Petco and The Honest Kitchen Team Up to Bring Human-Grade Dog Food to More Pets

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- An industry-leading health and wellness partner for pets and pet parents, Petco today announced a strategic partnership with The Honest Kitchen that will bring the brand's human-grade dog food to all Petco stores and petco.com beginning January 31, 2021.

Reinforcing Petco's commitment to leading nutrition standards that help support the overall health and wellbeing of pets, the partnership adds a variety of The Honest Kitchen's high-quality foods to Petco's curated nutrition assortment. The Honest Kitchen pioneered the standard of Human-Grade in 2002, meaning recipes use the same high-quality ingredients that people eat, such as free-range chicken, pumpkin and kale, and are produced in human food facilities with the same rigorous quality and safety standards as people food.

"As a dedicated health and wellness partner and leader in pet nutrition, Petco is thrilled to be making The Honest Kitchen's human-grade dog food more widely available to pets nationwide through our new partnership," said Nick Konat, Petco Chief Merchandising Officer. "We're making it even easier for pet parents to feel confident about their nutrition decisions when they shop at Petco with The Honest Kitchen's revolutionary, high-quality human-grade dry, wet and dehydrated foods. Petco is on a mission to improve the lives of pets, and The Honest Kitchen's nutritious pet foods, which contain ingredients that you recognize and would eat yourself, are in full support of that mission."

Since May of 2019 when Petco became the first and only major national retailer to remove food and treats containing artificial colors, flavors and preservatives* for dogs and cats, the company has been devoted to helping pet parents support their pets' overall wellbeing through nutrition. In line with Petco's top-notch nutrition standards, The Honest Kitchen's products are made without any fillers, artificial preservatives or flavors, corn, wheat, soy or GMO ingredients. In addition, they are committed to using lighter touch production methods, such as dehydration, to retain the nutrients in whole foods, resulting in recipes that are tasty and help support digestion and overall wellbeing.

"We're on a mission to help as many pets as possible get on the road to good health, through good food," said The Honest Kitchen's Founder and Chief Integrity Officer, Lucy Postins. "We've worked hard over the past 18 years to create a variety of healthy, Human Grade products and we're incredibly excited to be able to provide a whole new audience of Petco shoppers with direct access to our foods. Petco clearly shares our passion for providing better, fresher, healthier and less processed nutrition options. Our collective visions and values are more aligned than ever, and we can't wait to partner with them in this endeavor and make a positive difference to the health and wellbeing of so many more pets."

Offered in a variety of formats and flavors, The Honest Kitchen's products are minimally processed to retain the nutrients, aromas and taste in whole foods. Options available in Petco stores and online include:

• Tasty Whole Food Clusters – These clusters are cold-pressed, dehydrated and slow roasted to maintain the nutrients and taste of whole foods. The world's first human-grade dry dog food is a convenient transition from traditional extruded kibble and is available in grain-free and grain inclusive options. 
• Dehydrated Food – Just add warm water for an easy human-grade, homemade meal. Available in grain-free and grain inclusive options, a 7-pound box hydrates to about 28 pounds of wholesome human-grade food.
• Wet Food – Butcher Block Pâté and One Pot Stews are available in many recipes, and can be served as complete meals or mix-ins.  
• Daily Boosters – Simply add water for Instant Bone Broth and Goat's Milk with Probiotics. These boosters can be poured over dry food or used to hydrate an Honest Kitchen meal.
• Pour Overs™ – Pourable stews in diverse flavors boost taste and nutrition.
• Treats – The assortment includes three lines featuring fish and meaty treats and cookies** for various usage occasions in irresistible flavors. 

For more information, visit petco.com or thehonestkitchen.com. Petco offers a variety of safe, convenient ways to shop, including in-store, curbside pick-up, same-day delivery and repeat delivery.

*See how Petco defines artificial ingredients at petco.com/nutritionstandards.
**Cookies are not human-grade.

About Petco, The Health + Wellness Co.
Petco is a category-defining health and wellness company focused on improving the lives of pets, pet parents and our own Petco partners. Since our founding in 1965, we've been trailblazing new standards in pet care, delivering comprehensive wellness solutions through our products and services, and creating communities that deepen the pet-pet parent bond. We operate more than 1,500 Petco locations across the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico, including a growing network of more than 100 in-store veterinary hospitals, and offer a complete online resource for pet health and wellness at petco.com and on the Petco app. In tandem with The Petco Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization, we work with and support thousands of local animal welfare groups across the country and, through in-store adoption events, we've helped find homes for more than 6.5 million animals.  

About The Honest Kitchen
The Honest Kitchen was founded by Lucy and Charlie Postins in 2002 in San Diego, CA with a mission to help as many pets as possible get on the road to good health, through good food. They produce a full line of Human Grade complete & balanced foods for pets including dry, dehydrated, and wet foods; as well as treats; toppers; hydration boosters; and a best-selling digestive supplement. The Honest Kitchen was the first-ever Human Grade pet food, meaning the finished product meets human food production standards (unlike conventional pet food which is Feed Grade). Each Honest Kitchen product is made with uncompromising quality & safety standards by a company of pet lovers. For more information, please visit www.thehonestkitchen.com.

Contact:
For Petco: [email protected]  
For The Honest Kitchen: [email protected]  

SOURCE Petco