Reviving Heritage: The Evolution of Wilsons Pet Food with Craig Wallace

In this episode, Clayton sits down with Craig Wallace, Managing Director of Wilsons Pet Food, to explore the journey of reviving a historic Scottish pet food brand and navigating the modern pet nutrition landscape. Craig shares his transition from human food manufacturing into pet food, detailing how Wilsons evolved from traditional mixers and cold-pressed lines to dropping raw production entirely in favor of shelf-stable, fresh-cooked meals.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Reviving a Legacy Brand: Wilsons of Dundee, historically one of Scotland's largest pet food companies, avoided closure and shifted from producing traditional 1980s-style mixers to making innovative fresh food. Strategic Pivot Away from Raw: Wilsons exited raw food production because of complex transit logistics, thawing waste, and legal restrictions against processing raw and cooked foods in the same facility, choosing instead to focus on shelf-stable fresh dinners. The Importance of Ingredient Transparency: General labeling terms (like "80% beef") often mask low-cost fillers or mechanically deboned meat (MDM), whereas explicitly listing specific cuts gives pet owners genuine quality assurance. Uncompromising Formulation: Partnering with an expert, independent nutritionist ensures recipes are created for optimal physiological benefit rather than formulated down to meet a restrictive cost target. Benefits of Dietary Variety: Feeding dogs a single, static diet continuously can increase the risk of digestive sensitivities, whereas rotating protein and fiber sources promotes a robust, resilient gut microbiome. BEST MOMENTS "The whole premise is that we just want to make really good pet food—the best that we can across the different areas."  "If someone wants to copy your product, they're going to copy your product. So there's no point holding things back on the recipe, because then you just look shady to a consumer."  "There is no secret sauce... Food is not complex in that way; the way you make food profitable is by your systems, your process, and how you treat people."  "You have to be mental to start a factory... the problem with factories is they're expensive to run, and you need 24-hour-a-day manufacturing to actually be profitable."  "We feed our dogs in a chronic manner... you're just more likely to have an issue with any form of chronic feeding than you are with a varied diet." 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/