It’s no surprise that dog owners will do anything for their pooches, and for customers of Raw Dog Food and Company, that once meant rearranging their entire day to pick up their raw dog food deliveries.

Prior to partnering with Roadie, the Colorado-based wholesale direct-to-consumer raw dog food company got product into customers’ hands at a warehouse pickup point and through limited home delivery. Still, they knew they were missing a major opportunity with pet owners who had become accustomed to the convenience of Amazon same-day delivery, particularly in the pandemic.  “We knew that not offering a same-day delivery option was limiting our customer base,” said Raw Dog Food and Company President Rick Moffett. “As customers’ expectations around convenience have increased in the pandemic, we needed to keep up–and that’s where Roadie came in.”

We knew that not offering a same-day delivery option was limiting our customer base. As customers’ expectations around convenience has increased in the pandemic, we needed to keep up–and that’s where Roadie came in.

-Raw Dog FOOD AND COMPANY President, Rick Moffett

With that in mind, Raw Dog Food and Company started exploring how they could deliver products directly to their customers’  doors. But with a raw dog food product – well, let’s just say the delivery logistics were a little “ruff.”

“We initially resisted the idea of home delivery because we didn’t see a way to do it without increasing our product costs,” said Rick. “The cost of putting a truck on the road with insurance, gas and the driver – not to mention the added time managing a delivery route – would have driven product costs up and prohibited many of our customers from being able to afford the service.”

Previous experiments with offering home delivery had left Raw Dog Food and Company chasing its tail. The delivery reach was limited, and often, customers couldn’t place orders because no drivers were available. Poor service from prior delivery partners had outstripped the benefits Raw Dog Food and Company hoped to offer customers. Partnering with the wrong company had a negative impact on customer service, limiting the company’s growth and tarnishing its brand image.

But home delivery went from “nice to have” to “mission-critical” nearly overnight at the start of 2020. When the pandemic hit, the team at Raw Dog Food and Company knew it was time to rethink their approach to local delivery. Same-day delivery was a growth opportunity for the business, and a better way to serve customers social distancing at home. And so they turned to Roadie.

Roadie was able to provide a fixed cost delivery option so the team could tightly manage its margins while also getting orders to customers quickly. After partnering with Roadie, the company was able to expand its delivery from 30 miles to 85 miles, exponentially widening its market.

Outsourcing the delivery to Roadie drivers also mitigated Raw Dog Food and Company’s risk because they didn’t need to put their own staff and vehicles on the road. Instead, their team could stay at their warehouse serving customers. “We worked with Roadie and our app developer to automate a system that integrates seamlessly with our checkout process, allowing for manual changes to be made the day of delivery,” said Rick. “Now, we can customize cut-off and delivery times to suit our customers’ needs, and there are always drivers available to carry through on the promises we make. Roadie has allowed us to expand our services and serve our customers with confidence while focusing on other areas like expansion and marketing.”

The partnership with Roadie produced “paws-itive” results immediately, with a 56% increase in home deliveries and numbers continuing to grow. The company was able to offer scalable same-day delivery and increase order speed as well. “When we were able to offer a low-cost, easy solution for customers to get raw dog food delivered, we experienced a large growth in orders,” said Rick. “Roadie has given us a competitive edge in the pet food market.”

When we were able to offer a low-cost, easy solution for customers to get raw dog food delivered, we experienced a large growth in orders. Roadie has given us a competitive edge in the pet food market.”