Are you ready to share your plate with your pet?
The blurring lines between your food and your pet's.
A few weeks ago, I took a Midwesterner’s novelty trip to the ultra-luxury grocery store Erewhon—a hotbed for products ‘on the cusp of culture’. As I was walking the aisles I saw Waygu beef pet treats, a style of beef that at this point in my life has mostly been reserved for a nice night out. As a strategist who spends much of my time working with pet food brands – I’m noticing the line between pet food and human food has continued to blur.
Back in the 2010s, the sentiment that 'pets are family' really began to take hold, reshaping how we care and buy for our pets. Brands like Fresh Pet took a stance against ‘Big Kibble’ and became mainstream drivers in shifting people’s perspectives on the quality of food we feed our pets. This helped make homemade dog meals, once a niche practice, more mainstream and recently the fresh and frozen pet food categories have surged, continuing to grow at an impressive rate. The pandemic then accelerated our bond with our pets further–- putting a spotlight on their emotional health and wellbeing as well as their physical needs. This has all lead to a seismic shift in the last decade in how we feed, care for, and emotionally support our furry friends.
As a packaging expert, it’s also important to mention that the visual language has also followed suit. As the line between human food and pet food becomes almost indistinguishable—sleek packaging, curated labels, aspirational photography— we’re seeing visual cues we’re accustomed to in premium foods and wellness-focused human products. Brands are signaling that caring for your pet, is an extension of caring for yourself.
This demand for better pet care has led to an explosion of options that not only rival human gourmet food offerings but blur the lines between human and pet, with human food brands encroaching on the pet care space and new brands intentionally crafted for humans and pets.
A quick roundup of some of my favorite examples of brands that blur the lines between human and pet:
Collaboration between human and pet food brands VanLeeuwen X Ollie; creating a dog-safe ice creams meant for your pet but safe for you.
First Light Farms offers human and pet food from similar premium meat sources, with almost identical design.
Dad Grass CBD treats, humans and pets who could benefit from experiencing a ‘daily dose of chill’, with very similar packaging design.
But what’s next? I don’t think we’ve yet reached ‘peak humanization’. As consumers seek ways to optimize their own health and quality of food, it’s only natural that we’ll continue to extend those same trends to our pets—opening the door to experiences that were once reserved for people, to become shared rituals. An evolution that invites brands to lean into this convergence, creating products and experiences that celebrate the joy of shared living. After all, when pets are family, the question isn’t just what’s good for them—it’s what’s good for both of us.