Global Pet Expo Takeaways: Roundtable

The experience of attending Global Pet Expo is as dynamic as the variety of manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, distributors and pet lovers who graced its show floor. This year’s event once again served as a gathering place for innovators to share what they’ve worked hard on in the last year, for business managers to gauge the temperature of the industry—in light of the global economy—and for everyone else to enjoy the camaraderie that comes with working in the pet industry.

Consumables 

Manufacturers of various functional nutrition products including treats found a welcome reception at Global. 

Smallbatch Pets started exhibiting about three years ago at Global. Primarily a West Coast brand with 20 years in the pet industry, Smallbatch Pets worked its way to Orlando and has exhibited at Global for three or four years straight. “This show was not only the best Global show we’ve ever had, it was one of the top two or three we’ve had in our existence,” said CEO Steve Donzelli. “We were extremely happy with our booth location, with the traffic flow of people, the questions and the interactions with the customers. It was busy from start to finish.”

One significant trend that caught Love, Nala’s attention was the increasing demand for transparency in pet food, as pet parents want clarity on ingredients and their sources, said Founder and CEO Pookie Methachittiphan. There is also a notable shift toward functional nutrition, with brands promoting health benefits beyond basic nutrition, she noted. “One major trend that stood out was the continued demand for transparency in pet food—pet parents want to know exactly what’s in their cat’s food and where ingredients are sourced,” Methachittiphan said. “There’s also a growing shift toward functional nutrition, with more brands highlighting health benefits beyond basic nutrition. We also noticed a strong emphasis on sustainability, from packaging innovations to ingredient sourcing. These trends align with Love, Nala’s core values, and we’re excited to see the industry moving in this direction.”

“The treats and chews category in the pet industry has been evolving rapidly, and several key trends have caught attention and seem poised to drive the industry forward,” said Dave Wolfson, Vice President of Sales at Icelandic+. “A few examples are functional treats, all-natural and organic options. Sustainability is a major talking point across industries, and the pet treat sector is no exception. Brands are adopting more sustainable practices in sourcing ingredients.”

“There are a lot of people that are coming into this fresh gently cooked space and so that was quite interesting in how that’s progressing,” Donzelli observed. “It seems to be last year with air dried, this year it seems it was gently cooked was the focus. From my perspective, there seems to be a concern about consumer traffic in brick-and-mortar in general. People are concerned about that. We’re at this inflection point where channel strategy and resource allocation are going to be paramount for the next few years. This whole personalization and customer service—or white glove treatment—is part of the secret sauce that brick-and-mortar can offer. It needs to be accentuated over the next few years. It’s an amazing industry. It’s very emotional, and I believe people are concerned with the economy and in-store traffic flow and politics, and it just continues to linger.”

“As an industry leader in the space, we’ve been keeping a keen eye on the treat and chew categories, monitoring its performance and looking for ways to reenergize the category with innovation,” said Nicole Domcik, Director of Sales for Targeted PetCare which manufactures dog and cat treats, cat litter and small animal products. “We are seeing a pull back in treating by pet parents which we believe is the result of surging prices over the past couple of years due to inflation. With that backdrop, we are launching a revamped Chewsday line that capitalizes on Targeted PetCare’s vast technical know-how as well as our understanding of consumer wants and needs. The line will seek to pair best in class benefits, such as enzymatic dental chews, functional rewarding treats and long lasting chews at affordable prices aimed at getting pet parents back into treating.”

“A big trend we noticed was the growing demand for functional treats—pet parents are more focused than ever on ingredients that support overall health and wellness,” said Founder and Wonder Bark CEO Kelly Ison. “There was also a strong emphasis on transparency and sourcing, which aligns perfectly with Wonder Bark’s commitment to simple, high-quality ingredients. Another key theme was the increasing humanization of pet products, with treats that celebrate special occasions—like birthdays—gaining traction. These trends are exciting because they reinforce that today’s pet owners want the very best for their dogs, and they’re willing to seek out brands that align with their values.”

