Chuck & Don's buys online company Fetch to expand its pet food sales

A local chain that sells pet food and other supplies is getting into the e-commerce business. Chuck & Don's announced that it has acquired Fetch, a Minneapolis company that has been offering online sales and home delivery of pet food and supplies in the Twin Cities metro area since 2006.

"Being able to provide e-commerce through Fetch perfectly suits our vision of providing quality and convenience to our customers," said Bob Hartzell, CEO and president of Chuck & Don's in a statement.

It also represents the next step toward becoming the leading pet supplier in the region, he said.

Thomas Murphy, the company's chief financial officer, said that Chuck & Don's knew online sales and home delivery were key to staying competitive with larger companies such as Petco and PetSmart that are already doing so in many markets.

"We don't see this as a national platform, but it augments our position in the Minneapolis and Denver markets," Murphy said in an interview.

Chuck & Don's, based in Mahtomedi, was founded in 1990 by Charles "Chuck" Anderson and Don Tauer. It has grown to include 25 Minnesota locations, 10 Colorado stores and one site in Wisconsin.

It offers brand-name, specialty and hard-to-find pet foods and supplies for dogs, cats, small animals, birds, reptiles and aquatic creatures.

The online service now includes Chuck & Don's Minnesota and Wisconsin store areas, and the company expects to expand it to Colorado by mid-2017.

Murphy said that Fetch, headquartered in north Minneapolis, had revenue of about $400,000 last year and about 2,000 active customers.

Fetch was looking for a way to grow, he said, and Chuck & Don's was looking for an efficient way to enter the e-commerce world.

The acquisition closed at the end of 2016, Murphy said, and the past two months have been spent integrating the two companies for a smooth rollout, both in terms of physical distribution and updated website links.

"This got us into the marketplace with a revenue stream and a proven software package that we can build on," Murphy said. Chuck & Don's had sales of more than $70 million in 2016, he said, and has opened 12 stores in the past three years.