AFTER the deaths of their dogs from cancer, Mark Scott and Tony Ottley decided to take a look at what goes into pet food. What they found was some of the ingredients in wet and dry dog food can be linked to chronic illnesses – so they set up a natural pet food brand, Bella and Duke, to tackle the issue. The business now has plans to go international after its success in the UK market.
Name: Mark Scott
Age: 44
Position: Founder
WHAT’S YOUR BUSINESS CALLED?
Bella and Duke
WHERE IS IT BASED?
Blairgowrie
WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?
THE business was started three years ago.
My friend Tony and I had four dogs and three got cancer at the age of 10.
We thought processed dog food was probably the reason.
I got annoyed because I was healthy myself and hadn’t looked at dog food.
There are 8.7 million species on the planet and if you look at how many eat cooked food it’s a very small amount.
Species have chronic diseases but vets would never say that and it’s the same as doctors.
Vets only get about a week of nutrition training.
If you went to a doctor and said you were eating fruit, veg and fish, etc and they said eat processed food instead you would think they were bonkers – but that’s what we are doing to our pets.
We knocked on a few doors and signed up 100 customers to a subscription. We wanted investors to bring expertise such as web design and vets. It took off in June last year and we have £2.5 million turnover now.
We got support from the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Edge.
I have been running businesses since I finished college. I wanted to do something I am passionate about. I have 20 years of experience in running sales and marketing businesses.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?
THERE are definitely raw manufacturers out there but none of them started out with a subscription service.
People will run to buy dog food at a local shop when they run out so a subscription is important.
People don’t have to carry home big sacks from the supermarket.
We see nutrition as helping dogs to live longer which is part of our brand. We want to help all aspects of caring for a dog.
The last thing we want to do is put chemicals in dogs.
WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?
THE challenge is our marketing budget.
If I fed a dolphin fish and chips you’d call it animal cruelty but we’re doing that with dogs and cats.
The raw food market is growing at 10% every year.
There are 16.8m pets in the UK and the mission is to get as many dogs and cats off processed food.
If I tried to do this about 15 years ago I would have spent millions on advertising.
It’s all about Instagram and Facebook now, word of mouth. Our tribe of customers is growing.
Many businesses don’t talk about why they’re doing what they do anymore.
Our “met promoter” score is high because people know what we do.
People want to go with the underdog and give it help. We have a Facebook group which has so many people posting pictures of their dogs.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
THE ethos is that we are co-focused on doing the right thing. Making decisions is easy if you have core values.
Waking up every day I feel fortunate to be doing what I do and I love the feedback of customers on social media.
People are saying their dog eats healthier than them and it is leading to customers examining their own diet.
It makes people stop and think.
It’s a place to start and will hopefully make a big impact.
WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS’ TIME?
IF we can tap into 25% of the pet market then we have done a good job in getting one in four pets off processed food.
We want to go international in about three years time.
The UK market is massive as it is so we want to do a good job.
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