The Future of Fresh Nutrition

Hi there this is Krista with Episode #146 on the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. Here are some tips on feeding fruit to your dog. So feeding your dog fruit is great, and you can either add it to their meal or as a snack. But please remember to only give fruit in very small quantities and try to rotate the fruits that you give. Too much and the natural sugar content will be too high and your dog's body just isn't designed to process that much sugar, natural or not. Fruit is rich in essential minerals and vitamins, including potassium and beta carotene. Of course fruit is high in fiber, low in fat, and fruit is a great source of natural antioxidants and phytochemicals needed for your dog's overall health. Just remember to avoid giving seeds, skins or rinds as these are the sections of the fruit that are likely to contain toxins for your dog. They can be given whole sliced, juiced and mixed with vegetables, or as an ice cube or a frozen treat. Winston enjoys getting a slice of banana, apple, melon, or a couple of blueberries. Delicious!

Welcome to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast, where we are obsessed with bringing you helpful tips on canine health care, nutrition, and overall wellbeing. If you'd like to support the show, check out the amazing online events, products and resources that I personally recommend on the Wag Out Loud website. I'm your host, Krista and I'm super excited to be bringing you yet another tail wagging episode.

The Future of Fresh Nutrition

We believe in the power of a joyful life and home! Get Joy Founder ,Tom Arrix is building a company with purpose. Get Joy is a DTC lifestyle company that sits adjacent to where people live their lives. Every product Get Joy Creates is designed to impact the overall wellness of the animal. He built Facebook’s first $1billion business and applied all his social street cred to Get Joy’s mission to transform the fresh food segment.  

Hello dog lovers! We are so glad that you've joined us for another informative Wag Out Loud pawdcast episode. And today I am joined by Tom Arrix. He's the founder of Get jJy. Tom, thank you so much for being on the Show. I know that we've had this on the calendar for quite some time. And it's finally here. Yay!

I know. I'm so excited. It's been like six months in the making. So I'm so thrilled.

Oh my gosh, this is gonna be great. So I would love it if you would please introduce yourself and tell us why you went from being a big wig at Facebook, to starting a company in the dog food space?

Absolutely. Well, first and foremost, thank you for being so kind to have me and represent Get Joy on your podcast. So super thrilled to be here. I never thought in a million years that I’d ever be in this in the dog food/pet space. So I'll start right there. I spent a career in digital digital tech, spent seven years in the early days of Facebook 2006 to 2013 and was a part of this collaborative building of really a wonderful business in a really kind of a whole new segment of marketing. And one of the things I loved about that which translates to what I'm doing today is everything we did and thought about both internally and externally with big brands was all about community and all about collaboration all about, about innovation and not doing things the the old way, the legacy driven way. So fast forward, I left Facebook in 2013 and found myself doing more advising for early stage companies did some investing behind some of those companies I was involved in. And all along since I was a kid. I've always been a really, really big lover of animals and dogs in particular. I grew up in Connecticut. My mom and dad always had, we were a big black lab family. And we always had dogs from the first day I can remember. So now I have family of four, four kids, three in college, one freshman in high school. We have two dogs, my awesome wife Kathy. And I try to keep keep things calm. But it's these two creatures that really, that really make everybody smile. I think that's something that resonates with every you know, 65 plus million households in the United States. So when, sadly three years ago, almost to the almost to like the day the window. Our first dog Cooper came down with lymphoma. So after we heard the news, obviously it's pretty. It's a pretty stressing moment for any person who finds out that their animal is not well and like most, you try to do everything in your power to make to make things better to try and find a solution. So I went to Cornell, which is in Stamford, Connecticut, a few towns away. It has some wonderful service in an education from Dr. Lindsay Thalheim, who's an advisor for the company. Lindsay was wonderful because she actually referred me to a holistic oncologist in Red Bank, New Jersey, Dr. Kendra Pope.

Oh, know her well. She's been on the Show.

