MY LIGHT BULB MOMENT
Founder off Lily’s Kitchen
In 2008, Henrietta Morrison (above with her dog Lily), 50, founded award-winning pet food brand Lily’s Kitchen. She lives in London with her partner, a non-executive director of the company, and has a daughter, 23. My ThrEE-yEar- old border terrier, lily, became ill and refused to eat. her belly was covered in sores. To tempt her, I started cooking homemade meals with lamb, lentils, vegetables, botanical herbs and even blueberries.
after ten days she made a complete recovery and I thought: ‘Why doesn’t pet food smell delicious and have human-grade ingredients?’
It was my brother, a vet, who warned me that mass-produced pet food is made of animal derivatives, rice and tons of oil. If you look, it’s not chunks of meat, but just a paste that has been moulded into meat shapes.
I became a woman on a mission because thousands of people like me were unwittingly feeding their pets food that was making them ill, which is heartbreaking.
I quit my three-year garden design course, remortgaged my house and spent two years talking to vets and homeopaths about nutrition. I visited 30 factories and showed them the recipes. They thought I was mad wanting to use fresh ingredients. But in 2008, the recession meant one factory had spare capacity, so I persuaded them to make one pallet of each flavour. The food sold out in minutes.
There were just seven products in our initial dog range, including chicken and turkey casserole (still our most popular product).
next, we brought out three varieties of organic cat food. owners told us their pets loved the food, had shiny coats and were far more affectionate at feeding time.
Initially, we sold through vets and our website (I’d make deliveries in my tiny electric car). But after five years, Waitrose started selling lily’s Kitchen, followed by Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
Today, we have retail sales of £50 million and we have 90 products, spanning wet and dry food, along with treats. We use foil tins and cans, as sachets are unrecyclable.
at lily’s Kitchen three-quarters of the workforce are women. I found the lack of women in the pet food industry a shock. Even now I can go to a trade function and find the only other woman is the person taking the coats.
I secured private equity funding to expand and have brought in a new cEo, but still have a majority share in the business. I am also an openly gay female entrepreneur — it’s important to have role models.
I started at my kitchen table with one phone and there are 60 staff now. I’m proud we broadened choice for the consumer. My dog lily is almost 16, still well and happy.