I really need to leave this thread for Pegasus as he is a retailer and sells white label pet food. I hope he will come in on this and explain things better than me. Meanwhile, just to get the thread started, here is a little bit of information that I have gleaned about them.
White label pet foods are made by large companies who then go on to package the products for their customers. This means that the independent pet shop can have their own name put on the label. The packaging is no frills, there are minimal advertising/distribution costs and this is an advantage to the customer because the the products are quite a bit cheaper than branded food. I don’t know how many manufacturing companies (in the UK) do this but I understand that there is a huge, state of the art factory in Lancashire, GA Pet Food Partners.
I have an independent retailer near to my home who has sold white label pet food for many years and my friends use their duck and potato kibble for their Labradors. The recipe is not in the Orijen/Eden category but it is acceptable and I have to say that all five dogs look well on it. The duck and potato/salmon and potato is sold at £6.99 for 2.5kg so there is a saving to be made when comparing it to some other foods. Some years ago I had a spell of giving their senior/light to my dogs and I cannot remember them having any problems with it.
Some of the white label products that our local pet food retailer sells are really not very nice at all. Also, on some of their cheaper products the labelling is not very clear although you do get to know what they contain. It’s a case of checking the products carefully and reading the labels. Here is a list of some of the foods that are manufactured by GA Pet Food Partners.
More or less covered it Dottie! The ‘white label’ foods are not copies of known brands, they are a range in their own right. Only available in the pet trade, they fully comply with all labeling regulations regarding ingredients, feeding guidelines etc with a shop sticking their label on the front. They have foods covering all bases with value foods and super premium. They have just brought out a Grain Free range which we have seen great results with - (for example Lamb & Mint ingredients 50% Lamb, Sweet Potato, Peas, Pea Protein, Potato, Linseed, Beet Pulp, Omega 3, Vitamins & Minerals, Vegetable Stock and Mint - retails for around £3.35-£3.60 per kilo.)
The foods aren’t available through normal pet wholesalers and the range is really large - this is why not all pet shops sell them so you may have to hunt around. When you do find a shop that stocks the foods, they will more than likely have small ‘meal size’ samples for you take away and try.
Sorry about taking so long to reply. Things at AADF HQ are really hectic right now. Do you ever find that the more work you do, the more there seems yet to be done?
Anyway, I’m not sure that I can really add too much here as you’ve pretty much covered it all. GA (previously Golden Acres) is, as far as I know, the biggest pet food extruding plant in Europe. Since very few pet food producers can afford the tens of millions that setting up and running their own factories would cost, most turn to companies like GA for their manufacturing and packaging needs.
GA make foods for all sorts of companies including Burns, Arden Grange, Pets at Home, James Wellbeloved, Natural Dog Food, Barking Heads, Symply, Eden, Simpsons and many many more. They are also the UK’s biggest producer of ‘white label’ foods.
Because GA makes such large volumes of these foods, it can do so much more cost effectively than making lots and lots of bespoke batches and by cutting out the middle man (the pet food companies), pet shops can make a much better margin and customers can often get relatively good food at a very good price.
The minimum orders are pretty low and there are no maximum orders so white labels can work for all sorts of companies from small pet shops to large scale online retailers.
Some well known pet food producers like Pooch & Co, Pawtions, Milburns and Europa even pick their products from the white label ranges so they really are everywhere.
Are you sure? All James Wellbeloved dry food was certainly made there until their own factory was opened a couple of years ago but I was under the impression that they still kept some of their manufacturing at GA. As for Arden Grange, did they move too as I’m sure I saw their foods there when I visited? Granted, that was a few years ago…
My local pet food company who buy their white label food from GA told me that JWB was made by them. They have a large range, including new(ish) grain free products so I am wondering if they might have kept some production there. Would be interesting to know. The factory looks rather impressive on the website photographs.
On the subject of these new white label grain free products, my local pet shop is going to get me some samples when they go up to the factory next week. Meanwhile, I have been looking on the Internet for the recipes and suspect that Country Kibble uses them in their own packaging. If so, the recipes look good. What do you think David?