Interview with Hayley Hunt, co-founder of The Protein Ball Co and It’s The Dogs

Find out how Hayley Hunt and her husband Matt launched and have successful grown The Protein Ball Co and It’s The Dogs.

What was the thinking behind The Protein Ball Co?

As with so many pioneering food movements the first ripples of a great idea often come from across the pond, especially when the underlying themes are wellbeing and health-conscious.

Matt and I could see that ‘protein appreciation’ was gaining real traction but wanted to produce something a little different from the abundance of dubious protein bars that tickoff added protein box but fell horribly short when it comes responsible ingredient choices.

Flip over a bar next time you’re in your local supermarket or garage forecourt and note the worrying jumble of synthetic sweeteners, emulsifiers and chemistry set outcasts that research tells us is detrimental to our microbiome and wider health.

Our primary learning from an earlier brand launch (Oloves) was to be in charge of your production destiny as only then can you ensure peerless standards (recipe integrity…) and an ambitious NPD churn can you truly lead from the front.

It’s worth noting that come this October we’ll be rolling 600,000 balls every 24 hours and yet we can still stand proudly by phrases like commercial kitchen production, hand-rolled and small batch.

Growth is the primary goal of any ambitious start-up, however the true ‘category shapers’ stubbornly insist on sticking to your initial principles, because they appreciate that these staunch principles were central to the brand’s breakout success.

What was the lightbulb moment when you knew you were onto something?

Some might suggest that securing full-house interest from the Dragon’s Den team was a step-change moment, but in reality we both suspected that we’d cracked ‘snacking code’ somewhat earlier.

The primary reason for our inner confidence stems around the versatility and depth of appeal of our proposition.

For one thing there’s an endless possibility of sublime flavour marriages still waiting to be unearthed and delivered.
This is a brand that works as well in gyms, discerning coffee chains and online as it does within supermarkets, office set-ups, foodservice, farm shops and garden centres.
The easily gettable nature of our brand means that it travels effortlessly overseas. We’re already established in Denmark Switzerland and Germany and in the last few months we’ve secured 3 North American supermarkets (that’s 10,000 new retail points)

There are still countless specialist iterations waiting to be unveiled. It would appear that we were a little ahead of the curve establishing a keto ball variant as the snowballing growth in functional foods means that perhaps the keto phenomenon hasn’t quite grabbed consumer imaginations as many had hoped.

We don’t fear the odd wrong turn as they tend to provide the perfect starting point for something else, in this instance a low sugar snack (under 100 cals) and our game-changing dog treats, It’s The dogs.

What’s your career background?

Ardent ‘ahead of the curve’ biohacker politely obsessed with making lifestyle tweaks to maximise my physical and mental wellbeing who was inspired by the far-reaching insights of Shazzie’s best-selling ‘Detox your World’ teachings.

I’ve worked across a catalogue of brands in the business development and marketing strategy arenas, but new product development and product excellence are my happy spaces!

Describe your perfect customer demographic

I’d say two-fold these days

35+ adults prioritising fitness focused over vanity fitness (two very different ambitions)
Health-conscious pet parents whose unerring commitment to ingredient integrity now extends to their 4-legged friends.

What obstacles have you had to overcome?

It’s inevitable that longer-term success invariably includes a few unwelcome blips, some of our own making and some that are out of control. The secret is never to lose sight of the underlying momentum even in the ‘dark moments’ when fate is trying to knock you off your stride.

Like so many ‘think the best of the world’ SMES we’ve experienced the so-called supportive customer who left us high and dry with £160k worth of unwelcome debt. This was at a time when such a discrepancy could have sunk our business, however we simply doubled down on our efforts and lived to tell the tale.

Great flavours don’t always translate across borders. Our Cherry Bakewell ball was a triumph of sour cherries meat crunchy almonds, but explaining to North Americans the unfathomable joy of recreating a Bakewell pie was simply beyond our skills set.

Probably the biggest obstacle is staying fresh and perky despite having more than 10 years on the clock. There’s no escaping the fact that our brand has been a recent victim of our private label success but what great vision doesn’t need a fresh lick of paint? Look out for August 25 when we’ll be refreshing the brand with a super-charged, full-throttle makeover!

And your best highlights to date?

Too many to hone down but convincing the likes of Holland & Barrett, David Lloyds and Morrisons that we were on to something special must rank pretty high as is the humbling realization that we are already trading in 14 International markets and are on track to hit 20 by 2027.

Our official debut at PATS for our dog’s treat offering is very close and the whole team think this could be a sea change moment!

What’s been your best business move?

Pet Humanisation has been the standard bearer for pet food innovation within pet foods and pet treats in recent times. Raising the bar when it comes to ingredients, production regimes and nutritional integrity have been hot themes for a while, so imagine

What advice would you give a younger you?

Roll with the punches – because for the truly determined better times are around the next corner!