Tall tails: The story of a city couple, a Siberian cat and a litter box

Jennifer Sieg and Amber Murray sit down with Aneisha Soobroyen, co-founder of gut-friendly pet food brand Scrumbles.

When entrepreneur Aneisha Soobroyen adopted her Siberian cat Boo, the last thing she expected was never-ending stomach issues stinking up the litter box. 

She and her husband began searching the internet for tummy-friendly pet foods, but every natural brand they tried didn’t work. 

Eventually, the pair took matters into their own hands, launching their own natural pet food brand, Scrumbles – a name formed by combining scrumptious and apple crumble – just a few years later. 

“We sought out a means of introducing a probiotic to her [Boo’s] everyday dry food as a ready-to-eat solution, and that became our first product,” Soobroyen, 36, says. 

Scrumbles was founded in 2018 with a mission to give furry friends a gut-friendly food option (and end them laying ruin to owners’ litter boxes). 

The start-up, which has a unique specialisation in poo education, is on track to hit £18m in revenue this year, with an eye on international expansion.

It recently placed 12th in the Sunday Times 100 list and can be found on the shelves of most major retailers, including Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, and Pets at Home.

The rise of fur babies

In 2022, consumers in the UK spent nearly £10bn on pet-related products, up nearly 100 per cent in a decade. 

A 2024 Nationwide Spending Report also found the building society’s customers spent £51.8m on pets in the year to June, outweighing the £37.1m spent on childcare during the same period. 

“I think that’s a trend that’s going to continue… Our cats and dogs are our babies,” Soobroyen says. 

I think that’s a trend that’s going to continue… Our cats and dogs are our babies.

“So a lot of the stats and insights we saw over the past couple of years in the cost of living crisis, people would rather cut back on themselves than their pets.” 

Scrumbles charges an average of £12 for a 2kg pack of dry food and £14 for seven 395g trays of wet food.

Regardless of the view that premium food can leave a hole in the wallet, Soobroyen says the brand has always aimed to keep its prices affordable. 

“We’ve always believed that good food shouldn’t cost the earth and should be as accessible as possible,” she adds. 

Taste-testing for quality – is it all about the poo? 

You would be forgiven for questioning how a consumer goods start-up can effectively taste-test a product for quality when it is meant for pets. 

How does a company taste-test a product that’s meant for pets? The Scrumbles team has managed to compile the criteria into three: a clean recipe, a good poo (we really weren’t kidding about the importance of poo) and a happy pet (with the zoomies, ideally).

The job isn’t for everyone. Some dogs, for example, have been banned from taste-testing because of their adorably optimistic attitude to food.

Certain breeds, such as Labradors and Golden Retrievers, are notorious for “eating anything” in their sight. 

Soobroyen’s own dog, Truffle, has also been banned from taste testing as she reportedly gets “fomo [fear of missing out]” if she sees anybody else eating without her.

“We’ll use cats and doggies that tend to be a little bit more finicky and fussy,” Soobroyen says. 

And, again, she says it’s largely about the poo: “There was a time where you would go through my phone and you just see lots of pictures of poo because we had all of our friends’ cats and dogs feeding the trial batches and reporting back to us if they delivered the right poo.”

And while the pet food is technically marketed as safe for human consumption, Soobroyen doesn’t recommend taking it as a snack for the tube. 

“Would I recommend it to replace your dinners? No. But if you were stuck in a lift and the only thing was cat and dog food, you’ll be okay,” she says.  

What’s next for the fast-growing start-up will be “embracing the international fur babies,” Soobroyen says, with many up-and-coming projects in the pipeline. 

CV

Name: Aneisha Soobroyen
Company: Scrumbles
Founded: June 2018
Staff: 13
Title: CEO
Age: 36
Born: London
Lives: Croydon
Studied: Natural Sciences with French
Talents: Dragon Slaying
Motto: Work Smarter not Harder
Most known for: Doing what I’m told not to
First ambition: Indiana Jones
Favourite book: Running with the Kenyans
Best piece of advice: Don’t take no for an answer