| Gaines-Burgers | |
| Producttype: | Dog food |
| Currentowner: | dVour Brands Corporation |
| Producedby: | General Foods |
| Country: | U.S. |
| Introduced: | 1961 |
| Discontinued: | 1990s (then reissued) |
| Previousowners: | General Foods |
Gaines-Burgers is an American brand of dog food currently owned and marketed by dVour Brands Corporation. Gaines-Burgers had been originally introduced in 1961 by General Foods, which ceased its production 1990s. The product consists of individually wrapped patties of moisturized dog food that resembled a hamburger.
Gaines-Burgers was named after the former Gaines Food Company of Sherburne, New York, a major pet food company acquired by General Foods in 1943.[1] Gaines Food was founded in 1928 by Clarence F. Gaines, a pioneer in dry dog food, and a breeder of pointer dogs and race horses. He was the first to add vitamins to dog food. His product became famous when it was selected to supply food for the sled dogs of the 1939 Byrd Antarctic expedition.[2]
In November 1982, General Foods introduced "Improved Gaines-Burgers Cheese", advertised as made with cheddar cheese.[3] The "improved" reference relates to an earlier version of the product "with cheese" marketed in the early 1970s.
In 1984, General Foods sold Gaines to Anderson, Clayton and Company.[4] In 1986, Quaker Oats Company bought Anderson, Clayton to acquire Gaines for its pet food division; Quaker sold the remainder of Anderson, Clayton to Kraft.[5]
In 2019, dVour Brands Corporation, a company based in Chicago, filed to register rights to the Gaines-Burgers brand.[6] Limited edition premium brand offerings of small batch fresh, slow cooked USDA-approved meat protein patties form were offered in 2020.[7] [8] The product was made available for consumers in limited batches in February 2020.[9]
In 1972, National Lampoons Deteriorata (a spoof of Desiderata, then enjoying a measure of popular attention thanks to a spoken word recording) singled out Gaines-Burgers "with cheese" in order to poke fun at modern product advertising using the line "Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting enough cheese".[10]