Pet food firm acquires new factory in Ayr

Growing pet food firm Wilsons has moved production from Perth to bigger premises in Ayrshire. Wilsons Pet Food can trace its roots back to 1861 and used to operate from Dundee.

The company was rescued by father and son Iain and Craig Wallace four years ago after entering administration.

They invested heavily in creating a purpose-built cold-pressed pet food factory in Blairgowrie, the first in the UK.

A second plant, at Perth and Kinross Council’s food and drink park in North Muirton, made raw pet food.

This has now closed following Wilsons’ acquisition of Dunbia’s meat processing plant at Drongan, South Ayrshire.

All the Perth workers have transferred to its Blairgowrie factory while 13 workers have been hired in Ayr.

Managing director Craig Wallace said the factory has been purchased outright in an investment close to £1 million.

He said: “We now have capacity between the two factories for between £25m and £30m annual sales.

“We are currently at £2m to £2.5m so there’s a lot of headroom. Our four-year target is for £20m.

“The Drongan factory has extensive chilled production areas, cold and ambient stores, plus packaging and storage sections. It’s ideal for our ambitious future plans.

“The total site extends to almost three acres, and we can now operate with greater efficiency in a superbly maintained 25,000sq ft building.”

Raw frozen dog food has been a popular buy for several years, but Wilsons has noticed a sizeable uptick in cold pressed demand.

Wilsons produces this at a much lower temperature to preserve nutritional value. Some of the Wilsons’ cold pressed products sell for between £60 and £70 for a 10kg bag.

Mr Wallace said: “We’ve been lucky that we focused on premium pet food and owners don’t want to move away to save a couple of quid.

“Brexit wasn’t exactly ideal for our overseas sales, but on the plus side we are now selling in over 250 retail outlets and getting regular calls for ownbranded labels.

“The extra capacity at Drongan means we will no longer be turning away customers.”

Established in 1861, Wilsons became synonymous with the production of muesli-based dog food.

By the 1970s dog owners were switching to wet food and kibble. Wilsons Pet Food failed to spot the trend and a lack of marketing and investment resulted in a sale to GlaxoSmithKline Beecham then to Armitage Pet Care.

The Wilson family reacquired the business but were unable to prevent the slide into administration.

The Wallace family purchased the Wilsons name and assets from administration in 2018.

EXPANSION: Craig Wallace, with dog Bruce, said the extra capacity will drive growth.