Category Catalysts: Freeze-Dried Toppers - West Paw

Backed with the know-how and expertise of properly and responsibly tending to dogs’ innate needs to play, hunt, feel comforted, to be mentally challenged and balance that with nutritious options made with whole ingredients, West Paw has smoothly entered the freeze-dried toppers category. The impact has been significant. The combination of earning trust with its existing products and thoughtfully entering a category rather than on a whim, has allowed for West Paw to uncover another avenue to serve pet owners and support them in making wise choices for their pets that make pet care more streamlined.

West Paw takes a comprehensive approach to addressing dogs’ health and wellness. Their efforts are evident in West Paw’s extensive portfolio of toys, treats, hardgoods such as slow feeders and bowls and mats and most recently, freeze-dried toppers. “As a company with a diverse product line, we think holistically about dogs’ health and wellness through both the products they play with and the foods they consume,” said CEO Spencer Williams. “When it comes to our toys and feeding accessories, customers love them because they’re made of safe, FDA-compliant materials, and they have incredible durability. For many, products like the Toppl and Feast Mat have become their go-to feeding solution.”

The driving force behind the product launch and entry into a new-for-the-company category was helping pet owners incorporate raw and gut balancing solutions into their pets’ meals in a more efficient and affordable format. “This year, we decided to enter the freeze-dried topper category with our Rawbiotic Bites, bringing whole foods to the next evolution of our consumables,” Williams continued. “They make it easy for pet parents to add raw nutrition and pre- and probiotic gut health support to their dog’s diet without having to go all-in on raw food, which can be more expensive, time consuming and messy. They’re complete and balanced, made with 100 percent whole-food ingredients and without fillers or anything artificial or synthetic. Whether pet parents use Rawbiotic Bites for enrichment activities or to boost their dog’s routine food, we’re excited to give them another tremendous solution.”

Since entering the freeze-dried toppers category, West Paw has joined forces with influential distributors. This move has not only expanded West Paw’s reach of its new Rawbiotic Bites to their intended target—indie pet retailers—but has also helped the company achieve sales growth at a breakneck speed.

“In May, we made the strategic decision to partner with regional, family-owned distributors to better serve our independent pet retailers,” Williams said. “The distributors enthusiastically brought Rawbiotic Bites into their offerings, helping us grow our topper sales quickly. And we’ve received compliments from retailers about how well they sell and how they help customers easily add complete and balanced nutrition to their dogs’ diets.”

To separate its product from the other toppers on the shelf, West Paw stayed true to a formula that has proven effective with its existing treat lines; offer textures and formats that are digestible, ensure safety and transparency with local ingredients and use ingredients pet owners recognize and likely enjoy themselves. 

“As with all of our treats, our Rawbiotic Bites are made here in the USA with USA-sourced ingredients,” Williams said. “They include raw animal proteins like beef, chicken and trout, real fruits and vegetables, and fermented pre- and probiotics, without fillers like grain, gluten or soy, artificial flavors, preservatives or synthetic vitamins. Just the natural goodness of whole-food ingredients locked in through freeze-drying.”

Similar to humans believing eating nutritiously will break their shopping budget, West Paw is squashing preconceived notions that feeding pets raw is counterproductive to keeping pets healthy, a tedious chore and priced out of their reach. 

“The main misconception is that toppers are packed with synthetic ingredients, artificial flavors, etc.,” Williams said. “Rawbiotic Bites show that toppers can be made with nutrient-dense, whole-food ingredients. We’ve also been able to show that raw food doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Pet parents can easily give their dog’s diet a raw food boost, whether that’s by topping their regular food in a bowl or through enrichment activities with a Toppl or Rumbl.”