Paul Hunter hated the name of his dog food firm when he first heard it. Stumped, in late 2008, about what to call the soon-to-launch pet food business, co-founder and close friend, Dave O'Regan, suggested Barking Heads, inspired by hearing Talking Heads' Once in a Lifetime on the radio.
"I thought that he was joking," says Hunter. "I hated it with such a passion; it was aggressive and loud."
O'Regan also mocked up a logo – a cute cartoon dog that looked more at home in a Tintin comic than a pet shop. It would adorn packaging coloured purple, pink and bright green. The brand screamed childishness and fun more than quality and reliability.
It was a huge risk, Hunter admits, to stray from the approach taken by other successful dog food brands.
He eventually came round, figuring that vibrant colours and a
quirky design would not only be more memorable, but also better represent how the product (100pc natural, nutritional dog food made from UK-sourced ingredients) was different from what else was out there.
"It was going to look radically different on the shelf," he adds.
"But I remember thinking that even if Barking Heads did fail, at least we would go out with a bang."
The Barking Heads story begins on Christmas Eve in 1999, when Hunter, a butler to high-profile families, and his wife, who worked in banking, bought a live-in kennel for cats and dogs on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. Fed up with their careers and the London grind, the couple wanted a change of scenery and a gentler pace.
"It was a baptism of fire," says Hunter, who went from living with
a couple of house cats to being professionally responsible for 50 dogs and 24 cats. He learnt a great deal about pet nutrition through the venture. The previous owner left behind what Hunter describes as a "dry food like sticky muesli, and basic, canned wet food".
"Most of the dogs weren't eating it," explains Hunter, who remembers one particular field spaniel that would bury its breakfast in sheets
of newspaper. For the dogs that did chow down, they got diarrhoea, "which was very unpleasant for the pets and, because of the high levels of toxins in dog poo, potentially hazardous for us".
Hunter took a closer look at what the dogs were (or weren't) eating.
"I was horrified," he says. "I found ingredients such as 'animal derivatives' – product left over from the processing of warm-blooded land animals. It doesn't even have to be a specific animal or part.
"When I looked into the muesli, the stickiness was sugar; it was covered in molasses to make it palatable."
Shocked about the products' unwholesomeness, the kennel owner turned to Nutro, an American pet food that was more expensive, but more nutritional. "The penny dropped," says Hunter, who had cleaner and safer kennels, and satisfied customers.
"Owners would pick up their dogs and ask if we had bathed them." They looked bright, alert and their coats were shinier.
In 2003, the Hunters, who were starting a family, sold their boarding business.
Young kids and the kennel lifestyle just weren't compatible, explains the entrepreneur, who ended up joining Nutro as a sales manager. It was here that he met O'Regan.
Then, in 2007, Mars acquired Nutro. "It just didn't work out,"
explains Hunter, who then joined forces with O'Regan and another colleague, Jim Moloney, to create their own product.
The three co-founders scraped together some savings and in September 2008 set up the company, Pet Food UK, which encompassed Barking Heads and its sister brand for cats, Meowing Heads.
Their mission was for pets' dinner time to be joyful. They would create the best quality nutrition for pets, with no artificial flavourings, preservatives or GM ingredients. The products would be co-manufactured and sold via retailers (in-store and online) and through the Barking Heads website.
There were early challenges; not only were the trio betting on an unproven brand design, they also lacked an office.
"A home office killed the professional image that we needed, so I had to create the illusion of being in one," says Hunter, who took calls from his study. "That was fine until the kids returned from school, knocking on the door and shouting ‘Dad!’ while I was on the phone."
The firm experienced strong growth early on, thanks to its deliberate focus on selling to independent pet stores.
"They were so helpful at the beginning," says Hunter, who advises other start-ups with products that are new, specialist, or just look or taste different to start by approaching independents.
"These weren't people who cared about margins over everything
else; they cared about the product, because they know their customers and respect them."
Pet Food UK now has 25 staff and registered a turnover of £12.8m in the 15-month period ending December 31 2016. Its produce is stocked in retailers including Tesco, Waitrose and Pets at Home. These big deals came after the recession, which caused some of the firm's early customers to fold, creating a heavy strain on finances.
It has tested some relationships, admits Hunter. "Independents believe the big retailers kill their business, but if you've got a good store, managed well, and treat customers properly, you will survive anything. People buy from those who they trust, know and like."
In March, private equity firm, Piper, invested £5m in Pet Food UK.
"We didn't go looking for funding; it came to us," says Hunter. The money will enable the firm to expand the management team and grow international sales, which account for about 30pc of business.
