THE PET INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA IS WORTH MORE THAN $12.2 BILLION – AND THESE STARTUPS ARE GAINING A LOT OF ATTENTION
Source: Business Insider Australia (Extract)
Posted: Oct 04, 2019
Finding success in a new business relies heavily on the ability to fill a gap in the market that enough people need or want, and with consumers spending $12.2 billion on the Australian pet industry annually according to a report by Animal Medicines Australia (AMA), this could definitely be a good market to try and find some holes in.
This is something startup DOMUTS has discovered. Thea Mendes founded the business, which bakes dog-friendly donut treats, after her son Marcus noticed a gap in the market.
“[Marcus] was helping me on my donut stall at our local markets and he wanted to give a customer’s dog a nibble on a chocolate donut but I told him he couldn’t,” explains Mendes.
“That evening Marcus started to research ingredients that dogs could eat … the next weekend we whipped up a batch of donuts to gauge interest and it’s safe to say they were a hit with the dogs – they were all gone in less than 10 minutes.”
After demand for the DOMUTS grew a lot faster than Mendes could keep up with, forcing the business to be put on hold, she turned to CGU Insurance to get her ambitions back on track. Besides small business insurance, they provided a business advisor, marketing aid and food technologist to perfect the product and take it from market stalls to large-batch – all so she could re-launch with a bang.
When CGU Insurance put the call out, Thea knew this was her moment.
“When I saw the opportunity to apply for the CGU business grant, it was a light bulb moment,” said Mendes. “I indeed did need help and I finally felt relieved that maybe someone could help me scale DOMUTS.”