A family run business with ambitions to become the UK’s leading raw pet food supplier has launched the next phase of its growth plan.

Upton-based Nurturing By Nature (NBN) has opened a 38,000 kg capacity meat freezer earlier than planned.

It increases the capacity of the business by up to 50 per cent to cope with the demand for NBN’s raw pet food products.

Adam Morris, Director, said: “The new freezer will give us greater scope to take more of what our farmers have available at certain times of the year and hold it securely in this second storage facility.

“It will give our customers more of what their pets love – fresh, seasonal cuts of meat.”

The investment in the new freezer was brought forward to allow end-of-year plans to be implemented early.

Nurturing by Nature began life in the kitchen of Nettie Platt 16 years ago.

It was founded after Nettie’s red boxer, Fred, developed cancer.

The answer was a raw food diet with Fred’s quality of life showing a visible improvement.

The business moved from Nettie’s kitchen to conservatory and then garage before the opening of the country’s first dedicated raw pet food shop in West Moors.

In 2011 NBN expanded into a factory in Upton with Adam, a firefighter with the London Fire Brigade for 17 years until 2018 and Emma – Nettie’s daughter – joining the business.

Both were appointed directors in 2016.

Nurturing by Nature now has retail shops in Upton and West Moors, the Upton factory unit and a nationwide, next day delivery service as well as a thriving online business.

It aims to give domestic pets a diet which is more akin to what they would eat if they were fending for themselves in the wild.

The business works with farmers and suppliers to ensure meat products are the best quality, using human-grade ingredients, sourced from trusted farms in the UK.

The range of meats available to NBN’s raw feeding community evolves naturally with the seasons, as it would in the wild.

The new freezer also allows for increased order picking and packing, more frequent driver collection, greater stock control and improved working conditions.