Inspired Pet Nutrition, home of Harringtons, the fastest growing major pet food brand in the UK*, and Wagg, the largest dry dogfood brand by volume, has promoted James Lawson to Managing Director as part of an ambitious strategy to double sales to over £200 million by 2024. Since joining in July 2018, James has been a group director and also Managing Director of IPN’s subsidiary The Real Pet Food Company, where sales of wet food and treats have doubled.
Prior to joining IPN, James was Managing Director at GA Pet Food Partners for seven years during which time he championed the use of high-quality, fresh ingredient foods and led the business to grow five-fold.
Richard Page, CEO, will continue to focus on longer term culture and strategy. Richard, who has been running the business since 2006, said: “James will lead the board of directors on a day to day basis and ensure the further development of IPN across all pet categories, markets and geographies. He will also continue to head up our nutritional teams and drive innovation and product quality, where we believe that IPN has a tremendous amount to offer. Making great pet food affordable to everyone, combining our superior pet nutrition and quality with our owner manufacturer model will be a key point of differentiation in a world emerging from the current COVID crisis.”
James Lawson said: “I am very excited about the future for this business. I believe we will continue to grow rapidly by focusing on what we do best, innovating across all aspects and offering nutritionally superior products for any given price. From innovation in product development with our FreshCookTM technology, for making ‘freshly prepared, meat first’ wet and dry foods more appealing, to reducing our carbon footprint with efficient manufacturing and patents in compostable bags, to world first SIOC** big bags for lightweight and direct to consumer delivery solutions, particularly relevant right now. We have so much to offer, all with the aim of supporting healthy, happy, pets and owners.”
Following James taking up his new responsibilities as MD, IPN has also confirmed that David Proctor – who joined the business in October 2018 as Group Operations Director – will now also formally be responsible for the manufacturing site at Kinmel Park in North Wales as well as the Dalton factory in North Yorkshire. IPN has invested some £70 million at both sites during the past nine years and remains one of the best invested companies in the sector.
IPN is the UK’s leading independent producer of dry pet food and best known for its Harringtons and Wagg brands. IPN also manufactures quality own label products for supermarkets and specialist pet retailers. The business has some 250 employees and group sales for the financial year ending June 30th 2019 reached £96.3 million with rolling turnover recently breaking through past the £100m mark.
* ‘fastest growing major pet food brand in the UK’. IRI major pet food brands (excluding treats) MAT to March 2020
** anacronym to describe the principle of ‘Ship in own container’, relevant for direct to consumer, without need for an outer card board box
