AFCO BUYING SHOW 2024
AFCO BUYING SHOW 2024
Vendor Profile: OUR ALL-STAR BOOTH WINNER
Boss Nation® Brands was chosen for our vendor profile because of its focus on frozen dog and cat foods; however, winning the coveted “All Star Booth 2024 AFCO Buying Show Award” was a great reason, too. Basel “Vasili” Nassar thinks of Boss Nation Brands, Inc. as an expression of himself. Vasili’s venture into pet nutrition comes after a successful venture as one of the founding partners of a Greek yogurt company that now generates hundreds of millions in sales and is carried by major grocers all over the world. A serial entrepreneur, Vasili began a company in late 2018 that is a testament of who he is, what he believes in and a test of his resolve. Comprised of Boss Dog® and Boss Cat®, Boss Nation Brands is seeing success like no other. With the adoption of pandemic pets and the humanization of animals as a coping mechanism for pet owners during COVID-19, Boss Nation Brands has managed to hit financial milestones despite worldwide challenges. Vasili, a Seattle businessman, is thankful his company weathered the storm; but he admits he would “never wish what happened in 2020 on any start-up business.” If one positive thing came out of that challenging time, Basil says it’s clear that high-quality nutrition is important to people who have a strong bond with their dogs and cats. As a business owner who insists on a healthy lifestyle, he personally makes sure his four dogs, Kelby, Toby, Layla and Abby, and cat Niko always have good nutrition. It’s that passion of feeding his own pets the very best that sparked Basel on a mission to create innovative pet products, which he did at record speeds. Basil was able to push his recent innovations by maintaining pricing controls and COGS, despite supply chain challenges. In fact, year-over-year, many of the Boss Nation family of products saw core segments doubling and tripling in volume and sales. Key expansion into international markets was a driving factor in the finances of the company. There are now more than 450,000 points of distribution just in North America, with AFCO being his choice for the PNW and expansion abroad on the horizon.
Customer Profile: AFCO PARTNER FOR 30 YEARS
Kiperts Korner Feed is a quintessential, family owned, community focused farm and feed store serving the neighborhoods around Olympia-Tumwater, WA since 1990. The initial inventory offered for sale at Kiperts Korner consisted of 500 bales of local hay, eight tons of Darigold® grain, and a semi- load each of alfalfa and straw. This inventory provided customers with the first reasons to support Craig and Roxy Kinneman’s fledgling business. Thirty-four years later, Kiperts Korner is an established community treasure. It has grown into a highly diversified, full-service retailer for pet, small animal, livestock, equine, and farm supplies. In fact, Kiperts Korner has expanded two more times; opening Kiperts Trailer Sales in the early 2000s and Kips Garage in 2015. This year marked the 30th Anniversary of AFCO Distribution and Milling’s business partnership with Kiperts Korner. This partnership began on March 25, 1994. Kiperts has since become one of our independent top three largest sales volume dealers in western Washington. Craig and Roxy have passed their culture and their way of conducting business on to long-serving employees who continue to cultivate a service-oriented, knowledge-based approach to meeting the needs of a diversified customer base. When it comes to serving customers and supporting the local community, Kiperts gets it. Whether you are a consumer, an employee, or a supplier, doing business with Craig and Roxie (or Julie, Jenn, and Rob) its truly a positive and valued experience.
The BOSS Team at AFCO’s Buying Show from left to right: Mike Hom, Henry Lam, David Underwood, Basel Nassar, and Tyson DeFrance.
Craig and Roxy Kinneman, founders of Kiperts Korner, serving Olympia-Tumwater, WA.
This husky model sports a BOSS tactical harness.
Here’s to another 30 years of partnership with Kiperts Korner!
8 | SUMMER 2024
CO-OP CONNECTION | 9
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