Grub Club is making pet food more sustainable by replacing meat and fish with insect protein.
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Founders: Alessandro Di Trapani and Hugh Petit
Year founded: 2020
Website: mygrubclub.com
The consumption of meat and fish is a significant contributor to CO2 emissions – and that applies to pets too. Pets gobble up around 20% of the world’s meat and fish, and the pet food industry produces over 100 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) emissions every year.
Shocked by these stats? So were Alessandro Di Trapani and Hugh Petit, enough in fact to embark on a journey to provide pets with superfood nutrition in a more sustainable way…
Enter the creepy crawlies! Grub Club’s pet food replaces traditional sources of protein with insect protein. Insect farming requires a fraction of the land and water and produces significantly less CO2eq emissions than traditional livestock farming.
While many pet snacks are currently made from this food source, Grub Club has made a meal of its mealworms by manufacturing dog food as well as just treats for a real market USP.
Educating its customers about the benefits of insect protein is critical to Grub Club’s mission, so the startup has invested heavily in content to inform prospective customers about the benefits of the protein source. The brand has also partnered with vets who recommend its products to dogs with sensitivities or intolerances to their current food.
“We save up to 1.5 tonnes of CO2eq emissions per dog per year compared to traditional meat-based dog food,” says Di Trapani. “We’re also a certified B Corp.”
In 2023, Grub Club won the £1m Grand Prix of the 2023 Sky Zero Footprint Fund. The £1m in media value led the startup to make its TV advertising debut in 2024.
We save up to 1.5 tonnes of CO2eq emissions per dog per year compared to traditional meat-based dog food.
Di Trapani says Grub Club’s goal for the next five years is to become the “the obvious choice for pet owners.” With its innovative take on creating a more sustainable nutrition option for pampered pooches across the country, Grub Club is certainly one to watch for 2025.
