What is a Super Premium Pet Food?

Here's an interesting question, just what is a premiumsells at a quarter of the price.
or super premium food and why does a brand useSo what do we get with a Premium product?
this description, other than to justify charging moreYou tend to get the following, and with the reputable
for its products?brands experience would suggest that this is the
We're told by one manufacturer that Nutro Products,case
Inc. has been a leader in natural, super premium dog1.You pay more - that's a bit of a no-brainer, I'm
and cat food for over 80 years but they don't tell usafraid. A 15kg of a Premium Food is giong to set you
what they mean by 'super-premium'.back between £30 and £40 as
Arden Grange tell us Arden Grange is a family runopposed to £10 or less for the 'value'
business based just outside Brighton which has beenalternative
producing Natural Premium pet foods since 1996.2.The food is probably hypo-allergenic, which means it
So does that make Nutro better because it is 'Superis less likely to cause ingredient sensitivity problems
Premium' rather than 'Premium?'(though bear in mind that the majority of cats and
I would seriously doubt it - the fact is that no-onedogs live quite happily on cheaper value brands)
seems able to provide a suitable definition.3.The ingredients are more easily identified - single
It all got a bit murky in the US recently when theresources of protein and cereals used, rather than
was a couple of big health scares with pet foodgeneric animal or cereal by-products. Premium
ingredients. To quote the Guardian Newspaper:products tend to avoid beef or wheat which can be
'The value of buying super-premium brands will alsoproblematical.
be brought into question and could hurt the bottom4. You feed less - this is the case with quite a few
line of those suppliers. Pet owners will be wonderingPremium brands such as Burns where feeding rates
why they are paying higher retail prices for premiumcan be considerably less than economy brands,
food even though the cans and pouches contain thebecause the food is more digestible.
same ingredients as bargain-basement store brands5. Less waste to pick up - Premium brands tend to
from the likes of Wal-Mart and Safeway.'be more digestible, therefore there's less poo to pick
'The recall of some 60m containers of 'cuts andup... that's a big product plus!
gravy' wet food revealed that although consumersYou will also find other 'product plus' features such as
seem to have a plethora of choices on retail storeadded herbal or other products which offer,
shelves many brands are made by one manufactureraccording to the advertising at least, health benefits.
in three huge plants around north America.'Euromonitor reports this about the UK Pet Food
Interestingly in the UK a handful of manufacturersmarket 'With sales staff at one of the UK's biggest
produce a lot of different brands. Well knowngrocery chains noticing that people often purchase
Premium names like Arden Grange, Jamespremium products for their pets but value products
Wellbeloved and Burns are all made by the samefor themselves, manufacturers are using advertising
machinery in the same factory as pet shop ownto persuade pet owners to trade up in their pet food
brands.purchases. 2006 saw the release of the world's most
So is it just marketing hype?expensive television pet food advertisement coming
Actually, I don't think it is. Let's look at this sensiblyin at £1 million to support the Sheba cat food
by assuming that what we're looking at in thesebrand. Convenience has also been at a premium,
terms is some indication of quality - quality of rawhastening the decline of the canned format, whereas
ingredients and maybe quality of service. We'reinnovations such as Whiskas and Felix pouches and
looking for a Super Premium food to offer somethingOlli's non-slip trays have continued to perform well.
better than the value supermarket own brand which