Pet Business Disruptors

In this episode, Clayton sits down with Debbie Hendrix, founder of Swell Gelato. Debbie shares her inspiring pivot from an 18-year corporate career as a fashion buyer for Nordstrom to building a thriving, self-funded pet treat company. Debbie breaks down the philosophy behind her simple, clean-ingredient gelatos and pupcakes, explaining why she avoids unnecessary additives and over-functionalized fillers.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Bold Career Pivots Require Grit: Moving from a stable corporate fashion career to artisan dog gelato involved creative bootstrapping, selling her home, and relocating to rural Oregon to secure production space and local business support.

Keep Ingredients Simple and Clean: Swell Gelato focuses on limited, high-quality, non-dairy ingredients rather than over-functionalizing treats with unnecessary additives just for marketing appeal.

Mastering the Frozen Niche: Selling frozen pet treats comes with steep logistical barriers, including strict retail freezer space limits, high co-packing viscosity requirements, and expensive dry-ice shipping costs for direct-to-consumer sales.

Focus on the "Celebratory" Category: Instead of competing in the crowded daily treat market, Swell Gelato found its sweet spot by targeting milestone moments with long-lasting, celebratory products like birthday gelatos and pupcakes.

Prioritize Brand Integrity Over Discount Wars: Operating on tight margins with premium ingredients means saying no to aggressive promotional discounting, relying instead on genuine product pull and customer delight.

BEST MOMENTS

"When you have a sale and your customer’s happy, it’s a good feeling... there’s joy involved. It was kind of the same selling to the dogs."

"Good ingredients will make for a tastier product, and you don’t need a hundred of them. When the ingredients are good and the combination’s good, you’re going to get a good product."

"Developing that pupcake, I think, probably aged me at least seven years... but then I finally came up with a recipe that actually was really good."

"I’ve taken this stand like: I’m building this brand for products that I stand for, I don’t take shortcuts, but therefore I also don’t have the margins to play those games."

"If you can get the end consumer to want your brand—and that’s why I think brand is so important—you’re in a much stronger position."

Clayton Payne is an industry veteran of three decades of working in the pet industry. Brought up working in his parents' pet store, Clayton has seen the industry evolve over five different decades and has been on the cutting edge of the industry since the nineties. Building pet businesses from scratch, establishing multi-national distribution chains and having worked in every aspect of the industry, Clayton has a rare insight into the Pet Industry that is rivalled by few.

HOST BIO

Clayton has been the spearhead of many of the industry's changes and has introduced numerous new concepts to market with a trail of success behind him. He has worked in numerous countries within the pet industry, speaks four different languages and has established both import and export relationships on all continents (excluding Antarctica).

As well as being COO of one of the UKs fastest growing insect technology companies, Clayton is a Pet industry consultant who has consulted for many household brands and delivers sales training to pet trade professionals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayton-payne-a6772244/

https://www.tiktok.com/@petbusinessdisruptors

https://www.youtube.com/@PetBusinessDisruptors

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media .https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

In this episode, Clayton catches up with John and Lisa Bryson, the founders behind Tranquil Tails, one year after launching their pheromone-based pet calming line. Together, they dive into the realities of scaling a young pet brand from introducing their new Silver Tails line for senior pets to navigating the financial realities of Amazon PPC, Chewy, and grassroots pop-up events.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Pets Mirror Owner Stress: Heightened pet anxiety often reflects owner stress stemming from modern lifestyle factors, making safe, accessible calming tools increasingly essential.

Specialized Care for Aging Pets: Tranquil Tails introduced Silver Tails—a higher-concentration (7%) pheromone formula created specifically for senior pets struggling with sensory loss and physical discomfort.

Education-Focused Nano-Influencers Win: Smaller accounts (1,000–3,000 followers) that prioritize pet education often yield higher trust and better engagement than massive "entertainment" accounts with low conversion rates.

Skyrocketing Vet Costs Drive OTC Growth: Rising veterinary bills are encouraging pet parents to explore gentle, over-the-counter remedies and telemedicine platforms as a first line of defense before resorting to expensive prescription drugs.

Grassroots Authenticity Builds Loyalty: While online marketplaces provide reach, long-term brand equity is built through direct consumer interaction at local events, trade shows, and rescue partnerships.

BEST MOMENTS

"I think pets reflect the anxiety of their owners to a degree... we live in a time of anxiety that is unparalleled."

"Silver Tails really came to be for the elderly dog... when you start to lose your senses and you've got aches and pains, that invokes anxiety."

"Numbers are very deceptive. You can have someone with half a million followers put up a post and get 30 likes, and someone with 2,000 followers get 200 likes."

"There is no influencer, there's no retailer that could give you the level of social proofing that a veterinarian can."

"The bigger you get, the less you make... but still, half a percent on a million is a lot more than nothing on a hundred thousand."

