Its A Dog-eats-apples World

Once as rare as heirloom tomatoes, all-natural, organic, high-priced pet food isn't as scarce as it used to be. It's available at mainstream retailers such as Petco and PetSmart and on supermarket shelves. The labels tout human-friendly ingredients: apples, carrots, pumpkin and low-fat meat, with few fillers or additives.

Brad Kriser isn't filling a few shelves with natural pet food. He's filling entire stores with it. By doing so, he hopes to attract a national audience of well-heeled, nutrition-conscious pet owners to Kriser's Feeding Pets for Life LLC, his chain of nine pet- supplies stores.

The Whole Foods of the pet worldthat's what we want to be known as, says Mr. Kriser, 40.

Kriser's, which is based in Chicago and Los Angeles, where he also has a home, does indeed resemble Whole Foods. The stores feature stained-concrete floors, dark-wood shelving, high ceilings and attractive lighting. In addition to dozens of brands of natural dog and cat food, the stores stock upscale pet toys and clothing, plus unusual items such as bison-tendon treats and duck-feet snacks.

Personal touches abound. A prominent sign in all stores reads: All our foods are personally approved by me. And yes, I've tried them all. It's signed by Mr. Kriser, who confesses that he's snacked on some of the foodhe says it's blandbut not all of it.

With big-box retailers on one end and mom-and-pops on the other, Kriser's fills a gap in the $56 billion pet-supplies market. There is nothing like a Whole Foods in the pet market, says David Lummis, pet market analyst at Packaged Facts, a New York-based retail research firm. You look at the size of the market and say, Why not?'

Kriser's least-expensive brand, Canidae, is $10 for 4 pounds. Premium supermarket dog food, by contrast, costs about $7 for the same-sized bag.

After earning an MBA from Loyola University Chicago in 1998, Mr. Kriser was working at a tech startup when his love of animals and boredom with his job sparked his move to entrepreneurship. His first effort, the Barking Lot, offers pet services at locations in Chicago and Deerfield. He opened the first Kriser's, in Lincoln Park, in 2006.

Mr. Kriser, who has two dogs (and four children), is scouting capital for seven more locations this year, including one in Denver, a new market. His grand plan? A national chain with 100 or more locations. He won't release financial numbers, but he says revenue increased by 40 percent in 2011.

He faces one challenge in San Diego-based Petco Animal Supplies Inc., whose 40-unit, all-natural chain, Unleashed by Petco, has a strong West Coast presence. Another is his own company's name, which doesn't exactly scream pet food. But like selling chews made from lambs' esophagi and taste-testing food, Mr. Kriser says putting his name on the door infuses the brand with personality and credibility.

We're trying to show there's someone behind every decision, he says. For more information Please visit : www.krisers.com