And she's an advisor for Get Joy. So I have two wonderful friends now, who were part of the early early stages of, of kind of the idea around Get Joy. So Kendra, after in our meeting, I'll never forget it, I brought our dog Cooper down to Red Bank. And for the first time, and I've been brought him to vets, you know, numerous times over the years, he's always stressed. And you could tell, It's just not a great environment. But for whatever reason, we walked into Kendra's office. And it was the sense of calm is was almost like going to a spa that was just a very calming environment. And Kendra spent probably about 45 minutes with us. And talking about everything from how I eat, how I live my life, and what's important to me from a nutrition standpoint. And then we started talking an awful lot about Cooper. And she basically said, kind of squared the conversation and she said, you know, you just said, you eat really well, Tom and your wife's a wonderful cook, which she is going forward, make sure you feed whatever you're going to have for dinner tonight and feed that to Cooper, and every single meal until you get your prescription. Feed that meal to Cooper. And I said, Okay, we can do that, she goes well, and let me square this even more. If you were ill, God forbid, and you went home and ate highly processed foods, like you had been doing your entire life, you don't have a chance to get healthy. So the whole notion of food is the medicine is really really resonates to me, really the first time in my life. And I felt that this is a this was kind of the crossing the passion and crossing of community, which I knew so well, because I built helped build something really fabulous at Facebook, you know, to have an opportunity to stitch those two together, really was the the early kind of building blocks of Get Joy. So that was that was really why I moved away from advising startups and put all my energy into, into building something that I felt was going to affect the lives of animals and have a sense of purpose. That was way more than just building a product and way more than just kind of being in business. And it was all about education and awareness. And that's kind of how we how we put a stake in the ground in early 2019. And that's something that we believe in every single day was inside the company. So here we are.

Well, thank you for sharing that. That's it's an amazing story. And is Cooper still with us?

Unfortunately, we lost Cooper about a year and a half ago. So we got in an extra we got over an extra year. The one piece in it that I thought was really fascinating and gave me such confidence to to really surge ahead. When we started feeding him fresh foods, simple foods, like broccoli and cauliflower. And a lot of the ingredients that we think about in our recipes today. His energy, the coat, just his whole sense of who he was as a dog came back almost immediately. So I felt so good about the fact that we gave him great nutrition, and gave him a chance to be around our family for a whole bunch of more months. And, and, you know, it's unfortunate to see him to have seen him go but you know, a lot of a lot of what we think about certainly what I think about is we're doing it for Cooper, we're doing it for every dog, you know, on the planet, hopefully someday.

Right. Well, he was here to teach you something, obviously. So I love that you have a legacy for Cooper. Well, we're going to talk about the future of fresh nutrition. And I think you'll agree that now more than ever, dog parents are expecting more transparency around the pet food ingredients. And as you said, we are looking at better and cleaner food for ourselves. So it just makes sense that we do it for our dogs as well. And you know, you see more and more pet food recalls. So what trends do you see happening now or that are on the horizon as far as pet food?

DOG FOOD TRENDS

I think there's a great lens of fresh that's opening up for everybody. And I think about this Krista very similar to farm to table, back, let's say it was 20 years ago when it really started to accelerate. People learn on their own people, not everybody moves at the same time. And once a person, and in this case, a dog owner understands the importance of fresh nutrition for themselves, but really can understand the the benefit for their animal, it starts to resonate, and I and I see this lens opening up, more and more owners are thinking about how they can bring great nutrition to their animal as often as possible. Not everybody has the same economic kind of benchmarks. But I believe that fresh is something that that is that is really becoming prevalent throughout every home. And I think as time goes by, and education continues, as simplicity kind of owns the day, I believe more and more owners will be feeding their animals, just wonderful foods that are great for them, versus the kind of a legacy nutritional approach that has been with us for decades and decades. If you can afford it, there's it just, it makes too much sense to say, the importance of eating fresh versus processed food.

Right, even for ourselves.

100%

Yep, I totally agree. Well, I read this interesting stat, that all natural pet foods accounted for 9% of the global market in 2020. And with the number of pet food launches, increasing by 41%, between 2016 and 2020. So that blows my mind and tells me that there are people there are companies that want to do better, you know, all we've known is dry, processed kibble that you and I both know, do not bring nutritional balance to a dog, especially a species that has no need for carbohydrates, yet, they're being fed, in my mind cereal twice a day, every day for their entire life. Right. So I'm so glad that you've seen this call for better nutrition for our dogs, and more people are getting savvy, and realizing that kibble is not healthy that we are feeding a bowl of inflammation every day. And we're looking for fresh whole alternatives. So in your mind, with more and more people getting the education on fresh food, do you think they're willing to pay more for a better dog food?

