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 brand of cat food and treats. It makes both wet and dry food for cats. Friskies is owned by a company called Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, which is part of the larger Nestlé company.
Friskies first started in the 1930s. Back then, it was a brand of dog food made by the Carnation Company. In the 1950s, Friskies introduced cat food. This was special because it was the first dry pet food made just for cats! Nestlé bought the Friskies brand in 1985. Over the years, especially from the 1970s to the 2000s, Friskies added many new types of cat food as more companies started making pet food.
Contents
Who Owns Friskies?
Friskies products are made and sold by Nestlé Purina PetCare. This company is a part of Nestlé, a very large global company. Friskies was first created in the 1930s by Carnation, through its Albers Company.
By 1973, Friskies was one of the biggest pet food companies. Carnation, which was known for its dry milk, also made food for farm animals. They spent years testing dry food products. They started with stray dogs and later used pure-bred dogs. In 1966, Carnation International was formed to sell Friskies pet food in other countries like Japan, Spain, France, England, and Italy.
Nestlé bought Carnation in 1985. After this, the company was renamed Nestlé/Carnation Food Company. In 1992, it became a Nestlé company called Friskies PetCare Company. By 1992, Friskies was a very popular brand, holding 28.2% 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 Food
Friskies first came out as a dry dog food in 1934. They first sold "Friskies Cubes," which were small pieces of food. Eight years later, they made "Friskies Meal," which were pellets. Friskies dry dog food sold very well on the west coast of the United States. Then, it started to be sold more on the east coast.
At first, only dry food was made. This was because dry food was cheaper, which was important during the Great Depression. Also, during World War II, metal for cans was saved for the war effort. This meant less canned pet food was made. Because of this, sales of Friskies dry food grew a lot. The first Friskies canned dog food was released in 1951. From 1958 to 1963, nine new Friskies products were released.
How Friskies Cat Food Started
When Friskies cat food was introduced in the 1950s, more people were getting cats as pets. But there wasn't any dry food made just for cats yet. In the early 1950s, Friskies made some special dog food products, including one for puppies and cats. However, cats didn't like the "puppy food."
A sales manager named Henry Arnest thought Friskies should make food just for cats. People at the company thought it was a "nutty idea." But he convinced them to try selling cat food in 1956 on the west coast of the United States. This cat food was made from mackerel parts, cereals, vegetables, and vitamins. Everyone at Friskies was surprised when the cat food sold very well!
The cat food was called "Little Friskies for Cats." A cartoon cat was its mascot. It was advertised on TV and in newspapers. Friskies also published a magazine called Friskies Research Digest for vets and animal breeders. Canned "treats" for cats were first tested in 1958. They were popular on the west coast but not in the east. In 1959, Carnation thought about stopping sales in the east because the cat food wasn't popular there, 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" and sold as single-serving canned foods. Buffet became one of Friskies' most popular products.
New Products and Competition
In the 1970s and 1980s, Friskies introduced "gourmet" pet foods, like Bright Eyes and Chef's Blend. A sister brand called Mighty Dog was launched in 1973. Another sister brand, Fancy Feast, was made in 1982. By 1985, Friskies' maker was the biggest pet food company.
Dry and wet food made just for kittens came out in 1988 and 1989. Fresh Catch, a food with 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 main brands that controlled 80 percent of the pet food market. These brands competed very strongly with each other.
Advertising and Famous Cats
In the mid-1930s, the first Friskies spokesperson was Father Bernard Hubbard, also known as "The Glacier Priest." He was a popular speaker who shared stories about his trips to Alaska. One of his sled dogs, named Katmai, was also a spokespet.
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 included Cat Fishing, JitterBug, and Pull 'n Play. These games were all about cats chasing moving things on the screen.
Friskies also used popular internet cats in their advertising. In 2013, Grumpy Cat (whose real name was Tardar Sauce), a very famous internet cat, became a Friskies spokescat. She was in episodes of Friskies' YouTube game show called "Will Kitty Play With It?" That same year, Friskies made four short films with Henri, le Chat Noir about "cat food boredom." Several other internet celebrity cats were 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 reacting to 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, how much media talked about them, and other things. People could also type in a cat's name to see how it compared to the cats on the list.
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 cat 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. According to the Friskies website, there are more than 50 different kinds of Friskies cat food!
They sell five dry food flavors in bags, like "Seafood Sensations" and "Grillers." Wet foods come in many flavors, such as chicken or seafood. They are sold in vacuum bags or cans. The Tasty Treasures canned wet food has cheese and bacon flavors. SauceSations canned wet food is mixed with different sauces. Friskies also makes Party Mix treats in pouches. And they have "Pull 'n Play" treats, which are edible soft strings.
In 2003, the Friskies brand was relaunched with new packaging. By this time, Friskies was the biggest cat food brand. It had 60 percent of the wet food market and 49.3 percent of the dry food market.
