From Pickup Trucks to Our Own Kitchen: 8 Years of Grand Dog Raw Pet Food

Today marks Grand Dog’s eight-year anniversary of feeding pets throughout Alberta quality raw nutrition.

June is always a time of reflection as we celebrate another milestone, but this year seems especially important. Grand Dog has experienced a wide range of ups and downs over the past couple of years.

Those who have been around since the beginning can agree that the Grand Dog today looks quite different than it did eight years ago. And if you’ve been a #granddograwpack member for a while, you have weathered those ups and downs right alongside us. So it only seems appropriate to take some time to celebrate the wins and acknowledge some of the trials of the past number of years.

Wins and trials are meant to be shared and learned from, don’t you agree? Let’s take a journey together through the evolution of Grand Dog.

Where We Started: The Early Days of Raw Dog Food Delivery

Eight years ago, Greg left on his very first delivery run for Grand Dog. There was no fancy refrigerated Grand Dog van—just his pickup truck, which fit only a fraction of the boxes we are used to delivering on a daily basis now.

On that first delivery route, he met up with Hauke, whom he purchased the raw pet food company from (and who is now our business partner at Four Roots Pet Products—more on this below).

They sat down for breakfast while they prepared the day's route—ON PAPER. That’s right folks, for the first couple of years our drivers used a printed spreadsheet and Google Maps to lead them on their deliveries.

Today, our routes are created within minutes rather than hours, they are automated for efficiency, and our tracking system provides you with real-time updates the day of your delivery!

Online ordering was brand new for our clients at that time. They had to shift from emailing or calling their orders in to actually placing them on a website. It still surprises me how many people send us a message asking for our price list and where to meet us on delivery days! Back then—lol, how old do I sound right now? 😂—everyone was used to ordering from a PDF price list and meeting at a specific spot for delivery rather than delivery right to their door.

Much of our success during that time came down to providing a quality value product, building a partnership we believed held the same values, and having the ability to deliver exactly what was ordered instead of carrying massive amounts of inventory.

Looking back now, we know we were in a very unique position. We could buy direct from the source with little overhead costs. Many traditional pet stores bring in their products through massive corporate distribution centers. We found that when we decided to bring in select external brands of dry foods or supplements, some distributors wouldn't sell to an online-focused business like ours.

We also discovered that some brands require retailers to carry 80% of their entire product line just to be allowed to sell them. Because we have always been incredibly picky about what we offer our pack, being mandated to carry products we don't 100% believe in was a hard pass for us.

Over the years, we have committed ourselves to working directly with independent suppliers who share our integrity. We maintain a small but highly curated offering. To me, this is vital—I refuse to carry items I don’t believe in just to make a buck. It’s important that every item on our site offers true value to you and your pet.

The Growing Pains

I remember sitting down with our founders, Greg and Joy, a couple of years after Grand Dog started, and the realization suddenly dawned on us that we were truly growing a legit business—Grand Dog was no longer just a side hustle.

Since those early days, Greg and Joy have stepped into a well-deserved retirement, and my husband and I have proudly taken the reins as the new owners to carry that original vision forward. Our small team grew to include more delivery drivers, more time on the road, and more pet parents coming to us for answers.

(Pictured above: Greg and Len getting ready in a Grand Dog van for a day of deliveries together)

Those first couple of years, we learned so much about the raw feeding industry, pet nutrition, and manufacturing standards. Our clients were (and still are) our guiding post, helping us know what’s truly important and where the raw pet food market in Alberta was heading.

When we started, people didn’t really ask for things like a guaranteed analysis with a full nutrient breakdown. Today, we are in a space where if a company doesn’t have an updated analysis, it’s a massive red flag for a pet parent.

We deeply value your time, your hard-earned money, and the mental load that goes into feeding your furry family members. Since day one, we’ve advocated for our customers to ensure you are never left wondering where your food is made or who our partners are. We worked tirelessly to make sure ingredient lists were accurate, notified people of changes immediately, and tracked quality control trends that clients brought to our attention.

Eventually, there came a point when our previous manufacturing setup could no longer guarantee the uncompromised standards your pets deserve, and we knew deep down that we had to make a big change.

