True Pet Food Courts Retail Partners at First Inner Circle Gathering

KINGSTON, Jamaica — True Pet Food has staged its first Inner Circle forum, bringing retailers, distributors, customers and staff together at Sandals Dunn’s River for a private event focused on business relationships and the company’s next stage of expansion.

The gathering, organised around the theme “Impact”, gave the pet food company space to unveil fresh products, acknowledge important partners and sharpen the message carried by the people who deal with shoppers on its behalf.

Tina Hamilton, senior manager at True Pet Food, said the event was built for the company’s most engaged customers and trade partners. “The Inner Circle was created as an invitation-only event for people including our top customers, who are serious about growing the brand and also helping to grow themselves,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said True Pet Food has put major resources behind retailers through marketing assistance such as store makeovers, exterior branding and displays inside shops. She said those efforts form part of the company’s wider push to build public interest in pet care.

Training and information, she added, remain central to that plan because retailers and other frontline representatives are helping buyers make decisions in a pet food space with more competing options. “We really needed to tailor our messaging to the people who represented us, to the customers,” she said. “The people in the stores need to know what to say and they need to understand True [Pet Food]; they have to have an idea what our messaging is and why we are different.”

The programme also included awards for staff members, retailers and distributors whose work has helped the brand grow. “It’s the first of its kind, and we wanted to reward these individuals and businesses because they’ve put in so much work, and it was just to show how much of an impact they’ve all had on the pet industry in Jamaica,” Hamilton said.

Medical Disposables and Supplies, which has handled distribution of True Pet Food products for two years, was among the companies represented. Tricia Dawson, the company’s business development manager, said the partnership has been one of its more energising business links. “Our relationship with True started two years ago, and it has grown tremendously,” Dawson said. “We’re also excited about where the brand is going.”

Dawson said the Inner Circle showed how seriously True Pet Food treats both customers and commercial partners.

Farm Plus, a retailer that began stocking the products in 2020, also reported a positive response from shoppers. “We have a very meaningful relationship with True,” said company representative Donna Delancy. “From ever since we introduced the product in the store, it has been a very successful venture.”

General Foods Supermarket said its support for the brand goes back to the launch. “General Foods Liguanea has been with True from day one,” said manager Sheryl Chung. “We’ve seen the development compared to the international brands, the impact on the local market as well as the relationship with both the customers and the store.”

Chung said the event also gave retailers a useful chance to network, exchange knowledge and better understand where the brand intends to go next.