For Phelps Pet Products, the trend toward sustainability remains king. “While there always are a number of different trends that get highlighted, none was bigger than sustainability as the most prevalent topic at Global this year,” said President and CEO Rick Ruffolo. “Three other key discussions centered on tariff implications, the growth of air-dried food/treats and concerns around the number of recalls and overall safety of raw pet food and treats. Each of these topics has the potential to impact the pet care category in 2025 and into the future. Fortunately, Phelps has a USA-based supply chain which should be attractive to customers looking to reduce risk and find a manufacturing partner who can reliably provide premium quality specialty dog food and meaty treats. Customers also can look to Phelps to provide expertise, capability and capacity to address the air-dried/gently-cooked trends with proprietary recipes prepared in our three production facilities. Finally, it is notable that Phelps does not market raw products so we have been able to avoid the repeated food safety issues often associated with those products.”

Global provides an excellent platform for brands to showcase innovations and connect with industry professionals, Methachittiphan said. “Global does a great job of providing a platform for brands to showcase innovations and connect with industry professionals,” she said. “The foot traffic and engagement at the event were strong, and the layout made it easy for attendees to explore new brands.”

“A key strength of Global is typically the wide variety of exhibitors and attendees it attracts, from major industry players to smaller, niche brands,” Wolfson said. “This diversity provides valuable opportunities for networking across different levels of the market.”

“For us it was a combination of the new packaging and new items,” Donzelli said. “We always offer a steeper discount to those who show up at the show as opposed to just buying it locally. And so, the vibe was generally very strong. People were glad to see we had innovation coming out. There still seems to be a healthy amount of stores in the independent pet channel that are being added. E-commerce obviously comes up in a number of different conversations. Those are primarily some of the things we were the most excited about.”

“Global does a great job of bringing together key industry players in an environment that fosters connection,” Ison said. “The layout and organization make it easy for retailers, distributors and brands to interact in a meaningful way. That said, adding more structured networking events—especially for emerging brands and new retail partners—could enhance opportunities for meaningful conversations. Also, dedicated spaces or sessions focused on distributor-brand matchmaking would be a great addition to help brands like Wonder Bark expand their presence efficiently.”

As an officially accredited member of the PSC, Phelps was invited to place its booth inside the new PSC Pavilion, said Ruffolo. “This change to the floor layout was a big win for buyers looking to find brands and contract manufacturers who were recognized as leaders driving key sustainability initiatives. This enabled Phelps to highlight its continuous improvement sustainability ‘journey’ including innovative partnerships with the PSC, the Upcycled Food Association, re-Purpose Global/Plastic Neutral, USDA Organic and Marine Stewardship Council seafood, among others. Additionally, attendees had the opportunity to listen to a diverse range of speakers at the PSC stage throughout each day —including one that featured Phelps as a full-service contract manufacturing partner who can assist brands and retailers achieve their sustainability goals. These changes helped drive information sharing, networking and business development among like-minded individuals and organizations.”

Ensuring proper follow up in the weeks after the show is crucial for business growth. 

“Global plays a key role in accelerating our business growth,” Methachittiphan said. “The connections we made at the show will directly influence our retail expansion strategy and help us bring Love, Nala to more cat parents nationwide. The valuable feedback we received will guide our future product development and marketing efforts.”

“For us and many others, the follow up immediately after the show is key to having an immediate business impact,” Domcik said. “We take great pride in ensuring our team connects with all their customers and ensure that no momentum is lost after the initial meetings. We’re thrilled to this year have several meetings that are leading to endcap promotions, new product launches within sets, and new distribution channels for several of our brands.”

“Global has played a crucial role in strengthening Wonder Bark’s industry presence,” Ison said. “The visibility we gained, along with the new retail and distribution partnerships we initiated, will help accelerate our expansion, particularly in the Midwest and West Coast. The connections we made at the show will be key in driving retail placements and growing brand awareness in our target markets.”

Noteworthy Solutions

This year’s Global gave Fera Pets a means to share its newest innovation in support of cat owners. “There was a lot of excitement around our Feline Supplements, which confirmed that cat parents are actively seeking high-quality, targeted health solutions,” said Michelle Dulake, Co-Founder and CEO of Fera Pets. “Historically, the pet supplement space has been dominated by canine products, but cat parents are making it clear that they want, and need, more targeted pet options. There’s a lot of interest in cat products right now, so I’m even more excited about our launch of the Feline Supplements line. We developed these formulas with feline-specific ingredients to ensure optimal absorption and efficacy because cats have unique health needs that aren’t always met. Overall, we left the show with new partnerships, fresh insights, and a lot of momentum for the rest of the year.”

