UK vegan pet-food producer Omni is aiming to triple its revenues in 2024 after securing listings with European retailer Fressnapf.
Omni is looking to achieve a £4m ($5m) annual revenue in 2024, which would compare to the £1.2m the company is set to make in 2023, CEO Dr Guy Sandelowsky told Just Food.
The company’s ‘three life stages’ (puppy, adult and senior) of dry dog food and treats are to be sold via Fressnapf’s online store in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy.
“This launch is an important milestone for the entire alternative protein pet food movement as it clearly demonstrates the growing mainstream interest in plant-based and other alternative-protein dog food,” Sandelowsky said.
“As far as I’m aware, this is the first fully plant-based product [Fressnapf offers], especially as a full range of food.”
Prior to the Fressnapf deal, Omni sold only in the UK mainly through its own website but about 10% of its sales comes from e-commerce giant Amazon and physical retailers.
The company expects about 30% of its sales to come from Europe after the deal.
Omni’s forecast £1.2m revenue in 2023 would be around 84% higher than the £650,000 it generated in 2022. Sandelowsky said the company “can’t share net profits at this stage”
The company’s strategy is to emphasise the health aspects of plant-based pet food, he explained. “We take the ‘veterinary assigns that’ approach,” Sandelowsky said, adding the main trend driving plant-based pet-food sales in the UK and Germany is the “humanisation” of pets.
“What we do to ourselves we do to our pets,” he said. “Especially amongst millennials, who may actually defer having children later at some stage in life but have a pet first.”
People are also becoming “increasingly aware of the negative health impacts” of meat eating and are “conscientious about what happens to the planet”, he added.
Half of Omni’s customers identify as vegan or vegetarian and the other half are mainly flexitarians who are conscious of the “health and environmental impact” of meat consumption and are “trying to cut down”, Sandelowsky said.
Omni prices its dry food at about £6 per kg and calls itself “low-end premium”. Sandelowsky said there owners were interested in paying more for quality.
“One thing is clear: the budget sector of the market is not where there is growth. People understand that if they’re paying a very little bit for their dog food they’re probably not getting the most high-quality ingredients in their dog food,” he said.
Omni is planning on launching its wet food range with Fressnapf around the second quarter of next year.
The business is also about to launch a supplement line and expects to come out with a cat food product in the second quarter of 2024.
Omni produces with third-party manufacturer, which has the capacity to produce “in the UK, and throughout Europe”, as the company scales production on the continent, Sandelowsky added,
