Product type | Healthy pet food |
---|---|
Owner | General Mills |
Country | Belgium |
Introduced | 2016 |
Markets | International |
Website | Official website |
Edgard & Cooper is a Belgian brand of pet food sold internationally, and a subsidiary of General Mills. Introduced in 2016 as a sustainable challenger to traditional pet food, the brand's products are available for cats and dogs. Current products include wet food, dry food, snacks and dental products. The brand sells both direct-to-consumer and in brick and mortar retail, and is a B Corp, having been acquired by General Mills in early 2024.
Edgard & Cooper was founded by Louis Chalabi, Koen Bostoen and Jürgen Degrande in 2016 with the stated mission of creating an alternative pet food to challenge the use of lower-quality ingredients in the pet food industry. [1] [2] The company was named after Chalabi and Bostoen's dogs, Edgard and Cooper. [3]
It launched its dog food domestically in March 2016, before expanding to France and the Netherlands. [4] The company can be observed as part of a wave of 'challenger brands' to traditional consumer packaged goods, as an alternative to traditional highly processed pet food. [5] [6] [3] [7] [4] It is a B Corp, and has funded research critical of ingredients in traditional mass market pet food in the past. [8] [9] [10] [11]
By 2020, the brand was selling 200,000 meals per day, and by 2022 had scaled to 185 employees. [12] [4] It expanded its product offering from solely dog food to also include cat kibble in 2019. [13]
As of 2020, Edgard & Cooper sold direct-to-consumer in Belgium as well as in retail. [5] The brand listed with Fressnapf in early 2020, and was unveiled in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Republic of Ireland. By late 2020, the brand was active in 14 countries in Europe with offices in Kortrijk alongside London, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Rotterdam and Düsseldorf. [12] [3] [14] [15]
In 2020, the brand took on £16.5m from The Craftory, and DLF Ventures. [5] [12] [16] They closed a second round of €20 million in 2023. [17] [18]
Edgard & Cooper's first product for dogs was launched in 2016, before expanding to cats in 2019. [19] [4] The company launched two plant-based dog food lines in 2021, and in 2022 launched a plant-based cat food line. [20] [7] Current products include dry and wet dog and cat food, as well as various treats and dental products. [21] [5] [19] [4] [12] [22]
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The brand is eco-friendly, with strong targets to be fully recyclable, renewable or compostable by 2025. It also donates 1 per cent of all sales to charity to help pets around the globe, supporting initiatives such as eradicating rabies from Kabul.
Edgard & Cooper, a manufacturer of premium dog and cat food, recently closed its funding round with €20 million ($21.71 million USD) in investments. The round was led by The Craftory, a consumer-packaged goods investment fund, and received participation from DLF Venture.