Honey’s Real Dog Food

General information

In 2010, by accident, we started a raw dog food company. Really, we only intended to make food for ourselves and our friends but things quickly got out of paw and now we feed, more or less, 3000 dogs a month.

When we started we knew almost nothing about how to set up a food business. Jonathan, one of the founders, had farmed before he became a vegetarian, tree-hugging, animal-loving hippy type, so he looked after sourcing our ingredients. We decided we would visit all our producers in person to check that the meat was ethically reared (in other words free range and/or organic and/or wild). Also, to keep dog food miles to a minimum we would only buy British, seasonal ingredients. Vicky, the other founder, worked out how to make the food and, after a bit of experimentation, built our amazing, clean-enough-to-eat-off-the-floor (and some of our four-legged employees do) kitchen. Basically, we use the same equipment you would find in any ordinary kitchen only about a hundred times bigger. Our food mixer, for instance, is the size of a large bathtub.

We have always depended heavily on professional support. When we launched a jolly nice and long suffering homeopathic vet, Tom, helped us work out a bespoke diet for every dog we fed. It is always been the Honey's way to find out all about the dogs (and cats) we are feeding. We want to know their name, age, breed (if relevant), weight, exercise habits, likes and dislikes (postmen, for instance, are a great source of protein) and health issues. Plus we like a photo. Armed with this information we can make informed decisions about what the dog (or cat) should be eating.

Over the last few years we have begun to build up a knowledge base but we are still learning new things every day. In addition to Tom, who we grandly call our Chief Veterinary Surgeon, as if we had dozens of ordinary veterinary surgeons, we have a special team to look after poorly dogs. This is headed up by an escapee from a pharmaceutical firm and includes a veterinary nurse and someone who ran a veterinary practice for 20 years. We have written a book about canine health and nutrition and we are happy to share our knowledge with anyone who asks.

Actually, while we are on this subject we want to stress that our whole aim is to spread the word about raw feeding and to campaign for farm animal welfare. We are more than happy to provide tips, advice and support, free of charge and without obligation. In fact, we have no sales function within the company and we never push our food on anyone. It is just not the Honey's way.

What is the Honey's way? Everyone on our team has to be kind and, well, dog people if you know what we mean. We donate 1% of our sales to Compassion in World Farming and free hampers of food and free books to any animal welfare charity that approaches us. In fact, we have never turned a good cause down. Plus we try to do our bit for the environment. Oh, and we are old-fashioned enough to believe in personal service and actually like talking to our customers and hearing all their news.