Plant & Paws ™ is a new brand of plant-based dog treats, with a purpose to provide customers with healthy, innovative, and delicious plant-based products for their dogs.
This is one of thousands of brands from suppliers in our thriving community, which we are proud to support.
We talked to Barbara Hanly, Managing Director, who told us all about this exciting brand.
Tell us about the company, Barbara.
My company is a rapidly growing dog food company founded in 2013. It is based in Ireland.
It was during my time working in my previous dog grooming business I was shocked to see so many dogs suffering from commercial pet food-related illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, liver/kidney disease and skin allergies. I wanted to offer dog owners a super healthy treat they could give to their dog guilt-free that was low fat, nutritious and also delicious. I knew dogs loved fresh fruit and vegetables, so I got to work and after lots of time spent in the kitchen and much trials and testing the Soopa ™ chew was born!
Our range of 100% natural plant-based Soopa ™ Chews, Dental Sticks and Training bites come in a delicious range of flavours and are made using natural, human-grade ingredients.
How many people work for the business?
In the past 2 years, I have seen an increased demand for plant-based treats and my company grew very fast. I was happy to welcome more members to my team to support this fantastic growth. We are now in a total of 4 people and 2 on a consultant basis.
Who do you sell to?
Our customers are people who are proud dog owners and want to keep their furry friends healthy and happy. They also care about high-quality products and helping save our planet one paw print at a time. We sell internationally to over 4500 stores across the UK, Ireland, Europe and Asia. Our customers particularly like the fact that our products are suitable for dogs with allergies, obesity, kidney/liver disease, diabetes.
Is there a specific product you're particularly proud of and why?
When I first started my business back in 2013 it was in my kitchen baking sweet potato chews on my own. After finding a producer and finalising all the packaging it was the first product I will always be most proud of. I have since added coconut and papaya chews. This was the beginning that I keep close to my heart and therefore my favourite part. Fast forward to the present time, I am extremely excited about launching a new brand to present at Product Guru's events and this is another very proud moment coming up! Following on from the success of our premium plant-based brand Soopa ™ I am delighted to introduce our new grocery brand, Plant & Paws ™. We want to bring our much-loved and bestselling products to supermarket shelves helping make plant-based living easier and a lot more delicious for our canine customers. Our core purpose is to provide customers with healthy, innovative, and delicious plant-based products for their dogs. We only create products we would buy for our own dogs, and which have been approved by our in house doggie taste tasting team!
What do you most enjoy about running your business?
I love the freedom of expressing my creativity into products and having a great team behind me supporting me every step of the way. There are ups and downs on this path however seeing your product on the shelf and happy customers sending you messages every day, is all worth it.
For the founder/face of the brand - when you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing?
I love spending time with my dog Lilly in the sun, hiking and practising yoga.
What do you think of the free Product Guru platform?
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