Inside Open Farm’s Operating Model

Issue #290

January 12th, 2026

Quick Hits:

🤝 Alfa Laval partners with GA Petfoods on next-gen pet food production

🌱 Chris Packham discussed his decision to feed his dogs a vegan diet

👩‍⚕️ IDEXX dominates vet diagnostics with recurring revenue and innovation strategy

🇦🇪 PetBae scales via strategic aggregation following successful Shark Tank UAE appearance

🔥 The FireTag smart collar could save your pet’s life

🇰🇷 South Korea battles Petflation with government subsidies and tax breaks 

🐶 Meet the bulldog who got a facelift

In one of the most competitive and commoditized categories in consumer goods, Open Farm has taken a deliberately harder path: scale without shortcuts. In this wide-ranging conversation, co-founders Isaac Langleben (CEO) and Jacqueline Prehogan (Chief Brand Officer) break down what it actually takes to grow a mission-driven brand beyond its early ideals - without diluting standards, outsourcing trust, or letting growth incentives quietly rewrite the playbook. This isn’t a story about branding slogans or marketing polish. It’s about systems, discipline, and the unglamorous work required to protect values as volume increases.

What we discussed:

• What a modern Chief Brand Officer actually does

• How the CEO role evolves as a company scales

• Turning values into operating filters—not slogans

• Differentiation inside a legacy, crowded category

• Scaling complexity without eroding standards

And much more…

Jacqueline, as Chief Brand Officer, you sit at the intersection of mission, strategy, product, and marketing. How do you define the core responsibilities of a CBO today, and what does that role look like inside a fast-growing, values-driven company like Open Farm?

Jacqueline: I see the Chief Brand Officer as the guardian of what a brand stands for. At a fast-growing, values-driven company like Open Farm, the challenge isn’t growth, it’s scaling without compromising your standards. My role is to ensure the brand stays anchored in the principles that define us: exceptional nutrition, animal welfare, sustainability, and transparency.

I often think about the role in terms of “what we do” and “what we say.” What we do is the work itself—sourcing third-party certified ingredients from our network of best-in-class farms, partnering closely with our in-house veterinary nutritionist to optimize every recipe, and building systems that deliver full ingredient transparency. What we say is how we clearly and honestly communicate that work to pet parents.

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