farms and tell them, "This is my favorite resource."
The Farmers who utilize this and connect with other Farmers see success from it.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. I totally believe that. okay. That, and that's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday for Farmers who are already using us. Go talk to these amazing Farmers. Okay. Same Farmer gave a marketing tip, which I love. It says, "Get great looking labels and packaging.
You're selling a premium product." That is just boom, done. Make it a beautiful label with the, with, nice packaging and you're, you're [00:31:00] literally just increasing your profit margin. okay. Let's shift to marketing.
Cory Hutsen: Okay. Well, so I referenced, obviously, we already talked about having dog treats with you at the, um, Farmer's market. Online orders Uh, whether you're putting together your own newsletter or you're using automated order reminders. Now, especially if you have a bustling subscription in your Barn2Door store, whether it's your beef box, your meat and eggs box, obviously you referenced I'm very passionate about meat and eggs boxes, breakfast box.
But if you have weekly, bi-weekly, monthly subscribers, setting them up on order reminders and then being able to message that value add of, "Hey, we now have dog treats available in our store. You know, you're already getting your box, we'll deliver a bag of treats along with it." So that aspect of, "Hey, I've already got a delivery," or, "I'm already going to pick up my, subscription box, but now in the Farm I orders from [00:32:00] store, they also have dog treats posted."
Awesome. One th- one of the most powerful things about subscriptions is customers who are on subscriptions tend to spend more, right? They tend to add onto their order, and they tend to spend more with you. So just giving dog treats, now the ability to add onto their subscription is just one more thing to add value.
So that, you know, that's a huge thing I just wanted to make sure we, uh, touched on.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. There is great magic in, and we know this from data from working with thousands of Farmers, and Cory himself talking to hundreds and hundreds, including over the years, which is great. But yeah, subscriptions, there's magic in subscriptions.
People love routine. They love habits. They love knowing once, you know, once a month, twice a month, I'm getting my, you know, 10 pound beef box or my 10 pound pork box or my chicken subscription, whatever that might be, that it's already coming. And they're like, "Oh, that's so nice. The Farmer's already delivering to my door.
Of course I'm gonna... Oh, look, I got an order, an automated order reminder, and I, I can [00:33:00] see pet treats or, or other things." And what you're doing is you're literally increasing your average order size, which is just another way to increase money to sell more. And then diversifying the products that you're selling helps with that opportunity as well.
but very powerful to have, um, subscriptions turned on and lock people. People just, we're creatures of habit, right? We just like to know consistency. But they also-- we also all now love to know where our food comes from because, you know, a lot of it's not coming from a great place. And including for, pet owners like Cory who care a lot about what goes into...
What is your dog's name?
Cory Hutsen: Rosie.
Janelle Maiocco: Rosie's mouth, or into her system, 'cause you care. I love it. Okay. Subscriptions, add-ons, higher order value. By the way, uh, when we reference automated order reminders, that's just part of the basic email marketing we help Farmers get in place at Barn2Door, where we help them capture email at various touchpoints online and in person, automatically, and then we help them set up automated email reminders to go out to order.
And so you really just have your [00:34:00] whole... It's kind of like a whole loop going, collecting emails and sending them out. And so you really have your basic, uh, marketing in place, out of the gate, um, once your store is live. So pretty exciting. And I think a lot of Farms, Cory, time their order reminders right before the subscriptions is about to be delivered or right before the order cutoff.
Cory Hutsen: Yep. Whatever their order cutoff is, they'll generally time it up, you know, 24 to 48 hours before that. I get a biweekly CSA. That Farmer uses order reminders four days before fulfillment to let me know what's gonna be in my CSA that week, and then if I wanna add anything onto the store. So as a consumer, I can speak from that side of things as well.
The consumer experience of receiving an order reminder is such a little highlight of my week or every other week. So it immediately, you know, gets me excited, starts my wheels turning on what I'm gonna be cooking for dinner this week and what I need to add on in the, in the store before my delivery comes.
Janelle Maiocco: Awesome. I love it. okay. Any other recommendations around marketing? I think we [00:35:00] had one of our Farmers say, "Put them in buckets near the cash register," I kid you not, um, at Farmers markets. Great to hand out to collect emails, um, and attract, pets and their owners at Farmers markets. Online, subscriptions is a great way to help people increase the order with the pet treats.
Any other come to mind?
Cory Hutsen: I think the biggest thing is just re-emphasizing, I mentioned: as a Farmer, a lot of times you're not your own ideal customer. So I know some of this stuff we've talked about may even seem crazy if you haven't, been into a city pet store, or looked at, you know, how these pet treats are priced online because a lot of Farmers like, you know, dogs are a big part of their lives, but their dogs are working, right?
They're, they're raised in a very different manner and their, you know, immediate community who are Farmers themselves are no f- Farmers. Those dogs are, you know, out running, maybe even sleeping outside. Not that they don't, you know, have the same love and care for them. But what people are doing in cities right now, [00:36:00] especially the younger generation, they, uh, they are treating their dog at almost as a child, and that is reflected in how much they are spending on it.
And a lot of times they're making better nutritional decisions for their dogs versus themselves. And I can assure you guys that this is going on. So this is just something, you know, to consider, right? When you're thinking about marketing, again, it's the same thing with your food, but that messaging is quality, nutrition, sustainability.
Those are the things that consumers are making their buying choices off of, right? And those are your ideal customers. So whether it's us helping you put together your first MailChimp newsletter and putting that messaging in, or you're going to the Farmers market for the first time and you have dog treats with you for the first time and you want to be able to communicate with that new person who goes to your booth for the first time.
