20th October 2020
If one thing’s for sure, time flies when you’re having fun! On the 20th October, Pets Choice will be celebrating its 33rd birthday. In celebration of the event, we take a look back at how Pets Choice has changed over the years and how we’ve adapted to challenges along the way. It’s been one hell of a ride but we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Investment in state-of-the-art facilities
According to Tony Raeburn, CEO and owner of Pets Choice, the early 00’s were a battle to survive. Many of the internal processes were old fashioned and the facilities were struggling to keep up with demand. We were in desperate need of an overhaul. Tony was part of two management buyouts, one in 2002 and a further buyout in 2013, along with his partner Hans Jurgen Deurer. He has since invested in a new state-of-the-art factory to streamline manufacturing and improve efficiency. This was a huge risk to take from a financial perspective but Tony had faith in the brands and knew we could turn things around. As it turned out, he wasn’t wrong. By investing in new facilities we were able to take our trading to all-new levels.
Product diversification
As well as investment in facilities, Tony also decided our products were in need of revision. We pulled out several of our own brands and diversified the Webbox product range. Initially, Webbox’s only offering was the signature chub roll, but the range has since extended massively to include wet and dry pet food, as well as pet treats and our renowned Webbox Naturals range. It is our goal to continuously improve and so for every brand we represent, we make sure we’re only offering the best.
Location, location, location
The stage was then set for further modernisation. Over the last few years, Pets Choice has moved to a brand new head office and we have extended the team to include the best and brightest in the industry. The morale boosting office helps us always keep a positive outlook and is the perfect space for nurturing creativity. With more products, more people and more space, Pets Choice has revolutionised itself, going from a turnover of £9m a year, to a whopping £70m.
Keeping up with tech
The last few decades have been an era of accelerated technological progress across the globe. With the birth of ecommerce, smartphones, social media and video games, the manufacturing landscape has changed and changed fast. Pets Choice responded to this by creating an online presence across all of our brands and investing in the latest software to streamline our internal processes. Many of our marketing functions were previously outsourced, but we’ve increasingly seen the benefit of bringing them in house. As a result, the team at Pets Choice just keeps growing.
Our ethos
Tony puts our success down to our ethos as a business:
“We work hard, we provide quality products and we take responsibility as a business. We’re a nimble company that proactively responds to change and this will continue in the years to come.”
Happy Birthday Pets Choice! Let’s raise a glass to another 33 years of success.