You know, I remember there's two companies that really come to mind when whenever economics comes into play or, or becomes a, a decision that someone has to make as it relates to kibble versus a shift to fresh. I remember Whole Foods when they came out a number of years ago, it was always deemed as very, very expensive market. And yes, it had way appreciably better ingredients and products inside the market versus kind of legacy grocery stores. Over time, and now obviously Whole Foods is a part of Amazon. But over time, the economics just kind of went away, the hurdles went away. And it wasn't about this huge disparity in cost. Starbucks has a very, very similar dynamic, it's more expensive coffee, but there's an experience. And some that further loved that coffee, even if it's going to cost them four or $5. And maybe up to a couple of dollars more than the coffee shop down the street. I think the same dynamic is happening in our space. I think the economics will start to dissipate and not be a reason for a family to shift from processed foods that are filled with garbage, as you said, Krista, into healthier foods that are that are going to drive all these wonderful aspects of health and wellness for your animal. I think it's going to become a lot more of a level playing field. I think innovation as we think about products, say like freeze dried raw. They're not terribly cheap today, but I think over time, I think they the economics will work in favor of of more of a of the market. That day is going to come it just may not be here today. But I think the constant education, the constant sense of Figuring out how fresh just start just start getting into fresh however you can. And if it's just a mixing into kibble, it's better than just kibble. And I think over time, if people can just commit to starting and starting how they can have they can either afford as a household or how they can, you know, not be you not have this disrupt their flow of how they run their home. I think it's just important to start, there's nothing wrong with starting and in addition to taking that first step, will eventually lead to a few more steps that the beneficiary is this awesome creature that doesn't have a voice.

Well, Tom, we are going to take a quick commercial break and we will be right back.

GET JOY SPONSOR AD

Let's take a minute to talk about the latest innovation from our friends at Get Joy. If you're a regular listener, then you already know about the importance of our dog's gut health, and Get Joy's new fresh freeze dried meals are changing the game currently available in beef with a chicken recipe coming soon. Their fresh freeze dried has all of the nutrition of feeding raw, but in an easy to store dry form. It was independently tested among its competitors and was shown to be easier to digest, which leads to improved gut and overall health for the dogs that we love. Have your dog begging for more by ordering at GetJoy.com and save money by using the code WAGOUTLOUD55 for 55% off your first two orders of fresh freeze dried. Also check out Get Joy's vet designed fresh cooked meals, natural treats and chews that make feeding and treating your pups so easy. One stop shopping has never been so convenient, and nutritious!

BETTER DIGESTIBILITY

And we are back with Tom Arrix from Get jJy. And we are having a great discussion about the future of fresh nutrition. So we talked about cost. And I agree with you, Tom, that people are realizing it's through education, that they're realizing that fresh food is good for them, and good for their dog, which is exciting for me. As far as the trends of the future, you know, novel proteins going away from the big box stores. Of course, now that we know about the good bacteria and the microbiome, I think a lot of companies are looking at better digestibility of their foods. What do you think about all this as far as what to look at? What are the consumers demanding?

Right? I mean, first and foremost, it's so encouraging and inspiring to see all these amazing innovations that are happening. And you know, three years ago, they were barely happening now they're really accelerated. So I think it's amazing. And it's so great. Because it will help the our animals help our dogs live a healthier, better, better life is which is all all we collectively want. And I think as we can think of as foods evolve, say as you mentioned, digestion, microbiome, the more that we can help a say a dog's gut. And what I didn't realize until about a year and a half ago, was a dog's gut is identical to a human’s gut. And when people, myself included, started to think more about how do you treat your gut and have a great digestion and make sure that you have pre and probiotics and are eating the right foods etc. You are like hitting on all cylinders. You feel great your energy levels as high as it could be. You're able to do the things you love in life, whether it be walks or hikes or, or sit on a couch… whatever it might be. And I think that dynamic as people think about their animal and and as innovation continues in our industry, and if we design products that are really truly great to help people learn about the importance of say gut health, and we have products that are there to drive that. That they get we're truly giving our dogs the best potential to live their best day and best life. And it's, you know, some of the three pillars of genetics, environment and nutrition. I think we'll find ourselves in this place as a society, a region, country, planet, that we're actually controlling at least the The most controllable part of the three pillars, which is nutrition.

Mm hmm. I agree.

I think that's amazing. I love it.

HOW TO CHOOSE A DOG FOOD BRAND

It's exciting, isn't it? Well, Tom, with so many new pet food companies coming on the market, what should people look out for? When it comes to choosing a brand?