To secure the future of your pet's food and maintain the high standards you have come to expect, Grand Dog became the proud co-founding delivery partner for Four Roots Pet Products in 2024, alongside our trusted partners, Melissa and Hauke from The Complete K9.

New Partnerships & High Stakes

Doing what is right and staying in alignment with your values is very rarely the easy road to take. This past year was a heavy example of that.

Over the last year, Grand Dog shifted from blends using basic commercial ingredients to premium ingredients sourced and made with absolute integrity. Shifting to these premium, higher-cost ingredients while still maintaining the high-quality delivery service you come to expect—all while navigating rising costs and ensuring our team makes liveable wages—meant riding a massive logistical rollercoaster.

But when you have clarity on your why and exactly who you are doing this for, it keeps your feet on steady ground.

Being vertically integrated and having greater control over the food we offer you was a difficult path, but in the past six months, we have seen tremendous milestones that affirm every single move we made.

Since making the switch to our new kitchen, we have experienced:

• An astonishing reduction in raw food returns and exchanges.

• A massive drop in those stressful “has the recipe changed, my dog won’t eat their food anymore” emails.

• Complete peace of mind knowing we have a team at Four Roots who aren’t afraid to discard a batch of meat if a raw ingredient shipment doesn't meet our strict quality standards.

• A drastic decrease in quality complaints.

• Beautiful batch-to-batch consistency within our control (though working with natural, whole-food products means there will always be slight, natural variations in texture, smell, and colour!).

This is only a snapshot of the positive changes we have experienced since our transition. I’m sure many of you can add to this list based on how your dogs are thriving—we would love to hear your perspective in the comments below!

(Pictured Above: The Grand Dog and Four Roots team pictured together at their grand opening.  From left: Amanda, Matt, Lauren, Melissa, James, Hauke.)

The Roots Upon Which Four Roots Was Created

The commercial raw pet food market in Alberta has surged since we started in 2018. But as the market grows, we are noticing some industry-wide practices that just don't align with our values, and we refuse to let them affect our pack:

• A Total Lack of Accountability: There are currently zero regulatory requirements for raw manufacturers to update their ingredient lists or offer current analysis sheets for the blends they sell.

• The Illusion of Choice: Private labels often mask where the food is actually manufactured, giving pet parents the illusion of choice when they might actually be buying a product from a facility their dog has already rejected.

• Unrealistic Pricing Expectations: Mass confusion in the market about what true, high-quality raw food should actually cost to produce safely.

Grand Dog will continue to advocate for raw feeders in Alberta by offering total transparency into how we operate and the values we live by. We hold ourselves accountable on a daily basis because it’s important to us that when you choose to support us, you are choosing a higher standard in the raw feeding community.

It’s with this exact mission in mind that Four Roots Pet Products was created: to expand upon what we have been doing for years to earn your trust. Four Roots aims to be entirely transparent in how they operate, clear about who their partners are, dedicated to creating a level playing field for independent retailers, and always evolving to ensure the highest levels of safety.

(Pictured Above: Four Roots Pet Products store front in Red Deer, Alberta.  And a reflection of Melissa giving a thumbs up!)

Thank You for 8 Years of Trust

These eight years would not have been possible without you. I say this all the time, but I mean it from the very bottom of my heart: the trust you place in us to fuel your family members is something we never take for granted.

When we went through the massive transition to this new partnership over the past year, we were terrified of letting you down. There are still moments of imposter syndrome that sneak in, but anytime I talk with you in person or online, and reflect on how far we have come together, it helps me push forward past those uncomfortable feelings.

You stuck by us, placed your orders, sent kind words, and showed us that the trust we've spent eight years building is real, tangible, and unbreakable.

Thank you for being a vital part of our story. We can't wait to feed your packs for many more years to come!

Have you been with us since the pickup truck days? Drop a comment below or reply to our newsletter with a photo of your pup and let us know how long you’ve been in the pack!

Amanda Monsma (she/her)

Co-Owner

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Exciting News: Introducing Four Roots Pet Products

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This blog post was written by me, Amanda Monsma.  The ideas, stories, and information shared are all my own however it has been revised for clarity, grammar, and SEO optimization by Google Gemini.