Member Article

Behind the Business with Pure Pet Food

Would you eat the same food as your dog? It’s unlikely, but Yorkshire-based Pure Pet Food has developed a range of animal feeds that are up to human food standards, and regulated by the Food Standards Agency. Director of the firm and former personal trainer, Mathew Cockroft, told Bdaily how he and his business partner, Dan Valdur Eha, developed a pet food for owners conscious about their animals’ health.

What key challenges has your company recently faced?

“Being the first pet food to be made in a human quality food facility resulted in us facing huge challenges almost every step of the way. When we initially turned to industry experts for advice, the most common suggestion was that what we were trying couldn’t be done.

“However we persevered and are now fully regulated by the human, rather than the animal authorities, meaning every last part of our foods from the ingredients to the manufacture of them is done to the exact same standards as human food.”

What is your biggest achievement over the past 12 months?

“Our first major breakthrough was being regulated to produce our food in a human quality food facility. After this the challenge was to scale the business without incurring huge costs. We have been lucky enough to establish some great partnerships with our suppliers and manufacturers, who believed in the project so much that they gave us credit terms immediately.”

What makes you different from your competitors?

“The main difference with Pure is that our foods are produced using a process called dehydration. This means we avoid the harsh cooking procedures involved in making the wet and dry dog foods currently available to owners. We make Pure from 100% human quality ingredients, becoming the first pet food company in the UK to be regulated by the human, rather than animal food authorities.

“As dog owners are becoming more educated to what is actually in commercial foods, and how they are made, many are turning to feed low processed, raw and home cooked meals, using high quality ingredients. Pure takes away the inconvenience, health risks and costs that raw feeding and home cooking can bring, whilst providing a healthier alternative to those feeding one of the current commercial options, whilst again causing no further inconvenience or cost.”

What support have you received and did you come across any difficulties?

“We have funded the business in a number of ways and tried to use every resource available to help us get going. A lot of the funding for Pure has come from savings from our previous business.

“We were also lucky enough to receive an innovation grant from our local council, who have been incredibly helpful not just from a financial point of view, but also with guidance and advice as we brought Pure to market. I would definitely recommend anyone starting up a new business to do the same, as there is a lot more help out there than I think a lot of people are aware of.”

What is your most important focus for the coming year?

“I think our greatest challenge right now is making owners aware of Pure. We know there are a huge number of owners out there who don’t want to feed the highly processed commercial options available, but are also restricted from feeding a raw or a home cooked diet for a number of different reasons.

“We would like to think the story behind the company and the products themselves would be of interest to owners, and our main aim is to connect with them. We hope print, online and social media can help us achieve this, without the massive budgets available to the pet food giants who we are up against.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .