The history of the Barcelona company Guau & Cat could be divided into two stages. A first that began in 2014, when Josep Illa and Helena Bofill began to take an interest in feeding their bulldogs and ended up cooking for all their friends’ dogs. “They had up to three freezer chests with food,” says Jaume Gomis, CEO of Guau & Cat. The second began in 2018, when they decided to take a step forward and turn this “hobby” into a business. It was then that Gomis and his sister Núria entered, and the four of them got to work to prepare food at reasonable prices, for all budgets. “We took a place in Sant Celoni with an open kitchen, in which we cooked and frozen. It was a time of trial and error, but we thought: ‘If this works for a year, we’ll see what we do,’ says the manager. And it worked.
With an initial investment of 200,000 euros, they rented a 750-meter warehouse in Granollers (Barcelona) and bought machinery. “It was an incredible step. When we arrived we thought, ‘How are we going to fill this?’” she recalls. Their knowledge of animal nutrition was fair, so they decided to surround themselves with professionals such as veterinarians and a nutritionist specializing in dogs who were leading the way.
With 30 employees, its catalog is focused on dogs and cats, “and it does not enter into our feeding plans for other animals.” Its 70 references, in which 90% meat and the rest of vegetables or fruit are combined, are divided into three ranges: one of cooked natural food, another of dehydrated natural snacks and the third natural raw, known as Barf. The latter is a diet for the most purists of animal nutrition, without additives, which accounts for 60% of their turnover.
price reduction
The menus are prepared with local products and entirely in their facilities, “we just need to kill the cow”, smiles Gomis. Suitable for all types of dogs and cats, they have 6 proposals for cats and 24 for dogs, which include special ones for allergy sufferers or for those who have a few extra kilos. Some menus that are vacuum packed in bags of 500 grams for dogs and 200 for cats and that are then frozen. The shipment is made in isothermal boxes to preserve the cold chain and is sent to the more than 6,000 customers that the brand has. A clientele that previously would have corresponded to an elitist profile and that, according to Gomis, they have changed. “The average cost of this type of food was five or six euros a day. We have democratized prices. If a 10-kilo dog eats about 300 grams a day and a kilo of our food costs 3.10 euros, just take the account”.
With a centralized sale on its own website, from where 95% of its production comes from, the rest has its starting point in a physical store that they have in Reus (Tarragona). “We do not intend to open any more.” It was a franchise project that, for the moment, they are not going to develop due to the very short profit margin with which they work.
With a turnover of one million euros in 2021 and 2.5 million in 2022, Gomis comments that they have always provided benefits and that the feared red numbers have never appeared. A growth in which there has been no room for rounds of financing. “We had to grow steadily because we didn’t want to lose track of what we do. We have rejected offers from groups in the sector and they call us many times to invest, but it is not our goal”, says Gomis.
Even so, they are in full expansion. With about 4,000 kilos of production per day, they plan to move to another larger warehouse to expand capacity. Also this year they will arrive in Portugal, a country that will serve as a testing base for a new international leap, this time to France. “We can still do a lot of things, but we are cautious,” he concludes.
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