Doggie desserts: Ben & Jerry’s enters the pet foods organization

Consider your dog deserves dessert? So does Ben & Jerry’s.

The venerable Vermont ice product organization reported Monday it’s introducing a line of frozen puppy treats, its very first foray into the profitable pet food sector. Doggie Desserts, sold in 4-ounce cups, go on sale in U.S. groceries and pet suppliers afterwards this thirty day period.

The treats arrive in two flavors: pumpkin with cookies and peanut butter with pretzels. Both equally are built with a foundation of sunflower butter. They’re manufactured from the very same components Ben & Jerry’s takes advantage of in its non-dairy human desserts.

Ben & Jerry’s is the most current foods enterprise to pivot to pets, sensing possibility as a lot more People purchase furry friends. The variety of U.S. households with animals rose 6.5% to 84.9 million among 2015 and 2020, according to the American Pet Items Association, a trade team.

Typical Mills, which would make Cheerios and Haagen-Dazs ice product, acquired the Blue Buffalo pet meals manufacturer in 2018. Jelly maker J.M. Smucker Co. purchased Significant Heart Pet Brands — which would make Meow Blend and Milk Bone — in 2015. A few years afterwards, Smucker acquired Ainsworth Pet Nourishment, which would make Nutrish model pet foodstuff. And in April, Nestle purchased British organic pet food brand Lily’s Kitchen. Nestle has owned the Purina model given that 2001.

Spending on pet treats has ballooned, jumping 44% to $5.5 billion involving 2015 and 2020, according to Euromonitor, a data firm. Millennials in certain shell out lavishly on their animals and search for pet merchandise with human-grade components, Ben & Jerry’s explained.

Lindsay Bumps, a global internet marketing specialist with Ben & Jerry’s, reported the firm had been eyeing the exponential progress in pet paying out and commenced building its canine treats early very last calendar year. The corporation consulted with a veterinary nutritionist, regulatory consultants and other folks to make absolutely sure the treats are risk-free and straightforward to digest, mentioned Bumps, who is also a accredited veterinary technician.

As with any address, owners ought to go sluggish with the introduction, presenting a spoonful at a time, Bumps mentioned. She proposed placing the dessert in a bowl so canine have an less complicated time navigating it. Bumps’ 9-calendar year-previous French bulldog, Spock, is a massive enthusiast of the peanut butter taste.

The treats — $2.99 for each cup or $4.99 for four — will be positioned around the popsicles in grocery store frozen meals aisles, a number of doorways down from Ben & Jerry’s ice product.

The pivot to animals doesn’t indicate Ben & Jerry’s is observing any slowdown on the human facet. London-based Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, reported in Oct that its ice product product sales for property intake grew additional than 10% in the most current quarter. Rattled consumers sought indulgent treats in the course of the pandemic and stocked up on several pints all through much less frequent grocery outings, Bumps explained.

“This is an prospect for people to address their canine as they’re treating by themselves when they get a pint off the shelf,” she stated.