What an overwhelming turnaround for innovation and success in the plant-based sustainable dog food sector as in just one week we have some amazing news to share!
A dog treat made from lab-grown meat has gone on sale in Pets At Home in Brentford West London which is a move that Pets At Home claims is a world first!!
Chick Bites are made from plant-based ingredients supplied by wonderfully ethical company The Pack led by Damian (shown in image above on left) combined with cultivated meat, which is produced by growing cells and does not require the raising or slaughter of animals.
The manufacturer of these new Chick Bites, Meatly, said the chicken was produced from a single sample of cells taken from one chicken egg, from which enough cultivated meat could be produced to feed pets “for ever”.
It claims the meat is “just as tasty and nutritious as traditional chicken breast”, and contains the amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and vitamins needed for pet health. Meatly’s founding chief executive, inspiring vegan Owen Ensor shown on the right in image above, said: “Just two years ago this felt like a moon shot. Today we take off. It’s a giant leap forward, toward a significant market for meat which is healthy, sustainable and kind to our planet and other animals.”
Dr Arielle invited by entrepreneur Owen Ensor to attend launch of Chick Bites in collaboration with Meatly in London February 2025
" Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life "
OMNI appear on Dragon's Den!
Such positivity and it carries on this week as we had vegan dog food company OMNI appearing on TV screens across the country as their founders Dr Guy and Shiv pitched to the dragons and achieved the investment they were after!
I remember having a Zoom meeting with these 2 inspiring entrepreneurs over 5 years ago. They had just joined forces and wanted to launch high quality plant-based snack bars for dogs made from amaranth and exotic ingredients. As a very passionate vegan vet, I advised them to please just develop more vegan dog foods as we SO badly needed as much movement in this space as possible!
What success they have been able to achieve with OMNI. They have been able to secure that eye watering amount they mentioned on TV of £2 million in investment (!) and use this to advertise and spread the word fully about the benefits of plant-based dog nutrition. We only stock the Omni Sensitive food in our Just be Kind shop as it is the only one of their foods without genetically modified soya, but we see their success in this space as being enormously important for the growth of vegan dog food and we couldn't be more excited about their TV appearance.
We appreciate that the reason for taking on so much investment and appearing on Dragon's Den is so that it results in the huge sellout of their company that they mentioned to Peter Jones to be able to repay their investors hungry for a return on the large amounts they are handing over.
It is concerning when talking such large amounts of money, as just in the same week, vegan dog food giant in the US who also went on the US version of Dragon's Den in 2018, has worryingly declared bankruptcy this same week.
On a huge positive, all this talk of sustainable vegan dog food has resulted in an unprecedented surge in sales of our JUST BE KIND products as interest in this area has grown and we only sell the best quality dog and cat products around - hurrah!!!
What exciting developments from Just Be Kind?
We have grown organically without any investment as a small family run business beyond our wildest dreams. Who knew that we would be producing ground breaking solutions to the overfishing of our oceans with the production of our Best Of Vegan Omega 3 Daily for dogs, followed closely this month by the launch of a world first extremely tasty Vegan Salmon Oil for cats!
What future growth can we expect from Just Be Kind?
With your continued support through sales, we invest every penny back into the business to invest in the health of your dogs and cats and we have the most exciting products and quite groundbreaking products launching!
We have our own brand functional dog treats, with our beautiful new branding (we hope you'll agree), and the most delicious ingredients to not only reward and treat your dog, but also to fully enhance their health with such exciting unique additions as turkey tail mushroom, marshmallow root, slippery elm, shiitake mushroom and the ever important pre and probiotics.
We even have a new flavour wet dog food launching- we couldn't be more excited about ALL of these new products!!!
AND WHAT ABOUT OUR CATS?
We have had so many of you request more for your plant-based cats as we have already had overwhelming success this month with our Fussy Feline Starter Boxes. We have a Cranberry Care Supplement for any cats or dogs with urinary tract issues needing that extra bit of support from natural and kind sustainable ingredients.
“Sustainability is a motherlode of innovation.” – Harvard Business Review
Delivering value with a new product and capturing value in return as with a profit without regard to environmental and sustainable impact is not innovation, it’s exploitation. Innovation is usually driven by necessity, with our backs up against the wall. It also often emerges from the bottom up, because those on the “frontlines” working directly with customers or clients have the best and most immediate insights into their needs and pain points.
Dr Arielle Griffiths Plant Powered Vet (Read more here)