For FiberCore, this year’s show was less about splashy new products and more about showcasing the company’s existing capabilities. “It was busy at times, slow at times, but it went pretty well,” said FiberCore President Brian Wood. “We set out just to stay in front of our existing customers. And meet some new ones. And were moderately successful at both. It’s just timing’s a challenge sometimes and just you’ve got a bunch of people in the booth, and the one person you want to see is walking down the aisle. But that said we did reconnect with a bunch of folks we wanted to see and even in the last two days on the phone talking to the people we missed, they’re like, ‘We wanted to see you but you always had somebody in your booth.’ We didn’t have anything new, per say, mostly just plugging the features and benefits of our existing product line.”

Austin and Kat took advantage of the gathering to showcase how they’re making their partners’ and end consumers’ lives easier with some new educational and packaging innovations. “It was a really good show for us,” said Founder Kat Donatello. “We showcased a new more price conscious product—a 10-count pack—and that got incredibly good reception. We’re a little bit surprised at the sheer popularity of Retail.pet. We were excited to push out that education platform, but we were given an award via the Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC) at our educational series through Retail.pet, so that was really exciting for both myself and our lead educator Lilly Miller. That was super exciting. The 10-count packs are five SKUs, they’re our most popular lines, so it’s the 5 mg, the 10 mg, and then our Bailey’s No More Wiggles Chew, which is our No. 1 selling product across the country, and then our senior and our hip and joint product. We’ve never had them available in small format, that was a really value proposition for the customers. To drive trial, we want to get our brand and message and what we can do to help pets out there at a price point that is reflective of the environment too. They’re all under the $20 price point, they’re part of the Astro promo. They’re getting traction, which is nice to see.”

Smaller brands may have had a slower time building momentum, but it was still a successful show for MyFamily USA. “We were presenting a couple of new products for us,” said Ricardo Nottola, CEO of MyFamily USA. “All our customers were super excited about this, so we showed all the new Disney tag and we also presented QR tag that was called hashtag plus. With those two products, our customers either existing customers but also new customers were super excited. It was pretty simple for us, to explain everything to them. They were excited and we are receiving orders so we’re happy.”

Even as consumers are watching their budgets, they’re still vigilant over product quality. “People are prioritizing ingredient quality and what’s going into their products,” Donatello said. “Brands that can substantiate the claims that they’re willing to put out there, whether it’s certificate of analysis, brand partnered ingredient suppliers—we have our recent NASC certification audit that we passed, so that was a big thing. And just continuing to invest in education. We host a series called ‘Learn with Lilly’ on social media, and Global was a good opportunity to get that information out there, to be sharing that we have the NASC certification, that we’re really attempting to raise the bar in a space that we’ve been in for 10 years that can still generate some noise.”

While ID tags drew attention to their booth, MyFamily USA took advantage of the opportunity to showcase its other capabilities as well. “People came to our booth because of our ID tags,” Nottola said. “But we as a company offer more products than ID tags. We have a very good premium line of colored leashes. As well as a nylon collection. Remember we prepare everything in Italy. So we manufacture everything in Europe—it means the high quality. People worry everything is made in China and this is not our case.”

Making that point of distinction clear is a challenge that Nottola said the company is up for. “We are working on it and we are always trying to create an attractive booth just to invite people to come visit us, but we’re selling a very unique product,” Nottola said. “We don’t have too many competitors here and people are interested to find us and they find us at the show.”

Global was also an ideal backdrop for PSC members to meet, which made it easier for like-minded companies to gather. “This year the PSC had a specific pavilion, and we were with like-minded brands that have the same passion and ethos that we have within the space about ultimately taking care of our animals, doing it through a sustainable and ethical way,” Donatello said. “It was nice to be a part of that group, and they had a lot of daily seminars.”

Nottola is patient to see his long-term return on investing in Global. “We see a lot of customers, a lot of customers interested in knowing us, and we are interested in knowing them,” Nottola said. “In the long term it’s a good thing to participate in the show and the show permits us to have all those people in one place. The energy behind the show is exciting, and meeting our customers in-person is a great opportunity.”

