Flint River Ranch is celebrating its 18th birthday! From Headquarters:
As I reflect on the significance of being in business for 18 years, I remember my first days back with Flint River Ranch; now over 16 years ago. Back then we only sold Cat, Original, Nugget and Senior/Lite. We worked out of a small warehouse with cramped front offices and little storage. We did everything by hand, taking orders on PC’s that had maybe 250 Kilobytes of RAM and used dial-up modems. We dealt with lots of forms; received hundreds of faxes & mailed in orders, and handled most orders via live phone calls. Every order was handled by 6 different people. I remember being on the phones, taking orders and after completing the order, letting the customer know that they could expect the order in 7 to 14 business days since we were shipping from California and Pittsburgh. It was quite different from how we conduct business today.
We have always strived to do those things that benefit customers and their family companions in conservative manner to keep your feeding costs down. Today we have our second version of the website handling interface between you, our distributors and directly placing your orders. Most orders are now handled via the Internet; either through the Company website, a replicated distributor website or through the distributors personal website. Our shipping time; by now using 14 logistical warehouses, has dropped to within 3 days on average for even more fresher products. I think that we only “touch” 5% of the orders anymore. All the rest go through our system via electronic means. The focus of our Call Center is process development, checking on shipping, problem solving and informing new distributors and customers about the product line. We always strive to provide the best service for our customers.
Jim and I miss the “human touch” we used to be able to give to each customer. We knew many of our customers by their voice and could recite their orders from memory before even looking up their accounts. We continue to encourage our CSR’s and distributors to provide the human element that everyone should expect from Flint River Ranch. Flint River Ranch was built by personal relationships that our distributors would developed with their customers and we would personally support. We look to continue to build our relationship with you but in a different manner; I personally receive every email that comes to me. I continue to get in new testimonials and we post them on our Facebook and on the Company website. None of these testimonies are fabricated; they all come from emails submitted to us. I love that so many send in pictures of their pets also, please continue sharing your success with our formulas. I will continue to look for more ways to reach out to everyone as personally as I can.
We still sell our Original Oven-baked Kibble and Nugget, as well as our Original Cat formulas. However, we’ve added Lamb many years ago, Trout and our Duck oven-baked, no-grain formulas followed successfully as well. We added Hairball and Lite Cat formulas years ago as well. We are looking at about 14 years of Dry Water being a unique and successful product all onto itself. We continue to look into the future demands of our customers; No-Grain formulas continue to gain in popularity. Our No-Grain formulas are doing very well and we continue to get good reports on the health and vigor that these recipes provide your pets. We are working towards having our first No-Grain Cat formula soon; following in the experience we’ve gained from our Trout & Potato and Duck & Potato formulas.
Yes, we’ve grown, changed and expanded in our business over these past 18 years. We continue to be guided by our customers and distributors needs, and by Jim Flint. Jim continues to have the insight and knowledge to make Flint River Ranch viable and relevant in today’s market. Other companies have come and gone these past years, but Flint River Ranch continues to provide our customers with some of the finest pet food diets available on the market. Some of our formulas are now 18 years old and they are still relevant and in high demand. Original Oven-baked Kibble is still our number one formula; despite its age. Jim helped develop this formula over 18 years ago, and it’s still just as good as it was during its introduction. Sometimes you just get it right the first time.
Thank you for your continued patronage! We’re looking forward to our next 18 years with you!
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