______________________________________________________________________________________________ Stella
& Chewy’ s
When Marie Moody took home two rescue dogs in 1997, it was the beginning of a love story that launched a highly successful raw pet food business. Since its founding in 2003, Stella & Chewy’ s has been obsessed with pet nutrition, using only the finest responsibly sourced ingredients, offering tasty food for pets while providing the best customer experience for pet parents. Marie’ s inspiration came from her beloved dogs – Stella and Chewy – specifically following Chewy’ s diagnosis with an autoimmune disease.
Based in Marie’ s home state of Wisconsin, the company has grown tremendously over the past 20 years, and Marie remains connected with the business, serving as a trusted advisor to CEO, Jay Thompson. Jay joins Food Chain to tell us more about Stella & Chewy’ s, which he describes as‘ built from a very personal place’ after life-altering advice from a veterinarian.“ The vet at the shelter actually recommended that Marie not adopt Chewy given his poor health,” begins Jay.“ But Marie had already made up her mind, and she knew she needed a plan to help Chewy.” That plan recommended by the vet involved feeding both rescue dogs a raw diet of protein, fruits, and vegetables, which she spent time preparing herself.“ Chewy’ s health improved dramatically,” reveals Jay.“ In fact, he began to thrive! That was the spark behind the idea to launch these meals prepared with love as a business, which is how Stella & Chewy’ s was born.”
Exceptional safety standards
Beginning in the founder’ s Brooklyn brownstone, the food was prepared, frozen and then transported to retailers- via taxi.“ That’ s the founding story,” underlines Jay.“ Marie started small, moving from her kitchen to using co-packers for the first few years before moving the company to the Midwest and opening
▲ Marie with Stella and Chewy
foodchainmagazine. com 143