Friskies facts for kids
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| Type | Pet food – Cat food, formerly dog food |
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| Owner | Nestlé Purina PetCare |
| Introduced | 1930s (as dog food) 1950s (as cat food) |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Previous owners | Carnation Company (1930s-1985) |
| Tagline | Friskies For More (2004-2007) Feed The Senses (2007-2018) Feed Their Fantasy (2018-present) |
| Website | Friskies |
Friskies is a well-known American brand that makes food and treats for cats. It is owned by Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, which is part of the big company Nestlé.
Friskies first started in the 1930s. Back then, it was a brand for dog food. In the 1950s, Friskies introduced cat food. This was a big deal because it was the first dry food made just for cats! Nestlé bought the Friskies brand in 1985. Over the years, especially from the 1970s to the 2000s, Friskies made many different kinds of cat food. This happened as more companies started making pet food.
Contents
Who Owns Friskies?
Friskies is made and sold by Nestlé Purina PetCare. This company is a part of Nestlé. Friskies was first created in the 1930s by a company called Carnation. Carnation was known for its dry milk products. But they also made food for farm animals.
Carnation did a lot of testing for 3.5 years to create dry pet food. They started with stray dogs. Later, they used pure-bred dogs in a special kennel. By 1973, Friskies was one of the top five companies in the pet food market. Carnation also started selling its pet food around the world in 1966. This included countries like Japan, Spain, France, England, and Italy.
In 1985, Nestlé bought Carnation for $3 billion. After this, Carnation changed its name a few times. By 1992, it was called Friskies PetCare Company. At that time, Friskies had a large share of the pet food market. In 2001, Friskies joined with another Nestlé company, Nestlé Purina Petcare. This happened when Nestlé merged with a company called Ralston Purina.
The History of Friskies Pet Food
Friskies started as a dry dog food brand in 1934. They first sold "Friskies Cubes." Eight years later, they released "Friskies Meal," which were pellets. Friskies dry dog food sold very well on the west coast of the United States. Then, it was sold more and more on the east coast.
Why Dry Food Was Popular
Only dry food was made at first. This was because people wanted cheaper products during the Great Depression. Also, during World War II, tin was saved for the war effort. This meant less tin was available for canned pet foods. Because of this, Friskies dry food sales grew a lot. Other companies that sold canned foods had to make less. The first Friskies canned dog food came out in 1951. From 1958 to 1963, nine new Friskies products were released.
How Friskies Cat Food Began
In the 1950s, more and more people started having cats as pets. But there was no dry food made just for cats yet. In the early 1950s, Friskies made some special dog food products. One of these was for puppies and cats. However, cats did not like this "puppy food."
A sales manager named Henry Arnest thought Friskies should make food just for cats. The company thought it was a "nutty idea." But he convinced them to try selling cat food in 1956. This trial happened on the west coast of the United States. The cat food was made from mackerel parts, cereals, vegetables, and vitamins. To everyone's surprise, the cat food sold very well!
Introducing "Little Friskies for Cats"
The new cat food was named "Little Friskies for Cats." It had a cartoon cat as its mascot. Friskies advertised it on television and in newspapers. They also published a magazine for vets and animal breeders called Friskies Research Digest.
In 1958, canned "treats" for cats were tested. They were popular on the west coast but not in the east. In 1959, Carnation thought about stopping sales on the east coast. But they decided to keep trying. A report found that people liked smaller, single-serving food products. So, in 1967, the treats were renamed "Friskies Buffet." These single-serving canned foods became one of Friskies' best-sellers.
New Products and Competition
In the 1970s and 1980s, Friskies made more special food products. These included Bright Eyes and Chef's Blend. A sister brand called Mighty Dog started in 1973. Another sister brand, Fancy Feast, began in 1982. By 1985, Friskies' maker was the biggest pet food company. They had 14.5 percent of the market.
Dry and wet food specifically for kittens came out in 1988 and 1989. Fresh Catch, which had only fish, was introduced in the early 1990s. By 1990, there was a lot of competition in the pet food industry. There were more than 400 pet food products available. Friskies was one of six brands that controlled most of the pet food market. These brands competed very strongly with each other.
Friskies Advertising and Famous Cats
Since 2011, Friskies has been making digital games for cats. These games can be played on mobile devices using touch-screens. Some of their first games were Cat Fishing, JitterBug, and Pull 'n Play. These games were all about chasing moving things on the screen.
Friskies also used popular internet cats in their advertising. In 2013, the famous internet cat Grumpy Cat became a Friskies spokescat. She was in episodes of a Friskies YouTube show called "Will Kitty Play With It?" That same year, Friskies made short films with another internet cat, Henri, le Chat Noir. These films were about "cat food boredom." Several internet celebrity cats also appeared in a Christmas music video called "It's Hard to Be a Cat at Christmas."
In 2014, Friskies worked with The Fine Bros. to make funny videos. They filmed cats watching web series made by Friskies. Later that year, Friskies started "The Friskies 50." This was a list of the most important internet cats. The list was based on how many followers the cats had on social media and how much media coverage they got.
At a festival in 2015, Friskies promoted its bacon-flavored cat food. They had an art gallery with bacon and cat-themed art. Some of the art was even made using Friskies products and bacon! In 2016, Friskies worked with BuzzFeed to create "Dear Kitten" videos. In these videos, an older cat teaches a younger one how to be a house-cat. This video series had over 30 million views. A sixty-second commercial based on the series was shown during the Super Bowl. This was the first time Friskies had a TV commercial during this big event.
Friskies Products Today
Today, Friskies makes dry food, wet food in cans, and treats for cats. The Friskies website says there are more than 50 different kinds of Friskies cat food.
Types of Friskies Cat Food
- Dry Food: There are five dry food flavors sold in bags. These include "Seafood Sensations" and "Grillers."
- Wet Food: Wet foods come in many flavors, like chicken or seafood. They are sold in vacuum bags or cans.
- Special Wet Food: The Tasty Treasures canned wet food has cheese and bacon flavors. SauceSations canned wet food is mixed with sauces.
- Treats: Friskies also has pouches of Party Mix treats. They also make "Pull 'n Play" treats, which are edible strings.
In 2003, the Friskies brand was relaunched with new packaging. By this time, Friskies was the biggest seller of cat food. They had 60 percent of the wet food market and 49.3 percent of the dry food market.
Images for kids
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Friskies logo
