Poppy’s Picnic has got off to a great start in 2019 with company founder, Dylan Watkins being nominated for the Male Entrepreneur of the Year in the South West Region’s Great British Expos’ Ltd Awards and the company nominated as the New Start-up of the Year.
The Great British Expos’ Ltd have been organising various corporate events for the last 10 years, with a strong track record of producing well managed and attended business events and expo exhibitions across the UK. The South West Business and Community Awards (sponsored by Aspen Waite) recognise businesses, charities, and individuals that have made an outstanding contribution in the region.
In just two years Poppy’s Picnic has become firmly established as one of the leading players in the raw food market. The company was awarded ‘Start-up of the Year’ at both the Wiltshire Business and Business Leader Awards and three of their products were awarded Highly Commended at the pet industry’s PetQuip Awards. Poppy’s Picnic also recently won ‘Business Start-up of the Year’ for the South West region at the prestigious Rural Business Awards and now go on to represent the South West at the national finals.
Dylan Watkins reached the finals of both NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards and received a prestigious ‘Innovator of the Year’ shortlisting at the British Small Business Awards. Their products were also nominated in the Pet Industry Federation Awards for innovation.
Poppy’s Picnic’s products are now widely stocked in pet retailers throughout the UK and can be found in the company’s vibrant pink branded freezers in-store. Their customer retail base in growing rapidly every day and they are now exporting to, and stocking supermarket shelves in Hong Kong and China - the first of the raw food manufacturers to do so.
The company has benefited from participating in the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator programme and Dylan Watkins also recently graduated from the esteemed Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses scheme and attended business seminars at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
Poppy’s Picnic has ambitious plans for the future. A new production facility is currently being built in Wiltshire and the company is due to launch its new range of cat food in 2019.
Dylan Watkins believes that simplicity - or RAWPLICITY as he calls it - is the key to Poppy Picnic’s success: “Our aim from the start has been to make it easier for pet owners to feed the best quality, fresh food that nature intended and have a positive impact on their dog’s life and health.
"Just as humans are advised to avoid processed to reduce the risk of disease and obesity, the same applies to dogs. Our delicious products are easy to introduce, whether choosing to make a complete switch to raw feeding, or simply add an occasional boost of freshness to dry or canned food.
"Our popular innovations such as perfectly portioned Meatballs, and our strong, stand out brand has helped us to achieve all that we have so far and it’s an honour to be recognised.”
To find out more about Poppy’s Picnic visit www.poppyspicnic.co.uk
