Dog food business breeds success
When his ten-and-a-half stone French bull mastiff Milo suffered from a skin problem, Stephen Ward spent hundreds of pounds trying to scratch his itch.
But, after months of costly vets' bills, he discovered it was dog food which was causing the annoyance and then found a manufacturer which produced hypoallergenic food.
Within a fortnight, Milo's rash cleared up and then Stephen ran into his next problem.
The company which sold him the food went bust, but rather than go back to shelling out more on vets' bills, Stephen decided to start selling the food himself.
Today he has more than 160 customers for his Heights Farm Premium Pet Foods range and has opened his first franchise to cover the Preston, South Ribble and Chorley area with his aunt, Moira Jordan.
Stephen, 41, of Bolton, said: "I had seen how Milo had gone from scratching himself down to the bone to running around like a racehorse, so I could not go back to how he was.
"I found the manufacturer, a company near Preston, and we launched it under the Heights Farm brand in May now we have more than 160 repeat customers from Cornwall to Scotland."
Its range includes potato and salmon, chicken and even green beans and carrots.
Now his aunt is looking to set up Heights Farm's first franchise from her home in Euxton, near Chorley.
She said: "I saw how the food changed Milo and hopefully I can use that now to help dog owners with pets in a similar situation in my area."
Stephen is confident the family connection will work in Lancashire
and has plans to create other franchises.
He said: "We want to let it grow organically and we are slowly finding our feet, but if things carry on as we hope they will, I think we can definitely look for more franchises."
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Weather for Preston
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 14 C to 19 C
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