Right. You know, it's a, I think it's great validations that are so many companies coming onto the market, I believe it's no different than if you were thinking about an apparel company or, or brand that you that you kind of have a connection to. I think it's about trust, I think it's about community. And I think it's about those two things, giving you the confidence that this new relationship that you have with this brand is going to give you and your you know, the end the end, beneficiary, your dog, the best chance for wellness, or whatever is important to you. I do believe from the from the fundamentals of trust, and community, there's nothing there's nothing more powerful than then a strong community that's looking out for each other that helping each other. I saw that as my Facebook, early Facebook days, it's still very true at orders of magnitude today around the world. And, and when communities trust, have trust, and there's transparency, and and you know that the products that are being designed, are grounded with purpose. I think that that is probably the most magical dynamic you can create. And it's like, I think that we're running a certain kind of race versus others. And it doesn't make others bad, bad opportunities. They're all wonderful. I think it's all there's a lot of dogs out there. There's a lot of homes. But I think if we can ground, how we explore these brands with, do I trust the brand? Is this a community that I can connect with? And feel good? And learn from? And be educated by? I think that's how people should think about it. And are the products amazing, that are their products truly groundbreaking and going to drive, whatever pillar is important to that customer or that person?

Right? Good information. And as you said, you have advisors with Get Joy that are in the industry that are amazing at what they do. So we have to, you know, because we know that the dog food industry really is not regulated. So we have to ask the questions. Where do you source your ingredients? Where's your food made? So I love what you said about community and trust. It's huge. And so many people I've talked to think cooking at home for your dog, you know, I'm doing really good by my dog because I'm cooking chicken and rice. And I have to say is that it? Because they are missing out on a complete and balanced diet. And that's right. That's why I love what you guys are doing. Tom, I am an affiliate with Get Joy. I've researched the company, I believe in the company. And the products. And you are one stop shopping, which is fantastic. So you have fresh food delivered to your door. You have the freeze dried, and you have the natural Chews. Brilliant, right. I just love it.

Yeah, we have raw coming out in the Spring, too. And every single thing we we are doing is a signal that we get from our community is something that helps us complete the whole wellness equation, that that goes back to our purpose. Like, we want to affect the lives of these animals who have no voice. And we're committed to it and we're going to block and tackle until until it happens.

INVESTING IN YOUR DOG’S NUTRITION

That's fantastic. Well, what I like to tell people, you know, I encourage everybody to look into fresh food for your dog, whether it is a cooked or a freeze dried or a raw much better than kibble for so many reasons. But what I mention to people you are going to pay a little bit more. But what it boils down to is literally you pay now or you pay later in veterinary bills. Because inevitably, a poor diet is going to mean that your dog is going to experience leaky gut or possibly being overweight diabetes, health issues. I mean we could go on and on. So it's so important to invest in our dog’s nutrition is now.

We have a chance to actually, we haven't even really talked about prevention we have in kind of a roundabout way, everyone has a chance to actually prevent that illness and prevent issues with their animal, just like you and I would if we eat well, if we're eating really well, yes, we can have a cheat day here and there. But if we're eating really well, we're not going to the doctors, as often we're not taking antibiotics because we're constantly sick. But for not doing the things that are bad for our bodies, the same premises are with our animals. if we're taking care of them. And we're leaning into how how we're all supposed to eat going back 1000s and 1000s of years, it's fresh ingredients. And we're just in some way, we're trying to just democratize how people can buy and connect with fresh products that are good for their animals. We have, you know, people who are just lightly touching our products with, say, our freeze dried organ treats, which are unbelievable. And we have others that are being that are all in on all of our products. And I think just that first step forward is is really just the most important step, because it's you're going to drive wellness. And you're going to create prevention, and save money in, you know, with vet bills, as you mentioned. And I really do believe that that dogs will live longer if we take care of them. The way we take care of our kids. People say oh, the dog is like my kid, that dog is your kid, it is your kid. So feed your child, you know, as well as you feed yourself.

I agree. Feed them like their life depends on it. Well, Tom, as we are wrapping up, could you tell us what is the difference between a freeze dried and air dried and a dehydrated dog food?

