Powder Coating a Dog Bowl Led to Worldwide Company

Located in the Valencia Industrial Center, today the company manufactures eco-friendly designer products for pets. Privately funded by Kier, Platinum Pets has 15 employees and manufactures items, such as bowls, leashes, collars and its newest product: smartphone scannable pet ID tags.

The company’s newest innovation was introduced three months ago when Kier started selling his patent-pending Lost N’ Found pet ID tags. Lost N’ Found IDs serve the function of the traditional pet microchip but for a much more affordable cost. “We just came out with this; it’s getting a lot of attention, and we’re selling a lot,” Kier said. Platinum Pets has already sold about 5,000 ID tags, he said.

Each tag comes adorned with a scannable bar code allowing smartphone users to simply scan the bar-coded tag with their phones. They are then taken to the Platinum Pets website and a page in which they can see information about the pets whose tags they scanned.
“It’s a really good deal for what you get,” said Platinum Pets Marketing Director Sarah Royer. Information such as the pet’s name, owner’s name, address and phone number and even the pet’s immunization records are available on the webpage. Not only is the tag more affordable than a microchip but may come in handy with a roaming dog — just scan the tag and contact the pet’s owner without having to contact Animal Control or transport a stray animal to a vet for a microchip reading. “It’s a really modernized pet tag,” Kier said.

Lost N’ Found ID tags and all Platinum Pets products are available in more than 300 stores worldwide and the company has five distributors. Kier said that his company sells more than 100,000 units per year. He also stated that Platinum Pets has grown 300 percent within the last year and that he expects it to grow another 300 percent next year. Currently, working on a sales deal with stores in Japan, Kier is also selling Platinum Pets products in Canada right now.

For Kier, Platinum Pets has proved to be a booming business. Within the last year, he went from manufacturing dog bowls to manufacturing a whole line of pet products. Many of the company’s innovations have come as ideas based on products specifically requested by customers. “We listen to our customers and what they want and need,” Royer said.

While the business does not have an actual storefront, Platinum Pets’ warehouse serves as its place of manufacture. “We sell our products in ma-and-pa stores and also major retail stores,” Kier said. In addition to selling its products to retailers, its products are also available for purchase on the Platinum Pets website and online stores, such as Amazon. “We’re in about 400 stores nationwide, and we’re adding more every day,” he said.

Kier’s future goal for Platinum Pets is to gain worldwide brand recognition and to sell his products in all major pet retailers. “Things happen very fast; we’re a fairly new company and we’re still growing.”