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By Kimberlie Clyma
Matt Koss, the founder of Primal Pet Foods, embarked on his journey out of a deeply personal need. In 2001, faced with his dog Luna’s renal failure, he explored various remedies, eventually discovering the Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (BARF) diet. This diet, mirroring the natural eating habits of dogs and cats in the wild, involved recipes made from raw proteins and fresh vegetables. The immediate improvements in Luna’s health inspired Koss to share his creations, leading to the birth of Primal Pet Foods.
The brand’s beginnings were humble, with Koss visiting local retailers, American Kennel Club shows, and shipping products directly from his home to breeders across the country. He quickly learned that education about the benefits of a raw diet was key to making sales. “It was one breeder after the next,” he recalled, “And then one retail store and then a couple more retail stores in the area. Then we expanded distribution.”
By mid-2004, Animal Supply Company picked up Primal Pet Foods, and Koss began attending major trade shows like Global Pet Expo and SUPERZOO. He emphasized that the growth was “one retailer at a time, one story at a time, one freezer at a time.”
Growth of a Brand
Primal’s initial offerings were all frozen raw pet food. In 2008, the company expanded into the relatively small freeze-dried category, quickly gaining a following.
For years, Koss managed production by renting space from other food producers. However, as the company grew, the need for more production capacity became evident. In 2017, Primal opened its own facility in Fairfield, Calif., and within six months, all products were being manufactured in-house.
“Then, in 2020, I was at a crossroads,” Koss explained. “I either needed to build another facility in California or I needed to expand somewhere else. So, I looked for a capital partner and found Kinderhook Industries.”
In August 2021, Kinderhook Industries acquired Primal Pet Foods, forming Primal Pet Group. This partnership brought a new manufacturing facility in Abilene, Texas, which became operational in mid-2023. Today, the majority of Primal Pet Foods’ freeze-dried offerings are made in Abilene, while all frozen offerings are manufactured in Fairfield.
Following the acquisition, the leadership team was reconfigured, with Jon Balousek as chief executive officer, Michael Holly as chief operating officer, and Matt Koss as chief product officer. Despite these changes, the brand’s mission remains unwavering: “to feed as many dogs and cats as possible, the highest quality food possible in order to bring healthier, happier lives to pets and their parents,” Koss affirmed.
Foundational Beliefs
Quality has always been at the forefront of Primal Pet Foods’ mission. From Luna’s first recipe to today’s new formulations, quality has been a cornerstone. Koss ensured the use of responsibly raised proteins, free from antibiotics, steroids, or added hormones. A key decision was to avoid synthetic vitamins or minerals in their products, sourcing these nutrients from vegetables.
Education was paramount from the start. Primal built its brand on educating consumers and retailers about the benefits of raw pet food, the choice of ingredients, and what made Primal Pet Foods unique. “We built a team, not only a sales team, but a retail training team. These people didn’t sell, these team members went out and educated,” Koss stated. This focus on education was crucial, especially since Primal did not have the capital for extensive marketing campaigns like other brands.
To this day, Primal Pet Foods are exclusively sold in neighborhood pet stores, which remain their largest distribution channel. “We believe that the most involved pet parents are going to their neighborhood pet store to get their information, so that’s where we have our products,” Balousek explained. While they acknowledge the growth of e-commerce, they remain committed to avoiding big box or mass merchandisers.
Product Innovation
Innovation has been another key building block for Primal’s success. Their core frozen dog and cat food (patties, nuggets, and scoopable “Pronto”) and freeze-dried offerings showcased early innovation. The latest product, Kibble in the Raw, introduced in early 2024, exemplifies this continued commitment.
“Building on our expertise in freeze-drying, we spent three years researching and developing a proprietary new process that could bring freeze-dried raw protein to the kibble aisle without baking, extruding, dehydrating or exposing the raw protein to high heat,” Balousek shared. The result is a nutritionally dense, shelf-stable diet with the convenience of kibble, offering “incredible raw quality at a price that is far closer to premium kibble than it is to the traditional frozen and freeze-dried raw products.” This innovation allows Primal to reach a new consumer segment looking to trade up from premium kibble.
Kibble in the Raw distinguishes itself with the addition of steamed sorghum, a non-GMO, gluten-free ingredient providing micronutrients and soluble fiber. The recipes are formulated to deliver essential amino acids from animal sources, with significant amounts of raw beef, pork, fish, or chicken used per bag. Like other Primal products, Kibble in the Raw uses only food-based ingredients, with no synthetic vitamins or minerals.
The line was introduced with five complete-and-balanced formulas for dogs and will expand to include three recipes for cats in April 2025. “The ability to lead on innovation has been a hallmark of this company and a differentiator from the start,” Balousek added.
Operational Growth
The Kibble in the Raw portfolio is manufactured exclusively at Primal’s 161,000-square-foot Abilene facility. After the Kinderhook acquisition, the plant underwent extensive renovations, adding a frozen dock, warehouse, tempering room, production kitchens, an individual quick freezing (IQF) freezer, a work-in-progress (WIP) freezer, and a packaging room. The plant resumed operations in 2023.
In addition to Kibble in the Raw, the Abilene plant produces Freeze-Dried Pronto and Freeze-Dried Nuggets, accounting for about 75% of the brand’s freeze-dried products. The production process involves receiving and storing ingredients (over 6 million lbs annually), prepping frozen blocks in the tempering room, grinding and mixing ingredients in the production kitchens, forming products into nuggets, Pronto, or Kibble in the Raw pieces, and then instant quick freezing.
After freezing, products are loaded onto trays and transferred to blast freezers before entering one of the ten Parker and GEA Freeze Dryers, which run 24/7 on 12- to 15-hour cycles. Once freeze-dried, the product is de-panned into totes and stored until ready for one of the plant’s four packaging lines.
Primal has recently updated all freeze-dried packaging to recycle-ready materials and will soon roll out a new packaging design complying with Pet Food Labeling Modernization (PFLM) standards.
Before distribution, all packaged product undergoes rigorous test-and-hold safety procedures, partnering with a third-party lab to confirm the absence of pathogenic bacteria. “There’s no silver bullet when it comes to food safety,” Balousek emphasized. “Every piece of the process matters.”
In 2024, the Abilene facility began shipping directly from the plant, increasing efficiency and reducing miles on the road.
Entrepreneurial Culture
Despite its significant growth, Primal Pet Foods retains its entrepreneurial spirit and its core mission: “to help more dogs and cats live healthy, happy, vibrant lives.”
“Our mission and purpose, we’ve never wavered from that,” Balousek stated. “That is the rock strong foundation of the company, and we continue to pursue that mission today.” He highlighted the company’s focus on fostering employee alignment with this mission.
Primal has also invested in its employees, recently hiring Janis Hoyt as Chief Human Resources Officer to focus on skill-set development, leadership training, and performance management. “As a company just a couple of years ago, we weren’t as robust when it came to leadership training and performance management – we had a more entrepreneurial company mindset,” Balousek noted. “Our new cultural element of engagement, giving people the skills and investing in their skill building, has really started to make a difference in terms of retention and driving that employee connection to the brand.”
Primal Pet Foods is successfully transitioning from a smaller entrepreneurial company to a larger organization with robust managerial expertise, poised for continued growth and impact in the pet food industry.
