Cats and Wine

The Purrfect Pair

Imagine this. It’s the end of the day, and you head home to prepare dinner and relax. You pour yourself a glass of wine and also pour one for your cat.

Yes, for your cat.

This isn’t a daydream. It is possible with products from Apollo Peak, a pet-centric brand created by Brandon Zavala, B.S.’07, MBA’12.

Pet beverages were not the first thing on Zavala’s mind when he graduated from WMU with an undergraduate degree in aviation science and administration. He first started at an aerospace company in Michigan, then decided to continue his education and that business would be his next area of concentration. After earning his MBA in 2012, Zavala found himself working at Hill’s Pet Nutrition.

“While working as a sales rep in the pet market, I learned that there is a niche market for pet beverages,” says Zavala. “The pet treat market mostly consisted of dry treats tailored for dogs.”

In 2015, he took his idea and ran with it.

“I wanted to design something that was not only fun but interactive for pets and their owners,” he says. “Making a product that resembled wine would help me achieve this goal by marketing to pet owners who wanted to socially interact with their pets at home.”

Soon after this discovery came the first batch of “wine” from Apollo Peak—The Pinot Meow.

Zavala’s pet beverages are not the same thing you will find available in the wine aisle at your local grocery store. Apollo Peak products are non-alcoholic beverages made from all-natural and organic ingredients such as herbs and beets and natural preservatives such as sea salt. Some of the products even contain catnip, which when ingested can relax cats.

Since launching and refining the first product, Apollo Peak has learned to adapt and change with the pet industry and consumer demand, launching four variations of cat wine and three variations of dog wine— including, MosCATo, CharDOGnay and ZinfanTail. To expand product offerings, Zavala turns to skills learned in his MBA classes and past work experience.

“Our biggest challenge is containing our growth to a manageable level,” he says. “With a sales and marketing background, my focus is on growing our brands—before our operations team can keep up. But at the same time, we don’t want to over scale ourselves and overspend. It’s a never-ending balancing game.”

Zavala credits his ability to intuitively make changes to his business to his flexibility in his education and career.

“WMU taught me that a career in business was not only fun but offered many different avenues to pursue including sales, marketing and entrepreneurship,” he says. “To be versatile and adaptable in your career is a must, especially as you’re working towards achieving your dreams. I did not create Apollo Peak out of nowhere—I learned how to be an administrator, how to be a marketer and how to be a sales person through years of applying my education in real-world settings. Continuing your education helps you evolve faster.”

At the end of the day, what’s next for this innovator? Continuing to grow the pet treat industry, one vintage of pet wine at a time.