A compelling tale of success

With a history dating back to 1923, the Page family has generated a wealth of experience in the production of animal feeds. The business, now run by the third generation of the family, made the move from agricultural to pet feeds in the 1980s as a result of the vision of entrepreneur Bill Page to produce pet food during the recession of the early 1990s. Wagg is now set to become one of the largest extruder pet food plants in Europe.Steady investment in the production lines has seen the company grow and now Wagg is expecting to reach £100 mio turnover. The company's growth also included launching a natural, premium complete dry dog food under the Harringtons brand and investing in a treat and snack business called The Real Petfood Company.Wagg is now one of the most popular complete dry dog foods in the UK and alongside the Harringtons brand is stocked by a broad range of retailers throughout the UK and across the world.Wagg is a family-owned and -managed business. According to the company, this means a long-term view can be taken about key areas such as investment in colleagues, the machinery purchased and, in particular, striving for nutritional excellence in all of the pet food diets and treats produced.In 2008, the company launched Harringtons in an attempt to make premium dog foods affordable to the general consumer and, according to Wagg, the Harringtons range has established itself as the fastest growing dog food brand within the supermarket channel.Wagg has recently bought a 10-acre site (about 4 he) near its headquarters, and hopes to secure planning permission to build a 100 000 sq ft (about 9 000 m2) shed in order to store finished products.Dog product rangeBoth the Wagg and Harringtons ranges cater for puppies, dogs, cats and small animals. Today, Wagg has an eight to nine per cent market share of the total pet food market by volume. The company's share of the dry dog food market is around 30 per cent, and it is one of the three largest manufacturers of foods for smaller animals in Britain.Wagg cares for all life stages of a dog with both its complete dry dog food and dog treat range catering for puppies through to senior dogs. The company points out that it has always had an innovative outlook and was one of the first companies in the pet market to include yucca extract in its foods to improve gut health and reduce flatulent odours. According to Wagg, its foods have never contained artificial colours or flavours and the company was an early…