New fresh pet food company, BOOST Pet, has enjoyed fast expansion since launching to market earlier this year. Since the company started selling online in May 2023, the brand has grown from claiming no freezer space in stores to having over 200 freezers in major retailers including Sainsburys, Tesco, and Marks & Spencer.
It is the first pet food brand to achieve this in UK grocery, and still the only one to have this presence to date.
The company attributes its speedy growth due to its unique selling point of delivering products within the fresh pet food category, a typically a premium segment, at affordable grocery prices. BOOST Pet has primarily been able to achieve this by bringing manufacturing in house in West London, something that is rare in the fresh pet food space.
According to the company’s calculations, the cat and dog food market is currently worth £37.47bn across Europe, with fresh pet food in the UK likely to follow other markets such as the US and Australia to become worth 20% of that by 2030.
Co-founders Liam Wylie and Patrick Nestel come from pet and retail management backgrounds respectively, the pair met in Australia where the fresh pet food category has existed for 20 years. In Australia, Wylie is somewhat of an industry pioneer. Initially working for a grocer managing the pet food category and overseeing much of the early days of the fresh pet food category, Liam then joined ‘The Real Pet Food Co’ which was at the time the world’s largest Fresh Pet Food manufacturer. After returning to the UK be closer to family, Wylie couldn’t believe the fresh pet food category didn’t exist in grocery yet and convinced Nestel to join in him ‘making fresh pet food accessible for all’.
The two pulled together their global expertise to create a range for all cats and dogs, which includes a diverse mix of human quality food, offers meals such as Tender Beef Meatballs 400g and Hearty Meat Feast with Superfoods 400g available at £4.00 and £3.50 respectively for dogs, and Salmon and Whitefish meals 170g at £2.30 for cats.
Puppies are also considered with a Succulent Chicken with Superfoods meal, priced at £3.50 for 400g, and a Succulent Chicken meal is available for kittens at £2.30 for 170g.
The range has 16 SKUs in total in cooked frozen pet food, and the BOOST Pet team also have a range of toppers with treats due to hit the market before Christmas.
Stocked in freezers across the UK and also available online for both one-time purchases and via a subscription model, BOOST Pet prides itself in making fresh pet food accessible in both affordability and diversity of availability.
Sainsburys is endorsed by the company as being a market leader in making fresh pet food available freely nationwide, with BOOST Pet’s other stockists Tesco, and Marks & Spencer, plus Waitrose and Co-Op, also working with BOOST Pet on the concept.
Consumers are increasingly growing more aware of the importance of the quality of the food they eat themselves. Tapping into this growing trend, BOOST Pet recognises the desire from customers to feed their cherished pets a healthy diet, as they would for themselves.
Patrick Nestel, director of BOOST Pet, said: “Customers want to know what they are eating and that their food is not ultra processed, this applies to their pet’s food too. Pet food is traditionally plagued with ambiguous ingredient decks and highly processed foods. Canned food and kibble are often cooked to such a temperature that the natural goodness of the product deteriorates, and additives are required to increase the nutritional value of the product.”
“This realisation from pet owners has led to a rapid growth in the fresh pet food sector. Fresh pet food is minimally processed, made from real ingredients, and typically free from preservatives to ensure higher nutritional value, taste, and quality for our pets. As there are no preservatives, it is delivered in a frozen or refrigerated format to preserve its shelf life.”
BOOST Pet is proud to be transparent with both nutritional value and ingredients, declaring 90% – 95% of all ingredients (with the other 5% – 10% being water which is required for product consistency).