“The other conversations we were having were about the benefits of and the obligations of having pets in your store and how they’re definitely a draw,” Wood said. “The kids love it and you get people coming in to the store, and if you don’t carry live animals, your store is certainly nice but it’s not a destination. It’s a pain in neck to have live animals in the store. You have to feed them, you have to clean them; you have to care for them and do all this stuff but the payoff, while it may not be able to quantify it exactly, they see it in traffic. They see it in the kids getting excited about it. Based on historical evidence and show conversations, having pets in your pet store adds so much to the experience and it’s an easy way to entice kids to pick up the experience of pet ownership and caring for a pet.” 

Wood said the afterglow following Global is a potent time to reap the most out of the gathering. “A lot of it is relationship building,” he said. “You write a few orders, make sure people know where they can buy your products. We send out a lot of samples and follow up with them and introduce them to our distributor networks that we’ve got and play off of that. [Following up and placing orders] needs to happen in a timely fashion.”

Hardlines and Softlines 

“Carolina Pet Company had an absolutely record-breaking show—our best in company history,” said Director of Sales and Marketing Christine Chaloupka. “The energy was electric from start to finish. Retailers weren’t just browsing; they were on a mission to find products that are fresh, exciting and different—and we delivered in a big way. Our launch of the Body Glove Pet line was a showstopper. At times, we had three of us in the booth, each engaged with different customers simultaneously, fielding nonstop interest and order writing. There was this incredible buzz—constant motion, excitement and a genuine demand for what we brought to the table. Retailers wanted innovation, and they saw it in Body Glove Pet. It wasn’t just a successful show; it was a defining moment for Carolina Pet Company, which really drove home that we are on tight right path for the next chapter of Carolina Pet.”

As more pet owners incorporate their pets into their travel plans, the need for travel solutions that will keep pets comfortable and safe while being compliant with airline regulations is on the rise. “We continue to grow our offerings with carriers and kennels,” said Rachel Skweres, Sales Executive for Moderna. “The conversations around pet travel were definitely at the forefront. We are proactively developing products to be a part of that drive.” 

“One of the biggest takeaways from this year’s show was seeing firsthand what truly resonated with buyers,” Chaloupka said. “Several of our products emerged as clear favorites, especially our new Pendleton woven and leather leashes and collars, Pendleton all-weather jackets, and Body Glove life jackets. Retailers weren’t just excited—they were intentional about finding high-quality, recognizable brands to bring into their assortments.”

“But beyond the individual products, the real trend that stood out was the return to the ‘good, better, best’ merchandising model, with a strong emphasis on the ‘best’ category,” she added. “Buyers came to the show actively searching for premium, branded pet merchandise—products with heritage, trust, and undeniable quality. It’s a shift that’s driving the industry forward, and Carolina Pet Company is perfectly positioned to meet that demand.”

“We absolutely loved our time at Global,” Chaloupka said. “The organization, our booth location, the new product showcase, everything had a great flow. We loved how it was organized, yet different product categories were intermixed throughout the show floor. This brought buyers through the entire show to see everything, so we met vendors that we may not have otherwise. Next year, I hope scheduling allows us to participate more in some of the many educational presentations that take place during the week, we were just too busy this year.”

For Moderna, exhibiting at Global offers a launching pad for ideas and collaboration with retail partners. “We will continue our follow ups and day to day business—after seeing partners at Global, we hope that our in-person conversations will accelerate our projects and that our introductions will be a launching pad for future partnerships,” Skweres said. 

“Global is a game-changer for our immediate business goals,” Chaloupka said. “The energy, the connections, and the sheer level of engagement we experienced at the show have set the stage for an incredible year ahead. Coming out of the expo, we’re laser-focused on capitalizing on the momentum we built—expanding partnerships, fulfilling the overwhelming demand for our newest product lines, and continuing to strengthen Carolina Pet Company’s position as a leader in branded, high-quality pet products. More than just an event, Global reaffirmed that we’re on the right path. It gave us invaluable insight into what buyers want right now, and we’re hitting the ground running to deliver. We can’t wait to keep the momentum going with our next big initiative: launching the new rebrand of Carolina Pet Company!”

As the first significant gathering of pet industry professionals in the calendar year, Global Pet Expo continues to serve as a touchstone event. While new products and innovations are always a draw, business leaders say the opportunities to reconnect with each other and strategize a path forward when so many things feel murky, are just as important a driver for their attendance and participation.