Raised Right: Putting Animals First
Braeden Ruud MS ’16, along with his family, founded Raised Right, a company that makes stage-of-life specific meals for dogs and cats with human-grade ingredients and safety standards. Raised Right’s subscription service will deliver the perfect amount of pet food to your door with environmentally friendly materials.
Ruud’s background in ranching and farming, along with his love of animals, inspired the creation of this pet focused brand.
Interview with Braeden Ruud
Where did the idea come from?
On March 16, 2007, I walked into our family kitchen to find out that there had been a massive outbreak of pet food contamination and thousands of pets had gotten sick and died. Because of this, my mother had prepared freshly cooked food and stated, “from now on, we are going to feed homemade food to our pets. This is the only way we will know exactly what’s in it.” As time went by friends and family began requesting our meals for their pets and the idea for Raised Right was born.
What makes your business unique?
Our meals are cooked in USDA inspected human-grade facilities and every ingredient in our meals has passed the same standards that are necessary for human consumption. Every batch of our food is lab tested after it is cooked to help ensure our meals are safe to eat. We do not ship any of our meals unless they pass the lab safety test.
Every single ingredient in our recipes has a purpose. We do not use any preservatives or filler ingredients like grain, corn, or potato and all our meals contain a single source of meat protein. This makes Raised Right a great option for pets with allergies or food sensitivities to ingredients that are common in traditional pet foods. We also have a map on our website that traces every ingredient to its source.
When feeding Raised Right you do not have to worry about how much to feed your pets. Using our customized feeding program, we calculate how much to feed your pet based on its age, weight, activity level, and whether you think your pet needs to maintain, gain, or lose weight.
Environmental sustainability is also very important to us. Our custom shipping boxes are made from cardboard that can be picked up by most curbside recycling programs. Our refrigerated liners are made from a biodegradable film and recycled textile fibers. Our bags are made from plastic #2, which is BPA-free and can be recycled into many items such as picnic tables, pens, and even recycling containers themselves.
Another unique initiative we are launching is The Right Way Retail Alliance. This program is designed to give traditional brick and mortar retailers an omni-channel opportunity selling our product to their clients either in-store or online. All brick and mortar retailers who stock our product on their shelves will be able to provide their customers with convenient home delivery of our food through our online subscription service. They also do not have to worry about fulfillment because that is done by us.
What are your goals for the future?
Our goal for the near future is to roll out our meals in 23 States with a controlled expansion throughout the United States and Canada, for both retail stores and online subscription service. We are currently developing a line of treats for dogs and cats, as well as testing new recipes for our pet food line.
How did Babson help you in making Raised Right become a reality?
I started developing the business concept at Babson and my idea was selected for a project in the Master of Science in Management in Entrepreneurial Leadership (MSEL) program. This progressed to Raised Right participating in Babson’s Summer Venture Program.
Babson made a huge impact on both Raised Right and my personal development as an entrepreneur. After experiencing the programs and resources that are available to all students, it is no surprise to me that Babson has the reputation it does for entrepreneurship. The learnings I gained from other people’s businesses, experiences, systems, tools, and processes were extremely helpful into taking our idea and turning it into a reality. Above all, the people make Babson what it is. I will forever be grateful to the Babson community and to all the people who went out of their way to help bring Raised Right to life.
I’d like to thank my classmates, the Babson faculty, and all the amazing entrepreneurs and advisors I had the honor of working side by side with in the Summer Venture Program. Special shout outs to Sharon Sinnott, Dr. Caroline Daniels, Cindy Klein Marmer, Antonette Ho, Debi Kleiman, Andrew Zacharakis, Stephen Brand, Jeff Schiebe, Cindy Berg, Emily Denoble, Candida Brush, Len Green, Rick Macieko, Sumit Sharma, Duhui Cai, Aditya Mehta, Rahul Agarwal, Bella Cintron Latalladi, Adrija Chakraborty, Angela Wijono, Julian Jirsak, Gabriel Ficht, Waseem Shabout, Nicholas Papps, Emily Lagasse, Rachel Greenberger, Greg McDonald, George O’Shea, and Arthur Eilertson. I would also like to thank Barry, Adam, & Ari Jacobson for partnering with us to make Raised Right a reality in the marketplace.
To see more about Raised Right follow them @raisedrightpets on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter.