Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness with their dogs on behalf of their new pet brand Yummers

Since 2018, Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness have graced our television screens with their ongoing quest to improve the lives of everyday people from the inside out on their Emmy-winning Netflix series Queer Eye. Today, fresh off of another Emmy win, Jonathan and Antoni are ready to also make a difference in the lives of dogs & cats, as they launch their new pet food brand Yummers, consisting of a variety of gourmet and functional mix-ins to better enhance the meals of our favorite furry friends.

“I think we both are, aside from being close friends and having worked together for years, we both are passionate pet parents,” Jonathan tells me about him and Antoni. “I’m the parent of five cats - I now have two dogs. Antoni adopted Neon in the early days of the pandemic and that was something that further solidified our bond.”

Antoni adds, “We both are really obsessed with our pets so much. Then during the pandemic, one of the very few things that came out of it, I started fostering and adopted my pit[bull]-mix Neon and I wanted to start getting creative in terms of what I was giving her and so, I was making my own versions of meal toppers, like roasting a whole filet of salmon that I was going to eat for a couple days and then taking the skin and chopping it up and dehydrating it. It all kind of came from a fun, organic place and it has been fun to test everything out on her.”

Yummers co-founders Antoni Porowski, Rebecca Frechette Rudisch and Jonathan Van Ness

Their Yummers co-founder Rebecca Frechette Rudisch, coming from an extensive background within the pet industry and beyond, explains how this new brand ultimately came about for these three animal lovers.

“I, for a long time, had been kind of pining to do something really spectacular in the pet space, knowing that it’s such an emotional category,” Rebecca continues. “I have not seen a brand yet that has really struck on that emotion in an awesome way. Jonathan and Antoni had been talking about doing something within the pet space and we all came together and just started building this magical brand together, based on my experience in pet but more importantly, their passion as pet parents.”

Beyond Queer Eye and their new business adventure with Yummers, Jonathan recently expanded his beauty industry reach on the world when he launched his JVN Hair brand in late August 2021. Antoni, continuing with his culinary focus, has brought his favorite recipes and more to kitchens everywhere since releasing his cookbooks in 2019 and 2021. So, I asked all three of these Yummers co-founders and busy entrepreneurs how their mindset toward business and their interest in projects has evolved throughout their many experiences over the years.

Johnathan Van Ness and Antoni Porowski

Jonathan starts by saying, “I think for me what has been really exciting is that whether it’s with JVN Hair or Yummers, understanding that we have an opportunity to affect change from within industries that we’re passionate about I think is really exciting. So, to be able to kind of have more of a voice in the creative process of like how these things come to fruition is really exciting versus like jumping into someone else’s ship. You’re like getting to make your own ship, which is really cool and interesting. Working and meeting Rebecca has been so exciting and I love this process of bringing these products to fruition. It has been about three years - it was pre-pandemic that we started in this process. It has just been so exciting to see it come to life.”

Rebecca adds, “It has been such an amazing journey and I have had the amazing fortune in my career of being able to launch and build some incredible brands in snacks & beverages, in cleaning, in beauty and other categories. I’ve always been really inspired by founders but I was kind of the intrapreneur working for big retailers and seeing it from the other side. It has been so rewarding to make the shift to become an entrepreneur and to partner with JVN & Antoni on this brand to really bring the best of all that they know and all that they’re passionate about and all that they’ve learned, and also bring a set of values that we all share into creating a brand that is going to be spectacular.”

Antoni follows up with, “It’s the collaboration that’s fascinating to me, personally. Obviously, we have Rebecca, who’s a pro and has been holding our hands along the way. On all of these calls, for me, it’s all about ingredients and the texture and the size of the morsels. Whereas with JVN, every single call sustainability comes up and what kind of packaging are we using and how are we shipping all this stuff. We kind of get to focus on the things that really matter and we all come together and it paints this like big, beautiful picture that is what Yummers has become and hopefully where it’s headed.”

Now with six seasons of Queer Eye already on Netflix and the seventh season filmed and coming soon to the streaming giant, I wondered how Antoni and Jonathan (along with their Queer Eye family Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown and Tan France) keep their show fresh after so many seasons, while not losing the heart and the inspirational makeover stories that have made Queer Eye the success that it continues to be.

Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness, Bobby Berk and Tan France at the 2022 Creative ... [+] Arts Emmys

Antoni starts by saying, “I think for me, it stays fresh because of the heroes. Every story is so different. The more you get to know someone in detail, the more you get to know about what their struggles are. Yes, we all have similarities but there’s no shortage of diversity there and I still feel seven seasons in, plus Tokyo, we’ve only really scratched the surface. There are still so many more to tell, so that’s what keeps me going. It just forces me to continue to be curious and to dig deeper and get to figure out how we can best be of service to these people in such a short amount of time in a meaningful and impactful way.”

As I began to wrap up our Zoom conversation together, I asked Jonathan, Antoni and Rebecca what message they might have for their supporters who continues to support their professional journeys and champion their growing list of projects.

Jonathan responds, “I think for Yummers, what I would want for people to know is we take efficacy so seriously. I think for us, I wanted to make it easier for people to be able to support their pet’s dietary needs. We really worked on this product to be trustworthy, gorgeous and sourced from great ingredients that are simple and good for your dog & cat.”