How Beco became the eco-friendly option for dog food

The surge in dog ownership during lockdown and a growing market for sustainable products helped Beco deliver huge online sales last year, their CEO tells Andy Martin

CEO George Bramble (and Tarka the lab) saw a gap in the market (Matthew G Lloyd)

Tarka the black labrador has the dream job. She is “chief product tester” at Beco Pets. Every day she goes into work with bounding enthusiasm. She tests out the food, she tests out the toys, and then she has to have a lie-down and test out one or other of several possible beds. And, when she is not working, she gets to play with her pet human, George Bramble, who happens to be CEO and co-founder of Beco.

There is a natural bond and affinity between Tarka and George. Every summer when he was growing up, Mr and Mrs Bramble used to drive all the way from Dorset to Scotland and then take the ferry over to the Outer Hebrides, where the young George spent most of his time outside, roaming about off the leash, exploring nature.

Which partly explains how he went on to study geography and environmental science – and play a lot of rugby – at Birmingham University. After graduating in 2005, he considered going into medicine but his dad, a surgeon, said it would take another five or six years just to do a first degree, and then there were all the qualifying hoops to jump through. “I thought I’d be 50 before I even got going,” says Bramble, so he went to work in marketing for Bacardi instead.

A few years later he resolved to set up his own business that had to be “moral and environmental but practical.” And, in an ideal world, given that this was around 2009, it should be recession-proof too. “I looked at pets, but there wasn’t a lot of innovation back then. There was an opportunity to make products targeted at the eco-conscious customer.”

Ultimately you’d argue that going veggie could be better for the environment. But dogs are omnivores. So we’ve tried to get the source right

Beco was born with the launch of a bamboo dog bowl, using the offcuts of chopsticks. “It was what hit the factory floor,” says Bramble. “We turned it into a replacement for plastic.”

Bamboo also makes better cricket bats than willow. But it has other advantages: it grows 30 times faster than the average tree and it absorbs 35 per cent more carbon too. So the dog bowls were both strong and more sustainable. Bramble tried selling them at Crufts. When a lady came up to him and said “Why would I want to buy a bamboo dog bowl?” he says he knew he had “an uphill battle” on his hands. “But we stuck at it. David Attenborough has done a great job of raising public awareness.”

2020 was a good year for Beco with a massive increase in online sales. Bramble says, “People still needed to feed their dogs and to pick up their poop.” Lockdown produced 3.2 million new pet owners. In London alone the figure shot up by 840 per cent – and 50 per cent of them are under the age of 35. A lot of them buy into the Beco brand because it’s mission-led. And it makes poop bags that are compostable or made out of recycled plastic.

Boar, a favourite of Tarka the black lab, is an eco-friendly meat (Matthew G Lloyd)

Cats and dogs consume 20 per cent of the world’s meat and fish. “A lot of it is ground meat,” says Bramble. “No one was talking about where it came from. We want to know where it’s coming from.” The chief product tester is a great fan of wild boar, imported from Germany. “She is also very fond of free-range chicken,” says Bramble. “And in fact anything we’re overstocked on.”

Bramble says that it’s important to have a practical approach. “Ultimately you’d argue that going veggie could be better for the environment. But dogs are omnivores. So we’ve tried to get the source right.” Cows and sheep, we know, are methane heavy. Wild boar, in contrast, are 82 per cent lighter in emissions. They also have way more fun foraging for themselves and in fact have so much fun that they have to be culled every year to keep their numbers down.

The free-range chicken comes from Norfolk and is genuinely free-range. “They have access to the great outdoors eight hours a day. You have happier chickens and better quality meat.”

All of their foods are half-meat and half-veg. This summer Beco is launching dog treats that are plant-based and insect-based. “We’re making it easier for customers to make a choice.”

Bramble himself is flexitarian. “I think that reducing consumption is the best thing we can do. My wife gives me a lot of stick because I walk around the house wearing old jumpers with holes in.” He reckons the ethic of make-do-and-mend goes back to the Second World War generation. “It’s better than a disposable society.”

The dog toys are made from recycled material (Beco)

The dog toys, tested by Tarka, are all made from recycled material, double stitched with triple layers, and are made to last. But how long do they last exactly? “It depends on the dog,” admits Bramble.

Later this year Beco are launching a low-fat food for the older dog with extra glucosamine for joint health. “I was inspired by my brother-in-law’s dog who was putting on weight. So we took out all the grain. There are too many overweight dogs in the country.”

George Bramble’s very reasonable philosophy is that everyone should do a little bit to help the environment rather than burying your head in the sand. “So long as everyone is trying to do their best, that’s the main thing.” He adds, “You know, I feel blessed to be in the pet industry.” And I imagine that Tarka feels very much the same way.

Beco is largely concerned with dogs, but it does a range of cat products too. There could be an opening for a chief cat product tester. Applicants must be able to hit it off with labradors though.

@andymartinink