Central Garden & Pet Company (CENT)
Pet and garden products maker and distributor. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending September 27, 2025, filed November 26, 2025. Ranked 19 of the 71 Consumer Defensive companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
21%
End of 2028
32%
Employees, annual report
6,000
Leading staffing pattern
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (4241, 4247, and 4249 only)
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now21%
- End of 202730%
- End of 202832%
- End of 203033%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 66%
- Becomes checking a model's work 25%
- Handed over with lighter checks 8%
Central Garden & Pet’s over 6,000 employees distribute pet and garden supplies and make pet food, bird feed, fertilizer and controls, split by description.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 21% now, 30% at the end of 2027, 32% at the end of 2028, 33% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 33% desk work, 15% people work and 52% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 66% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 25% becomes checking a model's work and 8% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
6,000 employees as of September 27, 2025 (stated). The filing counts no employees by country.
The filing: “As of September 27, 2025, we had over 6,000 employees, including about 5,700 full-time and 300 part-time employees.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (4241, 4247, and 4249 only) | 45% | By description (c): the distribution of pet and garden supplies to retailers from distribution centers, the SIC 5190 wholesale business, miscellaneous nondurable goods wholesaling; no count by segment. |
| Animal Food Manufacturing | 35% | By description (c): pet food, treats and wild bird feed made in its plants, the largest manufacturing lines of the Pet segment (58% of revenue), animal food manufacturing. |
| Chemical Manufacturing (3251, 3252, 3253, and 3259 only) | 20% | By description (c): fertilizer, pesticide and control products of the Garden segment (42% of revenue), regulated by the EPA, pesticide and fertilizer manufacturing. |
What the filing says about the workforce: Over 6,000 employees, about 5,700 full-time and 300 part-time; recordable incident rate cut nearly 30% in fiscal 2025.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (4241, 4247, and 4249 only), largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- SiteOne Landscape Supply, Inc. (SITE, 8,200 employees)25% now, 37% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
0 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI in no sentence.
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20240median 4
- Fiscal 20250median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-27 | 5,700 | 2025-11-26 | 10-K |
| 2024-09-28 | 6,100 | 2024-11-27 | 10-K |
| 2023-09-30 | 6,300 | 2023-11-28 | 10-K |
| 2022-09-24 | 6,400 | 2022-11-22 | 10-K |
| 2021-09-25 | 6,500 | 2021-11-23 | 10-K |
| 2020-09-26 | 5,600 | 2020-11-24 | 10-K |
| 2019-09-28 | 5,300 | 2019-11-27 | 10-K |
| 2018-09-29 | 4,900 | 2018-11-28 | 10-K |
| 2017-09-30 | 4,100 | 2017-11-29 | 10-K |
| 2016-09-24 | 3,400 | 2016-12-02 | 10-K |
| 2015-09-26 | 3,300 | 2015-12-10 | 10-K |
| 2014-09-27 | 3,300 | 2014-12-11 | 10-K |
| 2013-09-28 | 3,300 | 2013-12-12 | 10-K |
| 2012-09-29 | 3,600 | 2012-12-13 | 10-K |
| 2011-09-24 | 4,300 | 2011-11-21 | 10-K |
| 2010-09-25 | 4,300 | 2010-11-19 | 10-K |
| 2009-09-26 | 4,300 | 2009-11-20 | 10-K |
| 2008-09-27 | 4,600 | 2008-11-26 | 10-K |
| 2007-09-29 | 4,860 | 2007-11-28 | 10-K |
| 2006-09-30 | 4,865 | 2006-12-14 | 10-K |
| 2005-09-24 | 4,800 | 2005-12-08 | 10-K |
| 2004-09-25 | 4,400 | 2004-12-09 | 10-K |
| 2003-09-27 | 4,000 | 2003-12-10 | 10-K |
| 2002-09-28 | 3,800 | 2002-12-12 | 10-K |
| 2001-09-29 | 4,200 | 2001-12-21 | 10-K |
| 2000-09-30 | 4,200 | 2000-12-29 | 10-K |
| 1999-09-25 | 5,000 | 1999-12-23 | 10-K |
| 1998-09-26 | 4,500 | 1998-12-24 | 10-K |
| 1997-09-27 | 2,700 | 1997-11-10 | 10-K405 |
| 1996-09-28 | 1,800 | 1996-12-16 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The Index’s 5,700 was the full-time count; the filing states over 6,000 (rule 2).
- No count by segment or facility; the split among distribution, pet food and garden chemicals is by description.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000887733-25-000041, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Central Garden & Pet Company, $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Central Garden & Pet Company's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 21% now and 32% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Central Garden & Pet Company's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Central Garden & Pet Company employ?
- 6,000 as of September 27, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending September 27, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up Central Garden & Pet Company's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 3 industry staffing patterns, the largest Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (4241, 4247, and 4249 only); by those patterns the work is about 33% desk work, 15% people work and 52% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Central Garden & Pet Company's annual report say about AI?
- 0 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 19, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.