In this episode, Clayton sits down with Ruby Balaram, co-founder of Real Dog Box and Director of the Feed Real Institute, to explore her transition from a 14-year legal career to the pet food industry. Ruby shares how her husband's dog's cancer diagnosis inspired a shift to a raw diet, eventually leading them to launch a successful air-dried treat and chew subscription business from scratch.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
From Law to Pet Wellness: A devastating cancer diagnosis for a family dog pushed Ruby and her husband to rethink pet nutrition, switching the dog to a raw diet that drastically improved his vitality.
Educational Advocacy: Realizing the complexities and knowledge gaps in fresh feeding, Ruby launched the Feed Real Institute to educate dog parents and veterinarians on proper canine nutrition and safe DIY food preparation.
Transparency and Variety: Ruby challenges the pet industry's standard of feeding uniform, highly processed diets, advocating instead for natural dietary variety and highly transparent ingredient sourcing.
BEST MOMENTS
"I believe the best food that you can feed your dog is the one that you make yourself at home in your kitchen."
"We went straight to making it all by hand ourselves. We got one of those small deli slicers, you know, that you'd manually slice the treats in."
"I just try to just soak everything up like a sponge and... put all of everything that was in my brain out down on paper."
ABOUT THE HOST
Clayton Payne is an industry veteran of three decades of working in the pet industry. Brought up working in his parents' pet store, Clayton has seen the industry evolve over five different decades and has been on the cutting edge of the industry since the nineties. Building pet businesses from scratch, establishing multi-national distribution chains and having worked in every aspect of the industry, Clayton has a rare insight into the Pet Industry that is rivalled by few.
Clayton has been the spearhead of many of the industry's changes and has introduced numerous new concepts to market with a trail of success behind him. He has worked in numerous countries within the pet industry, speaks four different languages and has established both import and export relationships on all continents (excluding Antarctica).
As well as being COO of one of the UKs fastest growing insect technology companies, Clayton is a Pet industry consultant who has consulted for many household brands and delivers sales training to pet trade professionals.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayton-payne-a6772244/
https://www.tiktok.com/@petbusinessdisruptors
https://www.youtube.com/@PetBusinessDisruptors
This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
