This article was published in the March/April 2025 issue of Pet Food Processing. Read it and other articles from this issue in our March/April digital edition. 

As demand for functional pet food options continues to rise, pet food manufacturers are looking to emerging ingredients, new formats and customized formulations to meet this demand. Many companies are turning toward fresh food to meet pet parents’ growing wishes for enhanced nutrition, and Ollie’s personalized fresh diet for dogs is among the available options.

“Ollie was founded with a clear and meaningful mission: to revolutionize pet nutrition by providing dogs with high-quality, human-grade food that supports a lifetime of health and happiness,” said Nick Stafford, chief executive officer of Ollie. “We’re not just making fresh food — we’re really pioneering the future of pet health by continually improving quality, taste, texture and nutrition in a way that no other brand is doing.”

Founded on the belief that pets deserve top nutrition, Ollie has placed high importance on providing pet parents with food options worthy of a family member. 

“Pets are really a member of our family, and that’s what we believe at Ollie,” said Tara Zedayko, chief scientific officer. “So, they deserve the same quality nutrition that we do. They deserve real whole foods that meet those same safety and quality standards that we would have in our own kitchen.”

Upholding this standard, Ollie provides its members with a completely customizable fresh diet, catered specifically to their pup’s needs. The personalized meals are then shipped directly to customers’ doors. 

“It’s really important to us that we’re providing the best nutrition to our pack members that can vary anywhere from the 3-lb Chihuahua to the 150-lb Great Dane,” Zedayko added. “So, making sure that those experiences are still very tailored to that unique dog’s needs is definitely one of the more fun yet challenging aspects of our business.”

Focused on fresh

During a time when ultra-processed, harmful foods can be found everywhere — for both humans and pets — Ollie strives to educate pet parents on the potential benefits of feeding their dogs fresh diets.

Ollie offers personalized meal plans for pups based on their specific needs.

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Source: Ollie

“We do believe that food is the foundation of health and happiness and especially longevity,” Zedayko said. “We know based on published research that dogs that are on a fresh, whole food diet live longer, some research points up to 2 1/2 years longer.”

But Ollie doesn’t stop there, the company places high importance on using ingredients that customers can recognize and pronounce, allowing a higher level of trust.

“Making sure our food is truly accessible from an ingredient label standpoint and that pet parents can feel confident knowing it uses ingredients that they would eat themselves is really important to us,” Zedayko said. 

Demonstrating this commitment to natural food for pups, all of Ollie’s recipes use 100% human-grade ingredients, meeting or exceeding all FDA, USDA and AAFCO standards for human-grade food manufacturing. Ollie also meets or exceeds all AAFCO standards for pet nutrition, food safety and labeling. 

“We’re continuing to push the boundaries of pet health through deeper insights and innovation,” said Nick Stafford of Ollie.

“Ollie is at the forefront of helping to drive the standard of what human grade really means and making sure that claim is withheld to a very high standard,” Zedayko added. “That way we can really protect the best interest of pet parents who are looking for true human-grade food that they could eat themselves.”

The customized meal plan allows customers to select full fresh meals, half fresh meals to be added to pups’ current food, or mixed meals that include Ollie’s fresh food and baked recipes. When setting up a meal plan, customers can choose between five proteins for fresh diets — including beef, chicken, turkey, lamb and pork — as well as beef and chicken recipes of the baked dry food.

Ollie's fresh food contains 100% natural, human-grade ingredients.

| Source: Ollie

The reviews speak for themselves, with 90% of members reporting positive changes in their dog after 30 days of feeding them Ollie, and 90% reporting good-quality stools since starting the diet, according to the company. 

In an effort to meet its members where they are, despite being a direct-to-consumer subscription, Ollie offers its fresh and dry food products in more than 1,200 Petco retail locations nationwide. Olli’s expansion into Petco provides members with an option for an easy re-up on food in times of need, and is also great for customers who want to try out the brand’s food before signing up or aren’t looking for a subscription plan.

Adding science to the mix 

Ollie doesn’t just provide personalized meal plans, the company dives even deeper into helping parents provide their pups with top nutrition through its health screenings. By uploading photos of their dogs’ stool, weight, teet, skin and coat, members can get expert guidance and feedback directly from the Ollie Health team.

In fact, since introducing health screenings, 89% of Ollie’s members strongly agreed that the screenings were valuable features to their Ollie subscription, and 86% claimed the screenings provided more confidence in their decision to feed their pups Ollie’s formulas.

“No other pet food company is collecting the level of health insights we are and using that to refine their products and empower dog parents to take a more active role in their dog’s health,” Stafford explained. “We’re really setting a new standard for what pet wellness can be.”

Ollie attributes the success of its health screenings to its team of veterinarians and experts, who are consistently working to provide in-depth health analysis and recommendations to customers. 

“We have taken the last year to really assemble a world class team at Ollie to create this higher standard of food that customers know we’d be comfortable feeding our own best friend,” Zedayko said. “We bring together among the science team, over 130 years of collective scientific experience across nutrition, food engineering, product development and more.”

Ollie also offers treats and minimally-processed Baked Kibble.

| Source: Ollie

In addition to its impressive science team, Ollie also acquired DIG Labs, a diagnostic company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide pet health screenings, in October of last year. As part of this acquisition, Zedayko, who co-founded DIG Labs, joined Ollie to lead the Foodback Loop™ program.

Foodback Loop incorporates science, research, producer development, and Ollie’s proprietary portioning and recommendation algorithms. By taking the team’s expertise, more than 20 million collected data points and member feedback, Foodback Loop revises and improves Ollie’s recipes to provide high-quality personalized nutrition recommendations and portions for each dog, providing an enhanced membership experience for its customers. 

Members can take advantage of these tools and resources right on their phones through Ollie’s mobile app, including access health screenings, submitting photos for assessment, chatting with veterinary experts and even leaving feedback.

Building a future of continued progress

Currently, Ollie is focused on making advancements to enhance how its in-house experts assess and interpret the health screenings, allowing the company to make even more personalized improvements to its offerings.

“At the same time, we remain committed to raising industry standards in nutrition, transparency and quality,” Stafford added. “As we continue to innovate, we’re ensuring that every meal we create not only supports dogs’ health but also sets a new benchmark for the future of pet wellness.”

Zedayko added, “We’re constantly pushing the boundaries of how healthy we can get our dogs, how happy they can be, and then setting those new standards for quality, transparency and innovation.”

With a goal to keep expanding its services and its highly qualified science team, Ollie is building a bigger network as it searches for the next best benefit it can offer its members and their pets.

Read more of our exclusive pet food and treat company profiles.