Clayton Payne is an industry veteran of three decades of working in the pet industry. Brought up working in his parents' pet store, Clayton has seen the industry evolve over five different decades and has been on the cutting edge of the industry since the nineties. Building pet businesses from scratch, establishing multi-national distribution chains and having worked in every aspect of the industry, Clayton has a rare insight into the Pet Industry that is rivalled by few.

HOST BIO

Clayton has been the spearhead of many of the industry's changes and has introduced numerous new concepts to market with a trail of success behind him. He has worked in numerous countries within the pet industry, speaks four different languages and has established both import and export relationships on all continents (excluding Antarctica).

As well as being COO of one of the UKs fastest growing insect technology companies, Clayton is a Pet industry consultant who has consulted for many household brands and delivers sales training to pet trade professionals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayton-payne-a6772244/

https://www.tiktok.com/@petbusinessdisruptors

https://www.youtube.com/@PetBusinessDisruptors

This Podcast has been brought to you byDisruptive Media .https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

In this episode, Clayton sits down with Daniel and Andre, the founders of The Paws Lab, to discuss their journey from a decade in corporate London to building an innovative, science-backed pet care and hygiene brand. Designed to bridge the gap between professional grooming sessions and everyday home care, The Paws Lab offers targeted, gentle solutions powered by their advanced formulation blending colloidal silver and titanium dioxide.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Bridging the Maintenance Gap: Routine preventative care such as ear, dental, skin, and coat hygiene is often neglected between grooming appointments. Daily, accessible home care routines are vital for long-term pet health.

Function Over Fragrance: Over-formulating products with heavy scents (like mint, strawberry, or pumpkin spice) and alcohol often irritates sensitive skin and noses. Effective pet care relies on gentle, minimalist, and functional ingredients.

Cultural Differences in Pet Care: In Asian markets, daily indoor hygiene is deeply ingrained in pet parenting, whereas European markets are still transitioning from traditional "outdoor pet" mindsets toward routine home wellness.

Understanding Trade & Retail Realities: Stepping into retail requires mastering margin structures, distributor layers, and the high costs of industry trade shows. Setting retail pricing correctly from day one is critical for long-term viability.

In-Person Demos Build Trust: Building authentic connections with independent retailers, demonstrating how simple products work in person, and leveraging brand ambassadors (like their dog, Gordi) are key drivers for organic growth.

BEST MOMENTS

"We try to be the bridge in between professional grooming and at-home care... there's a gap in the market, that's why we created The Paws Lab."

"As many ingredients a product has, sometimes they are not beneficial for the pet and they create more reactions. A pet right now is like a little baby... whatever they touch, they're going to get a reaction."

"Because you like vanilla or pumpkin spice, that doesn't mean your dog likes it. This is not in their nature."

"The biggest challenge is probably what you don't know... because if you know things, you know how to ask and you know how to get answers."

"What you do in between grooming appointments is just as important as what really happens in the salon."

Clayton Payne is an industry veteran of three decades of working in the pet industry. Brought up working in his parents' pet store, Clayton has seen the industry evolve over five different decades and has been on the cutting edge of the industry since the nineties. Building pet businesses from scratch, establishing multi-national distribution chains and having worked in every aspect of the industry, Clayton has a rare insight into the Pet Industry that is rivalled by few.

Clayton has been the spearhead of many of the industry's changes and has introduced numerous new concepts to market with a trail of success behind him. He has worked in numerous countries within the pet industry, speaks four different languages and has established both import and export relationships on all continents (excluding Antarctica).

As well as being COO of one of the UKs fastest growing insect technology companies, Clayton is a Pet industry consultant who has consulted for many household brands and delivers sales training to pet trade professionals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayton-payne-a6772244/

https://www.tiktok.com/@petbusinessdisruptors

https://www.youtube.com/@PetBusinessDisruptors

This Podcast has been brought to you byDisruptive Media .https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

HOST BIO

In this episode, Clayton sits down with Tatum Brown, founder of the Social Dog Company, to unpack the often chaotic, highly emotional "Wild West" of the pet service industry. Sharing her raw and inspiring journey from beauty therapy and corporate marketing to navigating personal rock bottom on a blow-up mattress, Tatum details how her deep love for dogs sparked a thriving coaching business in Bali.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Vanity Metrics vs. Conversion: A viral social media video does not guarantee sales. True commercial success lies in targeted, conversion-focused content rather than broad, entertaining content designed only to feed the ego.

The Margin Mandate: Never set prices based on what competitors charge. Pet business owners must calculate their exact margins, factor in their own labor costs, and price their services to ensure long-term profitability and prevent burnout.

The "Asset" Mindset: A successful business should eventually be able to operate without you. If you cannot step away due to illness or vacation without the business collapsing, you don’t own a business you own a job.

Stop Trying to Be Everything to Everyone: Offering too many services dilutes your marketing effort and eats your profit. Streamlining your offers, packaging them attractively, and raising prices on high-value services is the key to scaling.

