In the world of pet food, competition is fierce, and companies are constantly seeking new ways to stand out. Recently, a pet food shop in Beijing made an unconventional move by advertising for a full-time cat food taster. Would this novel idea work?

Everyone loves food and exploring different tastes and flavours. In fact, if you are thinking about a future job, finding an employer that would pay you to taste food and report on it could be a dream come true. Think of all that food! You could get to eat as much as you wanted, and all for free. A food tasting job was advertised recently in Beijing. Surprisingly, there were only 30 applicants. They were all cats!

A pet food shop that specializes in selling international cat food wanted to appoint a full-time cat to sample its products. This included tins of delicious crab and herring from Germany, a yummy tropical fruit selection for cats from Thailand, and an expensive deer meat direct from the USA. All applicants were tested on their personal health standards and taste preferences. An American shorthair was the successful candidate.  The cat was too modest to give a name, but he or she will now enjoy unlimited food plus a monthly salary of nearly HK$1,000!

It all sounds a little crazy, but the pet food business in Mainland China is a very serious one. It is also highly competitive. The China pet food market is valued at US$1.92 billion a year, and in 2018 alone the spending on pets rose by 18 per cent.

The number of pet owners in Mainland China is increasing. With an aging population, retired people often buy a pet for company. People are no longer getting married or having children until they are older these days. This has led to young adults buying pets. They are also heavily influenced by social media. Who would not want to own a cat or dog after looking at all those cute photos? What’s more, once a cat or dog has been brought home, it is treated more like a member of the family than just a pet. Its choice of food is very important and sometimes no expense is spared.

Research has shown that pet owners prefer to buy pet food online rather than go to a pet shop or store. Online pet food sales are big winners when it comes to e-commerce. And that is probably why the pet shop owner decided to advertise for a cat food taster. For just HK$12,000 a year, the job advertisement brought more publicity than could ever be imagined. It was a very smart move.

It remains to be seen whether or not the appointed cat will take the job seriously. Will it work hard enough to earn its monthly salary? Maybe after all that free food it may just curl up in its basket and have a good long sleep.

Question:

Enjoy this video which introduces read human cat food tasters.

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