__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pooch
& Mutt
“ Following this initial success, we started to expand into dog treats and then food, always with pets’ nutrition and health in mind. When I joined the company in 2017, we were on the verge of unveiling our first wet food products in an innovative packaging solution, Tetrapak, along with our Superfood range that was set to launch in Sainsbury’ s. Alongside this expansion, our focus remained on our functional food range, which covers various health benefits such as improving dogs’ skin and coats, joints, digestion, and weight. Since then, we have continued to innovate and have increased our product range significantly.“ In the early days we revamped our website, as online sales were quite modest when I first joined. Now, online orders account for 50 percent of our business. Additionally, we focused on hiring the right talent. When I began, there were only five employees, and we have since grown to 79. This growth is not merely about numbers but about ensuring we have the right people in place at the right time. In 2020, Guy negotiated a threeyear buyout deal with the VAFO Group, a Czech petfood company, who we had been working with as our main manufacturing partner for several years. Three years later, the business was fully acquired by VAFO Group,” Paul elaborates.
Over time, Pooch & Mutt further diversified its product range, expanding not only to include new offerings for dogs, but also for cats through its Purr & Miaow brand. At the moment though, its latest innovation is a new gut health range.“ This is particularly exciting for me because it had its origins in an assignment I completed for my MBA studies during lockdown. One of the modules included creating a completely new, hypothetical business. As there were a lot of bespoke human supplement businesses, I foodchainmagazine. com 31