Nestlé is launching a new product under its Purina PetCare line, which owns six billionaire brands, including Friskies and Purina One, as the consumer goods company doubles down on its “big bets.”
The Swiss giant will launch a new jelly-like cat food under the Purina Gourmet Revelations brand in three meat variations across Europe. Meanwhile, Nestlé will also expand its mousse-based cat food under the Fancy Feast Gems brand in the U.S. in the coming months.
The pet food category boomed as pet ownership rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Nestlé has emerged as one of the biggest winners. Its PetCare range has been the biggest contributor to organic sales growth for the last few years, posting double-digit growth even as the company has tussled with high costs and consumers’ tight budgets.
While the company’s goal, amid growing pet needs, was to ensure enough supply, Nestlé is now shifting its attention to being more innovative with its products.
Since many owners are “humanizing” their pets, as the second-biggest player in the pet food category, Nestlé has to get creative with its products, Dan Smith, the global head of Purina’s strategic business unit, told Fortune in an exclusive interview.
“It's really the opportunity for us to say, ‘boom! go bigger,’ and with full support. We've added the extra capacity to allow it,” Smith said. He added that Nestlé has more such expansions within pet food planned through 2025, giving owners more choices.
Pet nutrition is an “emotional category,” Nestlé pointed out during its Capital Markets Day in November, as owners consider pets part of the family and look for new ways to indulge them. This trend has contributed to strong growth within premium pet foods.
Its products are already available in major retailers like Walmart and Costco in the States, and Tesco in the U.K. They’re also available in specialty pet food stores. Purina’s mousse-like food, available only in a select few stores in the U.S., will soon be available across all mass retailers.
Purina PetCare is a massive category—its sub-brands collectively brought CHF 19 billion ($20.8 billion) in sales during 2023.
During Capital Markets Day's Q&A session, CEO Laurent Freixe, who took over in September, said the goal in 2025 was to grow the formidable pet food category "a lot more and a lot bigger.” Pyramid-shaped cat food within the Purina brand is one of the products it hopes can achieve CHF 100 million ($110 million) in annual incremental sales.
Over the next three years, Nestlé will ramp up investments in its “big bet” brands.
“We will polarize investments to support the bigger brands and the biggest areas of opportunity, making sure that all our initiatives reach a level of sufficiency to make an impact,” Freixe said in November.
Clarification, February 11, 2025: This article has been updated to clarify details about Purina Gourmet Revelations and Fancy Feast Gems.
