Yorkshire-based pet food company Inspired Pet Nutrition became a £200m business in accounts made up to June 2023. 

Currently celebrating 100 years since its establishment in animal feed in 1923, the family-founded company is now daring to dream of becoming a £500m+ sales business within the next five years.

Inspired Pet Nutrition (IPN) spent the first 25 years growing to a £100 million sales business and then doubled in the following five years through organic growth and the acquisition of Pet Food UK Ltd in 2021. It has not stopped there, with new weekly sales records continuing as momentum across the multiple pet categories it operates within drives new growth.

Richard Page, grandson of the business’ founder James R Page, took over the reins from his father, Bill Page, in 2006. At that time, the business was the home of the Wagg brand, a leading value brand sold in the mass market.  It is now a house of brands, from Wagg and Harringtons to Barking Heads, Meowing Heads and AATU. At the heart of all the brands is the same mission: to make great pet nutrition affordable and accessible to all, no matter the buyer’s price point.

The Page family business was originally set up as a wheat trading business, but quickly moved into producing animal feeds in the mid-1920s. The company stopped producing animal feeds and relaunched as a pet food business, Wagg Foods, in 1990.

In 2007, IPN invested in the Real Pet Food Company, which now houses the manufacturer’s treats kitchen and wet food plant. A year later, the company launched the natural dog food brand Harringtons, starting their mission to make premium pet foods affordable to all without compromising on quality. Harringtons is now the largest dry dog food brand sold in mass markets and also now serves the wet dog, wet cat, and treat pet categories.

The pet food industry and Inspired Pet Nutrition are fast-growing and resilient; L. Catterton became the majority shareholder in 2015 when the business relaunched under its current name from Wagg Foods, and in 2020, private equity business CapVest became the new majority shareholder after a successful sale by L Catterton.

Launching an organic and acquisition-led growth strategy under CapVest, 2021 saw IPN acquire Pet Food UK, home to premium brands Barking Heads, Meowing Heads and AATU. This new buy-and-build approach shows no sign of slowing as IPN aims to become a major player in the category and European landscape.

Commenting on the future, Chairman Richard Page said: “As a family-founded business, there was always limited capital; everything had to be hard-earned and justified. It meant we wasted nothing, turning simple opportunities into money-making methods, took our losses quickly and moved on. Fundamentally, we made decisions and bet on ourselves.

“Hitting the £200 million sales mark is such a milestone for Inspired Pet Nutrition, but we always look ahead. Our financial forecast for the next five years is to more than double the business through both organic growth, by continuing to democratise the areas where we can offer the consumers better value, and  M&A. Alongside this, the coming years will see more waste removed from packaging and the supply chain, improved customer service and a focus on growing our brands into new sub-categories – especially wet feeding and treats.

“Ultimately, our ambition is to become one of the ‘Big Three’ UK pet food manufacturers. We need to acquire more businesses and optimise the strength of our leading brands as they stretch into adjacent categories. Bringing new brands and manufacturing capabilities into the IPN platform will allow us to strive for even better pet nutrition that’s accessible to all.”

Sustainability, as well as affordable nutrition, is key for the business. In 2020, the company became the first major UK pet food manufacturer to be certified carbon-negative, achieved with a combination of accurate carbon assessment and offsetting for its production, manufacturing, office and people. To date, the company has offset over 34,000 tonnes of Co2e and donated 3.5 million meals to pet charities thanks to its Miles & Meals programme.

Through partnerships, the company has set up a lasting sustainable legacy. It’s on a mission to plant one million trees with Ecologi and has partnered with Leeds Beckett University to build a roadmap to Net Zero emissions, including any created in its supply chain. Currently, 95% of IPN’s packaging is recyclable, but the company is aiming for 100% recyclable, reusable or refillable packaging by 2025.

IPN’s unique position within the pet food industry is based on market-leading nutrition. Natural, fresh and meat content that correlates to the buyer’s price point ensures there’s an IPN brand for any pet owner. James Lawson, Chief Technical Officer at IPN, says that the legacy of Yorkshire values has contributed to where the company is now: 

“We still champion the same core Yorkshire values that we see as the DNA of the business – to make great pet nutrition affordable and accessible to all. Whatever the brand or price point, we make sure we invest more quality nutrition in every mouthful than the competition. We continuously improve the taste and digestibility of our foods, particularly using fresh ingredients to assist us in this pursuit of making the very best food money can buy.”

There’s a distinction between IPN’s pet food brands and competitors, which Lawson says comes from joining the dots better than anyone else:

“We start the recipe production process by understanding the taste and nutritional requirements of the pet better than anyone else. We source natural ingredients and farm produce, and then there’s a transformational piece in the middle where we design, make and pack our foods. 

“It’s so simple; by doing this in a technically superior and more cost-effective way, we deliver more natural, nutritional goodness to more pets than anyone else.”