I wholeheartedly agree that more packaging &/or size variety choice(s) would be good but suspect many companies may be reluctant to offer same unless confident they can do so without reduction in profit(s).
I for one appreciate positive changes. I am currently feeding a raw complete product due to the manufacturer recently deciding to supply 500g trays in place of 500g chubbs.
I also like to see 1kg raw complete trays when the cost per kg is lower than the cost of 2 x 500g trays of same product & believe that one brand might be allegedly chosen over others because of this.
It’s this balancing act that will determine whether these changes can or will be made.
Over recent years we’ve seen a growth in the number of smaller private label pet food companies. The manufacturers of the food for these companies will have minimum order amounts for each food and bag weight - obviously the larger the production run, the cheaper per kg or bag it becomes. Even if you were producing 1000’s of kg’s of smaller sized bags, the cost per kg will still be far in excess of 12 or 15kg bags due to the additional time and labour involved. We’ve recently seen the announcement from Forthglade regarding their expansion plans yet despite all the above, they’ll still be outsourcing the production of their pressed food because the cost of production is far too high unless you’re producing millions of kg’s of food.
You then have packaging - to have even a basic branded packaging you’re required to order in the region of 10,000 units of each size to get a reasonable price. For more specialist, environmentally friendly packaging, you’ll need to be ordering far in excess of these numbers to receive a cost effective price.
Partnering with Prins rather than producing a private label, we don’t have the same issues as above. Prins are a very well established company in the Netherlands selling large quantities of pressed food - as a result they’re able to offer 3, 12, 15 and even 20kg bags of food all within fully recyclable packaging. However we still face probably the biggest issue which is delivery. The cost of shipping smaller 3kg packages is not a great deal cheaper than shipping a 15kg package and as a result there is very little profit when shipping direct to the consumer. Given the other issues above that private label companies face, this is probably why they do not offer 2 or 3kg packages - they simply cannot make it work financially.
I feel it’s fair to say that there are pet food companies that have charged what seems exorbitant prices :o for their products, and once other manufacturers notice that those same products are selling, they logically follow suit resulting in healthy price competitiveness to the benefit of the consumer.
Historically, where profitable margins are made, there are really no obvious reasons, why in the future, the same pattern would not occur again, this time for example smaller volumes, with minimal (recyclable) packaging, that we are currently discussing ;), - and notably are already being sold by other manufacturers - being replicated by other companies.
I’d like to suggest that manufacturers duly consider the needs of their current (and potential) customers and make subsequent appropriate changes, even taking a possible short-term lower profit, in order to build a greater consumer base with accompanying expected profit margins throughout, including more obviously in the larger volumes sold.
Indeed surely it makes sense that some profit is better than none; and in my experience happier customers invariably lead to better client/business relationships, a better overall business reputation and also opens business opportunities to greater future sales.