Hartford Business Journal

14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | AUGUST 24, 2026 A Bank That Grows With Your Business Every Business Has a Vision. We're Here to Help Bring Yours to Life. From startup to expansion, we're here with the local expertise, financial solutions, and personalized service to help your business reach its next milestone. Wherever your business is headed next, we're ready to help you get there. Contact Tim Bergstrom at 860.283.1874, stop by a branch, or visit us online to get started today! • Business Checking • Business Savings • Treasury Managment • Commercial Mortgages • Business Loans • Fraud Protection Equal Housing Lender Member FDIC 860.283.1874 ThomastonSB.com a particularly influential group in accelerating this trend, with a strong recognition of the emotional and health benefits pets provide. Another analyst, Nandini Roy Choudhury at Future Market Insights, said that small-batch producers such as Oma's Pride are particularly well placed to benefit from these trends. "Sourcing transparency, local production and traceability carry particular weight in this segment," she said. "Consumers buying raw food are often interested not only in the product itself but also in where the meat came from, how it was processed and who made it." DeJulius said maintaining rela- tively small production batches is central to the company's strategy and its positioning as a regional family-owned brand. "We call ourselves a New England family heritage brand," he said. "Our food is made in small batches under 200 pounds. Our ingredients are care- fully sourced through relationships we've had for literally decades." For DeJulius, taking over the family business has also brought the responsibility of preserving an asset built across four generations. He describes the work since returning to Oma's Pride as "all-consuming," but said it suits his high-energy personality. "We have 40 families that rely on me every single day to make good decisions," he said. "I have cousins, I have aunts, I have uncles, I have my mother who this is a significant asset for them and their children. Ulti- mately, I need to do a great job." describes as the company's four biggest inputs — all soared. At the same time, pet ownership increased and many people spent more time at home with their animals, creating new demand. "Our direct-to-consumer business basically doubled, but shipping frozen pet food right to people's doors, you were making less money than you ever made on it," DeJulius said. Shortly before the pandemic, Oma's Pride had signed a lease for a second location, a distribution center in Bristol. DeJulius said the additional capacity helped the company keep up as demand surged. After the world opened up again, the company pursued the neighbor- hood pet retail market. DeJulius said the company made a conscious deci- sion not to distribute through big-box stores like Walmart, Target, PetSmart or Petco, instead going for smaller, specialty stores and chains, while also building out its e-commerce, direct-to-consumer business. "We make all of our own stuff. The inventory commitments are pretty significant and the risk is pretty large," he said of the decision to steer clear of major retailers. The company remains completely bootstrapped, with no outside financing, DeJulius said. He and his brother Nick, who is head of operations, describe the company as a 75-year-old startup. But it's a startup that the new genera- tion is growing deliberately. "When I got here, we were around 15 people and I think six of them were family," DeJulius said. "And now we have about 40 folks and it's just me and my brother, the only family members." Industry shift According to the American Pet Products Association (APPA), the raw dog food segment remains niche, but has experienced meaningful growth in recent years. In 2025, 8% of dog owners reported purchasing raw food, representing a 60% increase from 2018, according to the association. APPA President and CEO Pete Scott said many pet owners today take a "build-the-bowl" approach to nutrition, combining different food formats to create what they perceive as a more balanced or customized diet, with raw food as one tool within a broader nutritional strategy. "The humanization of pets has been one of the most influential forces shaping the pet industry for decades, and it continues to drive purchasing decisions today," he said. "Owners often apply the same standards and values they use when making decisions for themselves or their families to the products they purchase for their pets." Scott also said that Gen Z has been Continued from page 13 Jonaldoell Castellar (left) and Miguel Rodriguez work on the production line at Oma's Pride.

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