Finalists at both the D&AD Creative Awards & PetQuip Awards

Walker and Drake are thrilled make the finals of the D&AD Creative Awards, PetQuip and Pet Industry Federation Awards!

Walker and Drake have been recognised by their peers by making the finals of both the prestigious, PetQuip and Pet Industry Federation Awards after just one year of trading.

In just over a year sales of our UK made cold pressed food and tasty soft baked treats have soared. We’re now stocked by over 200 pet shops and other stockists across the UK. This has led to Walker and Drake being awarded a Highly Commended certificate in the Product Innovation Food category at the recent PetQuip Awards which were held at, PATS Telford in September and also becoming a finalist in the Business Start-Up category.

Walker and Drake have now made the finals of the Pet Industry Federation Awards which will be handed out at a black-tie dinner at Whittlebury Hall Hotel, Northamptonshire on Thursday 21 October. We are finalists in the New Business of the Year category. This is an amazing achievement considering that both the PetQuip and PIF Awards received a record number of entries this year in a highly competitive market.

Co founder Tim Matthews, “Walker & Drake was formed with the clear intention of producing a British made, complete nutrition dog food, made using the ‘minimal processing’ Cold Pressed technique.

“At Walker & Drake we have developed great products with clear nutritional advantages, we strive to create a culture of integrity, to communicate clearly and honestly with our customers, and to educate and support our stockists.”

Walker and Drake’s colourful branding and packaging has led to the company receiving further recognition. The designs have been featured in several international design publications such as Communication Arts and were recently shortlisted for a prestigious D&AD creative award. With over 15,000 entrants worldwide Walker and Drake were shortlisted with the likes of McDonalds and Nike.

Our biggest goal however is to provide dogs with the best possible nutritious food!

Tim continues,

“Why cook an ingredient many times as extruded producers do, and destroy the nutrients, only to have to add it back in again?

“Why not start with each ingredient cooked separately to its’ optimum point, then blend and press them, locking in natural goodness?

“With Cold Pressed being essentially an artisan process we can be quite dynamic with our production. We make and bag regular batches to keep best before dates long and stock moving quickly through the system.

“We are particular about ingredient quality and source. We require our suppliers to provide and keep batch samples for traceability and quality consistency purposes and we source ingredients within the UK where possible. We feel that with regard to sustainability we are doing what we can by using as many ingredients that are part of the human food production process. In addition all our packaging is also fully recyclable “

“At the end of the day, dogs know best, and they vote our food highly palatable! We’ve got dozens of emails from customers that have struggled with fussy eating dogs until they found Walker & Drake. We’ve attained a fantastic nutrition rating of 89% on the independent rating website allaboutdogfood.co.uk and we will continue to develop innovative products that will help to improve the lives of pets.”