A successful Belgian concept

Louis Chalabi and Koen Bostoen are college friends who decided to set up a company selling dog food that was tasty, natural and sustainably produced. They named it after their own dogs, Edgard & Cooper. A subsequent addition to the management team was Jürgen Degrande, who had previously spent over five years working at The Cookware Company, a leading manufacturer of ceramic-coated cookware. Edgard & Cooper was established in the same year, 2016.  

Their idea of bringing easily ­digestible, sustainably produced dog food containing fresh, natural ingredients onto the market convinced consumers, retailers and investors alike. Another significant factor in their success is probably the illustrated product packaging in vibrant colours, which they say is eco-friendly and easy to recycle. 

Something that Edgard & Cooper has been passionate about from the outset is to give support to canine and feline welfare organisations across the world. The company has established its own foundation, which distributes one per cent from the company’s sales to a variety of animal welfare projects. Edgard & Cooper is especially proud of being one of the few enterprises in the pet supplies sector to have achieved B-Corp certification.

In November 2020, the Belgian start-up secured investment capital amounting to 18.5 mio euros from the two investment funds DLF Venture and The Craftory. Edgard & Cooper has been cooperating with DLF Venture since 2017, while its cooperation with The Craftory was a new initiative. This significant injection of capital helped to further the promising expansion that had already taken place. In a new round of financing this year, the company has been assured of a further 20 mio euros in funding.

Edgard & Cooper employs over 200 staff and was striving to meet a sales target of 75 mio euros by the end of 2022. The company is based in Kortrijk, where it has a 7 000 m2 warehouse in addition to administrative offices. It has sales branches in France, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Spain as well as a branch in Germany since September 2020. Products from the Belgian dog food manufacturer are exported to 13 countries in Europe, where France superseded its domestic market of Belgium in 2022 as its strongest country market in terms of sales. The company, which markets its products primarily via its own webshop and in stationary and online pet stores, is also represented in the supermarkets of both countries. The third-biggest country market at present is the Netherlands. Marie-Christine Parsche, marketing manager for the German-speaking countries, thinks that this could be overtaken by Germany in the next year when it comes to the level of sales, however.

Overall responsibility for key account management and the field sales team of ten in Germany and Austria lies with ­Niklas Bien. Bien completed a management trainee programme at Mars Wrigley and was most recently a key account manager. In Germany and its two neighbouring states, Edgard & Cooper is sold by nearly all the leading speciality retail groups and by online retailers specialising in pet products. In contrast to France and Belgium, no market entry into German supermarkets is planned in the next few years, according to Parsche.

Having focused on dog food thus far, Edgard & Cooper also incorporated cat food products into its assortment in the third quarter of 2022. Parsche stresses that all products are manufactured in Europe, and the company prioritises local suppliers in its procurement of raw ingredients also. Edgard & Cooper attaches importance to minimising its environmental footprint: by 2025, it aims to become climate-neutral in two out of three performance areas and to achieve a further reduction in the third. The company already supplies 56 per cent of its company headquarters with renewable energy, for example. It is adding electric vehicles to its fleet and has succeeded in cutting the emissions of its ingredients by 15 per cent. The range also includes vegan products such as Crunchy Beetroot & Pumpkin or Crisp Carrots & Courgettes. One aim is to focus more strongly in future on plant-based pet food when introducing new products. The company cites a good reason for this on its website: “Compared with our meat-based recipes, our plant-based recipes produce 43 per cent lower CO2 emissions. That’s good not only for our planet but also for furry friends,” it says.