LDC Top 50 2023

When Mark Scott’s dog was diagnosed with cancer, he looked at the ingredients in pet food and decided to create a healthier alternative using only natural, unprocessed raw ingredients from carefully vetted suppliers.

In 2017, he teamed up with friend and food expert Tony Ottley to launch Fife-based pet food brand Bella & Duke. “We’re the pet-food equivalent of a Michelin-starred restaurant,” says Scott. “We want to raise standards across the whole industry.” Their team of 140 now manufactures and sells over one million tubs of raw dog and cat food a month, with revenues set to top £30 million this year.

Q&A

What sets your business apart?

Mark: We currently have more than 37,000 pet food subscribers and we’re customer obsessed. When someone orders their first box of raw pet food, we’ll give them a ‘Cuddle Call’ to make sure they’re happy and check how their pet is getting on. We also have 30,000 pet lovers on our Facebook group, ‘The pack’. We want customers to feel like they’re part of the Bella & Duke community and turn them into fans.

What’s your sustainability strategy?

Tony: Sustainability is really important to us. Our ingredients come from the highest-quality farms. We take meat, bone and offal, which otherwise would have been wasted or exported to other countries, and use it in our pet food. In 2021, we switched to more eco-friendly packaging, which uses 60 per cent less plastic. It’s sourced entirely in the UK, which means 90 per cent fewer trucks on the road every year.

What’s your ambition?

Mark: With 25 million pet dogs and cats in the UK alone, there’s huge growth potential and I believe that Bella & Duke could become a £1 billion company. I’ve run about 20 different companies since leaving school, so eventually I’d love to set up an entrepreneur retreat to help other business owners on their journey.