Harringtons pet food boss reveals why owners won't cut back on posh pet food when money is tight

James Lawson, chief executive of pet food manufacturer Inspired Pet Nutrition (IPN), has seen a ‘massive’ expansion of its premium products over the last few years.

The Thirsk-based firm, which is best known for its natural dog meals and pet treats under the Harringtons and Wagg brands, has seen its ‘affordable premium’ Harringtons brand grow 20-30 per cent year-on-year since 2020 and Lawson doesn’t see that slowing down any time soon.

“I think we’ll continue to see premiumisation of pet food as people humanise their pets,” Lawson says. “It’s just a phenomenon that’s happening. What was pet food is now pet food equivalent to human food.”

Recent analysis by Plimsoll Publishing found that there is ‘a greater focus than ever before on high-quality, nutritious and eco-friendly pet food and treats’ driven by Millennial and Gen Z consumers.

Lawson adds: “Even though people might be starved of cash, people still love their pets and want the best for them.”

Pet food has proven to be a resilient sector in the past. During the UK’s financial difficulties in 2010, fund manager Terry Smith memorably said: “Research shows that consumers will cut down their expenditure on feeding their children before they will cut down on feeding their pets.”

IPN, which is owned by private equity firm CapVest, recently embarked on an ambitious 10-year plan to reach an eye-watering £750m turnover and £150m profit by building an ‘international business of scale’.

It snapped up Barking Heads dog food maker Pet Food UK, which makes premium dog and cat pet food, at the end of 2021 as part of its buy-and-build strategy.

“I like a big vision,” Lawson says. “We’re a couple of years into that journey and I think we’re progressing well. It’s about great organic growth in the business but we’ll also look to bring in other businesses and accelerate those as well.”

Lawson has about 45 companies on his watchlist at the moment and is actively talking to 10 or so companies at once.

IPN’s turnover is currently around £165m, he says. He declined to reveal the firm’s pre-tax profit but the last accounts the business filed at Companies House show the business made a £13.1m pre-tax profit for the year ended June 30, 2020.

As well as its main site in Thirsk, employing 200 people, the business has manufacturing plants in North Wales and Hemel Hempstead, employing another 120 staff.

IPN is recruiting a further 35 staff across its three sites in various roles from raw material procurement to manufacturing and packing.

The business is currently focused on the UK market. About £10m of its income coming from international sales.

However, overseas expansion is underway with plans to grow sales in Europe and Japan.

“The premiumisation phenomenon is happening all over the world,” Lawson says. “What we’re seeing is people taking on the role of a pet parent or a pet partner, which is very different to keeping a dog in a kennel outside.

“It means people want the best for their pet so we’re seeing an amazing development of the pet food market on the back of that.”

Although the company has continued to grow, there have been huge challenges in the marketplace, from inflation to supply chain disruption, and shortages of packaging, raw materials and lorry drivers.

“It’s been a real stormy 12 months,” Lawson says. “Throughout that time we’ve grown well but it’s been the toughest period the supply chain has seen for a long time.”

The business also became carbon negative in 2020 by switching to carbon neutral and carbon negative energy sources and offsetting Co2 emissions that it couldn’t replace.

“We are the first major pet food business where all our offices, people and processes are carbon negative,” he says.

The firm has also pledged to plant a million trees, reaching 63,000 so far. “It will take time but you’ve got to set a vision and chase it down,” he added.

Lawson describes his career so far as ‘26 years as a pet chef’.

Born in York, he grew up immersed in his father’s animal nutrition business and went on to study animal nutrition at Nottingham University, including an inspiring placement in Pfizer’s animal nutrition and health department.

“People there used to talk about their 10-year vision. As a 19-year-old it struck me as amazing that they were talking about a 10-year cycle and that big picture vision has stuck with me ever since,” he says.

After finishing his degree, Lawson went to work for Pfizer and then worked his way through a number of companies on the technical and commercial side of animal nutrition before joining Inspired Pet Nutrition as a director in 2018.

Away from the office, Lawson lives in York with his wife, their 13-year-old son Frederick and 11-year-old daughter Josephine, plus their two dogs, a red fox labrador and a parson russell terrier.

He flies a hot air balloon in his spare time, a hobby he has had since 1992 when he was introduced to a hot air balloon pilot by a friend at the age of 17. “I have my own little balloon, which is like flying a deckchair,” he says. “I’ve flown in France, Italy and across the UK.

It’s something a bit different and it keeps the mind really focused.”