Delegation is a Revenue Generator: Doing low-value administrative tasks (like replying to Instagram DMs for three hours a day) actually costs you money. Outsourcing these tasks frees up your time to focus on high-level growth.

BEST MOMENTS

"I dare you to name one pet business owner that has not started their business because of a dog or because it was influenced by some kind of animal within their space."

"Follower count does not equal revenue, and it doesn't equal marketability."

"More clients isn't going to fix your business; it's going to break it harder, and you're going to resent the thing that you have built."

"You don't go into local supermarkets and say, 'Why does this bread cost this? Surely you can do me a deal.' The moment you start allowing yourself to be negotiated on price, you end up with lower-quality clients."

"Choose your hard. You can either go hard in a direction that's actually going to get you a better outcome... or you can just keep going hard in the direction that you're already doing and be in the same space for the next 12 to 24 months."

Clayton Payne is an industry veteran of three decades of working in the pet industry. Brought up working in his parents' pet store, Clayton has seen the industry evolve over five different decades and has been on the cutting edge of the industry since the nineties. Building pet businesses from scratch, establishing multi-national distribution chains and having worked in every aspect of the industry, Clayton has a rare insight into the Pet Industry that is rivalled by few.

Clayton has been the spearhead of many of the industry's changes and has introduced numerous new concepts to market with a trail of success behind him. He has worked in numerous countries within the pet industry, speaks four different languages and has established both import and export relationships on all continents (excluding Antarctica).

As well as being COO of one of the UKs fastest growing insect technology companies, Clayton is a Pet industry consultant who has consulted for many household brands and delivers sales training to pet trade professionals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayton-payne-a6772244/

https://www.tiktok.com/@petbusinessdisruptors

https://www.youtube.com/@PetBusinessDisruptors

This Podcast has been brought to you byDisruptive Media .https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

HOST BIO

There's no such thing as a fussy dog — only a symptom nobody has bothered to investigate. Sally Barker, The Canine Dietician, joins Clayton to dismantle the fear-driven marketing pulling dog owners apart from both sides of the feeding debate.

Sally shares her journey from "kibble-bashing warrior" to a deliberately middle-ground consultant who refuses affiliate codes and product launches. The conversation digs into why nutrition isn't a feeding method, the real problem with vets selling food, the danger of overfeeding fresh diets to giant-breed puppies, and why over-supplementation and probiotics are often doing more harm than good.

You'll come away better equipped to see past buzzwords like "human grade" and "clean ingredients," to understand when prescription diets genuinely earn their place, and to recognise that management often beats chasing an impossible cure. Above all, it's a reminder that meeting owners at their budget and circumstances serves dogs better than shame ever could.

Tune in for a refreshingly honest, myth-busting conversation that puts the everyday dog owner back in the middle.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Stop picking food by its ingredients list — Sally's EPI client nearly fed a "clean ingredients" diet at 28% fat that could have caused a medical emergency, when the overall nutritional profile is what actually matters.

Treat prescription diets as a bridge, not a life sentence — they exist to stabilise a dog from A to B, but owners are too often left stranded on them for years with no plan to find the root cause.

Introduce variety to puppies slowly and deliberately, from around five to six months, adding one thing per week like a child weaning — not a random pile of blueberries, oils and supplements that disrupts a developing gut.

Audit your supplements ruthlessly — you can't out-supplement a bad diet, multivitamins stacked on already-fortified food can hit toxic levels, and most probiotics should be a short "dump" course, not a daily forever habit.

Change your vet over how they treat you, not because they disagree with you — a good vet welcomes questions and explains their reasoning, and questioning isn't the same as always getting the answer you wanted.

STANDOUT QUOTES

"There's no such thing as a fussy dog — it's always either physiological, behavioural or a mixture of both."

"So these parasites that have been around roughly 70 million years are all of a sudden outdone by a rabbit's ear?"

"Companies thrive off fear, shame and guilt to sell a product — because it sells and it works."

"If you have to knock on my door to tout your religion, is it so good?" (on fear-based dog food marketing)

"Nutrition doesn't equal a feeding method."

About the Podcast / Host

Clayton Payne is an industry veteran of three decades of working in the pet industry. Brought up working in his parents' pet store, Clayton has seen the industry evolve over five different decades and has been on the cutting edge of the industry since the nineties. Building pet businesses from scratch, establishing multi-national distribution chains and having worked in every aspect of the industry, Clayton has a rare insight into the Pet Industry that is rivalled by few.

Clayton has been the spearhead of many of the industry's changes and has introduced numerous new concepts to market with a trail of success behind him. He has worked in numerous countries within the pet industry, speaks four different languages and has established both import and export relationships on all continents (excluding Antarctica).

As well as being COO of one of the UK's fastest growing insect technology companies, Clayton is a Pet industry consultant who has consulted for many household brands and delivers sales training to pet trade professionals.

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This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. ⁠https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/