Selling her business will allow Terry Garberg to focus on a passion project.

Olathe-based Bark to Basics, a wholesale distributor of natural pet foods in the Midwest region, has sold to Texas company Animal Supply Co. The deal closed Dec. 29, and terms were not disclosed.

Bark to Basics is a 2011 winner of Thinking Bigger’s 25 Under 25 Awards.

Growing Bark to Basics

Garberg founded Bark to Basics in 2002. At the time, she said, consumers were beginning to look for higher-quality pet foods.

“It wasn’t easy to find them, and there weren’t a lot of high-quality choices,” Garberg said. “When I formed Bark to Basics, I saw a growing consumer trend of wanting higher-quality pet food—but there was nowhere to buy it.”

Her company was the link between new, smaller manufacturers focusing on high-quality pet food and independent retailers that wanted to sell it. But, Garberg said, over the past 15 years, the market has shifted.

“When I started Bark to Basics, it was really a cause. My cause was to bring high-quality pet food into this area,” she said. “But by the time I sold Bark to Basics, there was less need for that kind of cause because it had grown into its own industry—the natural, high-quality pet foods segment.”

Selling the business

Garberg said Animal Supply was eager to take advantage of her relationship with Champion Petfoods, maker of Orijen and Acana pet foods. Those are two of her top-selling brands.

It took her several months after Animal Supply first made her an offer in March of 2017 to feel that she was emotionally ready to sell, and that the business was ready, she said.

“I really looked at the changes in the industry from a straight operational standpoint. I just had to accept the fact that it was time for a bigger company to take it over,” she said. “There wasn’t the need any more for a distributor in this area that only focused on the smaller upstarts because most of them had grown to the point where they could work with a nationwide distributor.

“So it’s bittersweet, but it also just made sense.”

Garberg said she’s thankful for her law firm, Kutak Rock LLP, and attorney Mitch Woolery for helping to close the deal—especially because the closing took place during the holiday season.

“It was a very busy time, but everyone stepped up to the plate,” she said.

In transition

Garberg will stay on with Bark to Basics to help with the transition. Animal Supply offered to keep on all of the employees who wanted to stay, and most of the 30 employees did, she said.

“That was an essential part of the deal to me,” she said.

General Manager Travis Schram is running the Kansas City-area operations on a day-to-day basis. However, the Houston Bark to Basics warehouse will close and consolidate with Animal Supply’s operation outside of San Antonio. Garberg said the employees there have been offered the option to relocate.

A new focus

Meanwhile, the sale has given Garberg the opportunity to focus on what had been a side business called Rawsome, which has a kitchen and warehouse in Olathe. It’s a manufacturer of frozen raw bones and dehydrated meat treats. Currently, it has two employees.

Garberg said she is working to set up Rawsome as a philanthropic enterprise—it will operate as a for-profit company, but all profits will be donated to pet-related causes, primarily rescue groups. The model is similar to the company Newman’s Own, she said.

There are details to work out, she said, including partnerships with rescue groups, retailers and distributors.

Bark to Basics was the main distributor of Rawsome; Garberg said Animal Supply agreed to continue distributing its products.

Now, with Bark to Basics in good hands, Garberg has the opportunity now to focus on making Rawsome a nationwide brand.

“The time was right, I was emotionally ready, and I started thinking about what I could do with Rawsome in terms of turning it into really charitable entity. That gave me something to look forward to and to get excited about. That helped me to be able to move on.”