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Posh dog food firm creates 500 jobs

Dogs
Dogs

An upmarket dog food company backed by the former boss of Sky Bet is creating up to 500 new jobs at a new factory near Doncaster.

Butternut Box, whose chairman is Richard Flint, is targeting the burgeoning premium pet food market.

Co-founder Dave Nolan is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Lily’s Kitchen, which was sold to food giant Nestle Purina in a deal worth more than £100m.

Unlike Lily’s Kitchen, however, Butternut Box sells direct to customers online rather than in shops.

Butternut Box was founded almost five years ago after Mr Nolan was forced to make his own dog food after off-the-shelf brands left his pooch with “chronic flatulence”.

The firm, which employs around 85 people, has already secured £40m from venture capitalists including L Catterton, the private equity fund behind Ole & Steen coffee shops, brewer Innis & Gunn and Pinarello, the bike manufacturer for Tour de France winners Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas.

Mr Flint stepped down as Sky Bet executive chairman in May 2019 after 17 years serving as chief executive. He is credited at turning the Leeds-based firm into one the dominant online gambling operators in the UK.

Canadian bookmaker Stars Group bought Sky Bet for $4.7bn (£3.6bn) in 2018 before merging with Flutter Entertainment, the FTSE 100 firm behind Paddy Power and Betfair. Mr Flint is a non-executive director at the enlarged group.

Mr Nolan said the pandemic had not dampened demand among Britons to look after their dogs, sales are some 50pc higher in the first half of 2020 compared with the previous year.