Better sourced and clean pet food | Drooler launches its crowdfunding campaign

82% of dog owners confirmed a specific need for their dog food: more transparency about the ingredients and a more clean and sustainable approach to the production process. The global overview shows us pet humanization is one of the hot topics in mainstream media recently. We are witnessing a significant shift from pet ownership to pet parenting, especially in the food market. 

What does it mean?

Pets are considered a family, making the willingness of people to spend more on food. Consumers are more aware of their pet’s health and invest more in their food rich in nutritional value to better their quadrupeds. Basic food products are underrated, and pet owners are looking for local products with specific health benefits. Who can resist puppy eyes, huh? 

But, let’s talk numbers. 

In Romania, revenue in the pet food segment amounts to US$234.50m in 2022, and the market is expected to grow annually by 12.58% (CAGR 2022-2027).

Another insight within the market is that 12.5% of owners spend time cooking meals for their dogs, being forced to do so because their pets develop allergies and health problems from classical food. 15% of them improperly do so, not considering the minimum nutritional values and cooking processes.

What is the solution?

Here comes Drooler with a customer-centric approach based on the pets and their owners’ needs: 

• clean recipes consisting of ingredients intended for human consumption. 
• functional packaging consisting of transparent casseroles.
• food production approved by DSV and regulated with ISO 22000
• extensive research formula created in partnership with USAMV Cluj Napoca

Explore their mission and Get on the Priority List of early investors >>

Let’s dive deeper and find out the mission and motivation behind their story from Andrei Cerbu, the founder of Drooler:

1. What’s the inspiration behind Drooler?

Of course, my husky pet and friend, Foca! We owe a lot to our dogs: good personal health from walking them on daily basis, good friends with common interests that we find in dog parks, of course, love, and many more. Some of us may even save some money that we don’t spend on anti-depressants. 

I started raising Foca during the time I opened my first restaurant. And I think she was the most privileged dog of all time. She only ate expensive steaks that I brought home every day, from the restaurant’s leftovers. 

And then it came to me: why not cook for dogs? But a dog doesn’t know what he needs. And so I started 4 years of research about cooked dog food that I just finished in partnership with the Veterinarian Faculty from Cluj-Napoca, to be precisely sure about the content of the meals I fed to my dog. 

2. What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced while launching your company?

I don’t think I had any challenges so far.  Opening the dog food factory, creating the brand, researching…all these processes were very linear and came very naturally.  I think the challenges are about to come after the launching: the marketing, the client experience, and the production, and delivery processes. But I’m sure I and my cool team will handle every one of the upcoming challenges like experts.

3. What essential skills need the founders to succeed? 

Courage, of course. To build a dog food factory from scratch, research for 4 years, test and retest…takes courage and ambition. 

4. Where is the pet food market going?

The pet food market, and especially the dog one, will most definitely increase.  Aside from being your best friend, your dog is your best companion, your best jogging friend, your reason to laugh, and even your kid’s best guardian. The Romanian cities are extending their green parks. And the common consciousness is starting to be more and more pro-nature, pro-animals, and eco-friendly. 

5. We face a new generation of pet parents concerned about the origin of the food they give to their furry friends. How does Drooler respond to this consumer need?

Oh, we like this question. 🙂 No one expects that a 2-dollar pound of dog food will contain salmon, boar, deer, or even kangaroo. This is the very reason we came up with this idea: to present a dog food portion of hand-made and cooked food, in transparent casseroles, where you can see the meat, the vegetables, the super-ingredients, and even the spices that we use. We calculated a dog’s daily need for basic ingredients and came up with the perfect recipes for every dog, young or old, active or not, normal or neutralized. We love our product because we worked for years to develop the perfect recipes. And we encourage every dog owner to try it.