Companies offering raw pet food, like Vital Essentials, have been bringing variety and innovation to the market for years now, along with ones purveying other alternative formats such as fresh and freeze dried. While some of these companies remain more niche players (not necessarily Vital Essentials, which is available all across the U.S.), their success with pet owners and retailers now seems to be paving the way for larger companies to enter these categories.
In June 2025, Royal Canin and Blue Buffalo both announced launches of new fresh pet food lines, one week apart. No doubt the companies have witnessed the heady growth rates of that and similar categories and consider this a potentially lucrative next step to ongoing business growth and expansion.
To date, pet food categories like raw, fresh and freeze dried remain small: just 3.6% for “fresh and frozen” and 1.1% for freeze dried, according to 2024 data from NielsenIQ. (Unfortunately, NIQ doesn’t break down fresh vs. frozen or define either; it seems reasonable that this data segment includes raw.)
However, their growth has been steady and impressive, with fresh and frozen pet food increasing 16.1% in value sales and 15.8% in unit sales in 2024, while sales of 100% freeze-dried pet food rose 9.9% in value and 18.6% in units, despite its comparably astronomical average price per pound of US$32.43. (The average per pound for fresh and frozen in 2024 was US$5.40; for all pet food, it was US$2.53.)
In terms of usage, a survey conducted by Nextin Research in early 2025 showed 10% of U.S. dogs’ meals had included raw dog food in the previous month; 21% had eaten fresh dog food (refrigerated or frozen) and 18%, shelf-stable fresh dog food. (Much more specific category breakdowns! Respondents were allowed to select all formats that applied.) For cats, usage rates were lower, at 7% for raw cat food, 15% for shelf-stable fresh and 13% for refrigerated or frozen fresh cat food.
Thus, it’s no surprise that the new fresh lines from Royal Canin and Blue Buffalo seem to focus on dogs, at least initially; dogs also eat more than cats generally, making dog food the species category offering greater potential benefits and less risk for expansion into an entirely new area of the market. It will be interesting to monitor the growth of these categories and whether other larger companies seek to take advantage.
