Fetch of the Day – launch of healthy dog food truck in Hove

Check out what we got up to at the launch of tails.com food truck, where they were offering doggy treats, as well as expert advice on keeping dogs happy and healthy

We all love our dogs and want them to live healthy and happy lives. We also like to share food and fun with them. What better way than to have a healthy dog food truck on the beach, serving up hound-friendly faves like burgers, fish cones, and fruity treats?!

We were invited down to Hove beach front on Tuesday 4 July, to celebrate tails.com new dog food truck. They were offering doggy treats to our canine friends; snacks such as Seaside Salmon Cones, Frozen Watermelon Bites, and Barking Burgers. We took Alice the pug to go and enjoy some yummy treats. A quick insight, she loved them!

Tails.com are a unique pet food company who specialise in tailoring food to your dog’s needs. Whether they’re older and need support for their bones, or they have allergies to certain foods, tails.com create tailor-made meals. So they’re well-placed to create this seaside menu for your furry friends.

The experience at the food truck

First on the agenda was to collect Alice the pug, this was her time to shine. We met up with Sam, after trying to find each other around Brunswick Square for a while. A few text messages had to be exchanged but finally Alice the pub was secured. She was eager to get down to the beach to find her treats. She was very comfortable in our presence, maybe she heard the conversation and knew what was coming.

We arrived along the windy beach front in Hove at 1pm to be greeted by the team at tails.com. The whole team were incredibly friendly and welcomed us to their food truck. Alice the pug was very happy to try the food, tugging at the lead to get closer. She was able to try the Barking burgers, which went down a treat, aside from a few greens that were left on the plate.

All the staff were open to questions and were available to answer any queries about what they were offering. We were keen to understand the inspiration behind the project, and speaking the Sean McCormack, the head vet at tails.com, helped us understand this.

“The main inspiration behind it was frustration I suppose with the lack of tailoring and the issues within the pet food industry. You had to choose from a mind boggling array of products on the shelves and often times you couldn’t meet all of your dog’s needs with a single product.” McCormack told us.

After visiting the food truck, we sat down for a debrief and spoke about how well organised the event was. The food was all pre-prepared for the pups, and the staff were all very engaging.

Meeting Sean McCormack  

Sean McCormack works within the nutrition team at tails.com. Once we had let Alice have her food, we had a great opportunity to find out more. Sean is the head vet at tails.com. What inspired him to start this venture?

“I’ve been working at tails.com for about seven-and-a-half years now and I get involved in all aspects of the business; dog health and welfare, what we stand for, and giving customer-friendly advice to dog owners.”

Tails.com puts emphasis on keeping your dogs healthy, and we quizzed him on how their food stands out from the rest. “We’re quite unique at tails.com, we are the only brand providing truly tailored food for every individual dog. We believe every dog is different, so we ask questions about your dog when you come to us,” explained Sean.

Not only is it important to understand why their food has great nutritional values, but also how they do this. Sean went on, “we take all their information such as their breed, age, lifestyle factors, and how much exercise they have. And not only design a unique diet for them, but also a feeding plan that’s bespoke for their needs.

“Tails.com can cater for any allergies they might have, or any health conditions. We are also very unique for our customers; we can deliver food whenever you need it or when you have run out. We are feeding tens of thousands of dogs in the UK now.” He went on to share.

So why is personalisation so important for dogs? “There is a lot of individuation in the human food industry, we wanted to bring that technology to the pet food industry. We’re a tech business, doing canine nutrition, based on scientific evidence around canine nutrition.”

Why have a bespoke diet for your dog? Isn’t that a bit extra?!

“I think the benefits of choosing tails.com and a tailor-made diet is that you can be safe in the knowledge and trust that your dog is getting absolutely everything they need,” says Sean. “It is designed by vets and nutritionists and has incredible tech alignment, whether your dog is a six-week-old puppy or an old geriatric 14- or 15-year-old dog.”

Sean also went on and described why a healthy and controlled diet is important. “It takes the guess work out of portion control to make you’re sure your dog is maintaining a healthy weight, which has been proven to help them live longer. It’s a really good choice for your dog to get exactly what they need.”

Tails.com future for the doggy food trucks

They plan to expand their trucks around the UK, given they receive good feedback from the truck they premiered at Hove. We had a fantastic time – and so did Alice! They strongly believe that your dog’s diet can heavily affected their lifestyle, and therefore want to carry on working to expand throughout the UK.

In the meantime, if you wanted a bespoke diet for your own dog, you can ask tails.com for a test run. “We do free trials, which you can get at tails.com and see how it works for yourself. There’s no obligation to continue, you’re not locked into a subscription model. We have tons of information on tails.com. And lots of different topics that dog owners are searching for on google we tend to write content about, and on our YouTube.”

If you want more information about their products and services visit Tails.com.