You know, talking about all the, all the reasons you would normally talk about what makes your pasture-raised chicken better than what's [00:37:00] readily available at grocery stores. That same conversation you would have with someone buying your chicken breast can translate when selling dog treats. So I think that's really important to keep in mind and the Farms that do spend a lot of time thinking about their messaging and the why behind it, why buy from us?
Why would a customer make that decision to purchase from me, a Farm, a local Farm versus, you know, a big grocery? If you have those talking points, marketing's gonna come a lot easier to you.
Janelle Maiocco: It's incredible to hear you say it's the same messaging as selling to humans essentially, right? Um, you know, it's the quality, it's the sustainability, it's the clean treats, it's-- So Farmers don't necessarily need to change their messaging.
Cory Hutsen: Right. Right. They do not. They do not.
Janelle Maiocco: That's incredible. And you know, I will say it's because some of the dogs in the cities have Farm envy because they would love to be running around on the Farms, but the owners know that. And so one of the ways that they [00:38:00] treat their dogs literally is with treats.
That's a, uh, that's a way for them to love on their dogs, cats, animals,
Cory Hutsen: A hund- that's 100% true. Yeah. Every, every owner in the city, you know, still has it in the back of their mind, "Man, my dog would be, love to be running on the Farm right now. Well, the least I can do is get him, you know, some Farm fresh treats, some pig ears or some chicken hearts," so.
Janelle Maiocco: I mean, speaking truth. Speaking truth. All right. I appreciate that. I think we've covered a lot of bases today in terms of getting started on marketing. I was gonna ask you what people should do if they wanna get started with starting with pet treats. You've already given some good advice in terms of going to a connect session. Is there other things that they should or could be doing?
Cory Hutsen: Yeah. Aside from going to a connect session, I think it totally depends too what, you know, what type of protein you're, you're doing.
But I think at a, you know, I did some of my own research too on the internet, you watching different YouTubes of, you know, Farmers out there who've done it themselves [00:39:00] and, looking at inexpensive costs of a ver- you know, small dehydrators. Um, if you're not looking to break the bank and you're looking to start small right now, I think it's a very attainable thing.
It's not, you know, a huge leap to small, you know, buy your own small dehydrator for the first time and start saving some of those organ meats for chicken and beef and cattle and the ears and snouts and all those, you know, fun parts.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. I, I think a lot of the Farms that we work with in the connect sessions have already, I've heard them make the recommendation of when you're starting something new, just start small, right?
Like, Don't, don't just overspend with your, with the, the big new idea and then get yourself in a bad spot. Start small and then the mistakes are small, and then you learn from them and you start to make better decisions. So, um, start small. I'm sure that if you, if you have nearby pets, I'm sure they will gladly taste test whatever you're trying and let you know if that would sell or not.
Cory Hutsen: I can guarantee, [00:40:00] yeah. Any, any dog would be a very willing victim to be at T-Test Kitchen.
Janelle Maiocco: That's awesome. I love it. Well, Cory, thank you so much, um, for joining us today and relaying so much great information. I know we talked about a lot of good things, but that's the beauty of a podcast is you can pop back to different sections and re-listen to some of the fine details on pricing, packaging, how to get started, what not to do.
Um, make sure to remember pet treats. And chicken broths are a good place to start. Start small, um, and grow yourself into it. Just so many good ideas. Can you explain to them, Cory, where they would sign, if they're a Barn2Door or Farmer, where they would go to go to a connect session with a Farmer?
Cory Hutsen: Absolutely. So you can go directly to barn2door.com/connect, or if you're logged into your Barn2Door account and in the top right corner, if you click the Help Center, where you're gonna see a link to the Learn Center, our office hours, and now you're gonna see a link directly to our Connect page, [00:41:00] um, which will give you a full calendar of what Farmer is doing what day.
So you can click on that day you wanna go to, put in your name and email and register, and you'll get a link to join. And I co-host some of those sessions, so I hope to see some new faces in there.
Janelle Maiocco: I love that. They can also schedule with an account manager. Am I right?
Office hours.
Cory Hutsen: Yep, office hours you can meet with me. Yep.
Janelle Maiocco: So on that same place, Cory also mentioned office hours, which is, daily, twice a day office hours, open office hours. Sometimes Cory hosts those as well, but he co-hosts Connect many times along with our Farmers. Many options to go and just learn more, talk it through, get yourself started, differentiate yourself, make new friends, get new customers through their pets.
A-all the many great ideas. At Barn2Door, we're humbled to support thousands of Independent Farmers across the country. We're delighted to offer services and tools to help Farmers access more money, ditch the office work, and look like a pro. If you're an Independent Farmer who's just getting started or wanting to start pet food or differentiating or [00:42:00] grow, transitioning to selling direct, or if you've been at it a while, come visit us at barn2door.com\learnmore.
We're happy just to chat through if this makes sense for your Farm. Thank you for tuning in today. We look forward to joining you the next time on "The Independent Farmer" podcast.
Thank you for joining us on the Independent Farmer Podcast. At Barn2Door, we are passionate about empowering Independent Farmers to build a thriving business. To all the Farmers out there, thank you for all you do to grow amazing food, care for the soil, and serve your local communities. You are the backbone of our country.
For free Farm resources, or to listen to prior podcasts, go to barn2door.com/resources. We hope you join us again and subscribe to the Independent Farmer Podcast wherever you stream your podcasts. Until next [00:43:00] time.