Pets are family members, too—or at least that’s the notion on which Lee Corey has bet the business
AS A YOUNG lad growing up in the hamlet of Havelock, NB, Lee Corey had little awareness of the strange, wonderful way that life can weave destiny and inner calling through the mundane chores of rural farm life. But weave it did, through the influence of his father, who instilled in him a keen interest in genetics and animal nutrition; through the routine, discipline and regimen required to care for the family’s pets, pigs and dairy cows; and through summer work at the Lafarge cement plant in his home town of Havelock.
Although—as with most young people—he didn’t know it at the time, the foundation was being laid that Lee would build on to fulfill his entrepreneurial dream.
In September 2012, Corey Nutrition Co., a Fredericton-based company that manufactures and sells high-grade fish and pet food, celebrated 30 years in business. The company’s competitive advantage? Making premium animal food that has optimal nutrition, and selling it at non-premium prices. At its helm is none other than Lee Corey.
Corey ships dog food to 12 countries, including New Zealand, Israel, Russia and Greenland. “Your pet is a member of your family,” says Lee, addressing a key company value.
Looking back, he traces the origins of his business to his childhood relationships with farm animals, the rootedness of his dairy farm upbringing and his father’s continuous pursuit of improvement.
“I almost wish I had paid more attention,” he notes. “I would have learned more. But I was just a kid.” It took the passage of time before he realized how his father’s hard work made the pursuit of his dream possible.
But while the foundation was laid on an East Coast dairy farm, Lee’s calling emerged through a chance encounter on a different kind of farm on Canada’s West Coast.
After completing an undergraduate science degree at the University of New Brunswick, Lee moved to Vancouver to complete his masters in microbiology. One Saturday morning, he drove by a fish hatchery on the Capilano River and pulled over to take a look. The hatchery manager offered to show him the process of fish rearing.
Lee was smitten.
He returned home, enrolled in an aquaculture program in St. Andrews, NB, then found employment as a provincial fish biologist until 1982, when he started a business in his garage importing and distributing aquaculture feed to fish hatcheries. Two years later, when his American supplier’s business burned to the ground, Lee put the machinery and manufacturing skills gained during his summer employment with the Lafarge plant, together with his knowledge of farming and fish nutrition, and built his own feed mill.
A major plant expansion came in the late ‘80s, followed by a distribution warehouse in St. George, NB. Business was going swimmingly until 2006, when competition from international fish growers with low labour costs began to affect local aquaculture. He realized he had to diversify.
Lee then set his eye on another blossoming industry: pet food. The process was similar, the equipment the same, the science well established. He had already been making food for his own pets for a decade; it was a natural extension to commercialize the formula.
Pet food offered opportunities in a global market worth $60 billion. In 2006, Corey Nutrition launched two brands: Inukshuk, marketed directly to breeders and owners of dogs that “train, run and hunt like athletes;” and ProSeries, for regular pets, sold at pet stores and specialty stores such as Co-op Atlantic. He calls both brands “love in a bag.”
The timing might have been disastrous. In 2007, tainted pet food made international headlines after it was discovered that China was adding a plastic filler to the wheat gluten in the pet food it exported. However, wheat gluten was never part of the Corey recipe; the company weathered the storm.
“When I did my dog and cat formulations, I wanted them to be very precise,” says Lee. “I don’t use filler. I design diets that have full-purpose use in the animal, whether fibre or protein. The waste stream is almost zero.”
His mantra has always been optimum nutrition, maximum food safety and excellent customer service. “Food safety in animal food is just as important as in people food. My dog food is in your kitchen. You touch it when feeding your pet and you may or may not wash your hands before feeding your children. So it has to be safe.”
Although Corey Nutrition Co.’s competitors are large multinational companies, Lee says being small—he employs 42 people—brings the advantage of quick decision-making and personal response to his customers.
“People like and appreciate the notion that they can work with an Atlantic Canadian company that manufactures quality product. The good stuff doesn’t have to come from far away; we can make it right here.”
For Lee, animals are high on the food chain, and he takes his responsibility seriously. “I’m humbled by how much responsibility we have when we are feeding these animals,” he says. “People have brought their dogs to meet me. The health of these animals comes from the feed we manufacture. This is a serious job.”
He appreciates the important role animals fill within the family circle. After reading about a child with a rare, terminal condition who yearned for a puppy of her own, he offered the family a year’s supply of food for their new golden retriever.
Lee’s wife, Jane, is a nurse and, in the early years of their marriage, supported Lee while he grew the business. By the time the four Corey children had arrived, the business was strong enough to allow her to remain home. From there, she has provided the counter-balance to Lee’s energy and drive.
“She listens to me endlessly. As you get older, you understand these things better: the business is wonderful, but my kids, family and marriage are much more important. If I don’t have that, all I have is a job.”
Pets in all shapes and sizes have had a place in the Corey household. The kids grew up around chameleons, chinchillas, snakes and spiders. Although the pet inventory is now a bit more conventional with their dog, Lux, and Mel and Buddy, the cats, one might admit that a pair of praying mantises, named Murray and Murda, are a bit more unusual.
“We bought some egg masses to help control insects in the garden, then moved two of the adults inside for the winter,” Lee explains. “They are pretty quiet. They just hang out in the hibiscus. You kinda get to like them after a while.”
The Corey children, ages 22 to 27, have worked in the business in various capacities, but are now all pursuing their own goals. Eldest son, Michael, who started shooting online videos for the business, now traverses the globe as a travel videographer.
Lee, however, does hope the business will someday offer some of them opportunities to apply their own interests and creative skills.
“I would suggest that I am all about succession,” he says. “We talk about the business at home like it is a precious heirloom.”
He admires the East Coast business giants—the McCains, Ganongs and Irvings—not for their wealth, but because they kept the business in the family.
“My dad was a first-generation entrepreneur. Although he didn’t have an education, he provided the tools to give me mine. My job is to stand on that platform and create another for my children… I will make it as good as I can for my kids and then hopefully, they can take it for another 30 or 40 years.”
Lee’s energy and quick laughter seem evidence of a positive outlook on life, and perhaps this is his most valuable legacy. “If you’re not happy, you are slowly dying,” he says.
“I sit down in January and write goals. And I do them. There is no rewind button on this baby. It matters what you do in the 85 years you may live on this planet. I think when you take your last breath, you had better be happy.”