Right. So we have a freeze dried raw product. That is basically raw ingredients are cooked below freezing. It may not make sense for people but we're basically taking the moisture out of the raw ingredients and then making it in a dry form. So it's shelf stable. Our product that we created, actually was designed specifically to drive gut health/digestion. And they called gluttonous starch, which is just energy. So having, like sustainable energy throughout the day, and using pre and probiotics in the freeze dried raw product that are wonderful for your dog’s digestion, air dried just is this as a lighter weight process. I think it's a less a little less expensive. I think freeze drying is definitely a more involved process. But I think the end result of freeze drying is you lose maybe a point to, maybe three points of the nutritional percentage load. So in its current state of say 100% your products for the most part, I know ours is is 97%. intact, nutritionally. Okay. So there's basically no cook off. There's no processing, there's no harmful approaches, cooking approaches that take nutrients out of the food, which is the goal.

And since the moisture is taken out, do you recommend that when we do feed freeze dried that we add water?

The way I use our products for our dogs, we have two Goldens, I usually put about a quarter inch to a half inch of water in the bowl, feed them their appropriate portion. And then serve it. They will. They'll drink the water and eat the food and I’m assured that they're getting appropriate hydration. You can let it sit. But I don't think you can. The way my two dogs devour the food. The bowls are dry very quickly, which means both the water and then that often food is being consumed.

All right, cool. Well, as I mentioned, Get Joy all of your products can be delivered right to anyone's door. I was really impressed with the application that I filled out on my dog Winston, you guys asked so many questions to pretty much customize the perfect meal for Winston. and because of the pandemic I think one of the things that has come out of that is that more and more of us like the convenience of having things delivered to our door. We aren't going to the big box and grocery stores to purchase for our dogs And right Packaged Facts, expects that the E commerce channel is going to grab 27% of the US market by the end of this year. And reach 35% by 2024. So you guys are riding the wave, you are right in the middle of it. You know, we have expectations Amazon delivers every day to our door. So why not?

Yeah, mine too.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that's right. I guess. Krista you're 100% right. The trend is growing. It's not even a trend. The shift is on. People are educated people are super confident in their ability to to find a brand, a product that they they feel really confident about feeding their their animal, that product. that convenience. if COVID gave us anything it gave us a sense of conveniences that you can have unbelievable things delivered to your front door with no hassles whatsoever. That part is is absolutely a game changer. And everybody's is slightly different. You know, the way we approach it, we've got fresh meals, we got fresh, freeze dried, we have fresh freeze dried organ treats, we're gonna have broth. We've been toying around with CBD pet sprinkle. We have some wonderful partners, we we hope to be in places like organic, healthy health food markets. Like we're just testing. I love the fact that people are confident people are seeing that, you know, the importance of feeding fresh. And hopefully, you know that that that shift accelerates.

Yes. Oh, we are out of time. So Tom, where can everyone find out more information about you and Get Joy?

Awesome. We would love for you to follow us at on Instagram, Facebook @getjoyfood. You can find us our website is  https://getjoyfood.com/ where you can learn all about what we do, how we do why we do it. And we'd love for you to join our community and join our journey of wellness for for dogs everywhere.

Your Social Media URLs or Tags

         Instagram: @getjoyfood

         Facebook: @getjoyfood

         LinkedIn: @getjoyfood

Well, and for our listeners, because I am an affiliate I get to pass on the savings to you. So I encourage everyone to try out Get Joy. And for both their freeze dried and their fresh meals. Use the code WAGOUTLOUD40 to get 40% off your first two orders on either freeze dried or the fresh meals. That's an amazing deal. Gives you a chance to try it out. And your dog will really thank you.

So yeah, we're thrilled. We'd love we'd love for you to try it and Thank you Krista.

Well I appreciate you being here today. Thank you for all that you guys are doing. Keep doing what you're doing Tom and keep us posted.

Thank you Krista. Great catching up.

Thanks again to our dog loving friends at Get Joy. If you agree that your dog is an important member of the family, then why not order some fresh freeze dried today and save 55% at getjoy.com by entering the code WAGOUTLOUD55 That's all in caps, no spaces, WAGOUTLOUD55 for 55% off your first two orders. Your dog will thank you!

Thanks for listening. You'll find some helpful links in the show notes and if you enjoy the show, please be sure to follow and listen for free on your favorite podcast app. And please, please share your feedback. Visit WagOutLoud.com for great product recommendations with discounts, amazing online events and fantastic resources. That's also where to visit our Bark About It page where you can suggest topics, guests or products. Be advised that this show offers health and nutritional information and is designed for educational purposes only. You're encouraged to do your own research and should not rely on this information as a substitute for nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your dog's health, you should always consult a veterinarian or a nutrition expert. Have a tail wagging day and we'll catch you next time.

Hey Winston was that another tail wagging episode?