Interview with Sara Merighi, CEO of Food For Dogs
August 3, 2021
Interview with Sara Merighi, CEO of Food For Dogs, an Italian company that aspires to become a landmark for pet-friendly restaurants and hotels.
The CEO of Food For Dogs Sara Merighi tells us about her new startup company; its goal is to make travel experiences with our furry friends even more special!
Sometimes, travelling with your dog can be complicated, since not all facilities accept pets. And let’s not forget about the difficulties of eating out with your furbaby: you might be even forced to leave it in your car, in some cases.
Food For Dogs is the company that wants to change how these sort of things work by acknowledging your dog’s needs. That’s why FFD offers restaurants and hotels services that vastly improve any facility’s pet hospitality. Products such as the Doggy Lunch Box and services such as dog-friendly hotel rooms will allow you to fully enjoy any journey you take with your four-legged friend by your side!
Products
A single-dose box of selected dog food for when you’re outside; the best choice for restaurants and hotels that wish to welcome their guests – along with their dogs – in a professional fashion.
Three different courtesy kits meant for hotels that help accommodate your fur-friends. Every kit provides useful, glamorous and quality products!
We furnish hotel rooms in order to make them more comfortable for any four-legged guest.
Hello, Sara! Can you tell us more about this wonderful idea you had? What is Food For Dogs, exactly?
Food For Dogs is a startup aimed at providing products and services that improve dog owners’ travel experiences. Our first product is the Doggy Lunch Box: it’s a paper box that serves as a dog bowl, and it contains a meat or meat burger. It allows dogs to eat by their owners’ side. The bowl can also contain water. The box has an elegant design, fit for restaurants, and it doesn’t bother other guests. Restaurants and hotels provide dog owners with a Bau Menu that informs guests about box format and ingredients.
This summer we’re trying to implement the product on GNV ferries, since – every year during this season – more than 70.000 dogs travel with their owners!
How did this idea come to your mind?
It happened while, one evening, I was getting ready to meet with my friend for dinner. I was thinking about how easy and time-saving it would have been if my dogs Ofelia and George were allowed to eat with me at the restaurant, instead of having to feed them beforehand. They’re half of my family, so why was it so difficult to bring them along with me every time? I talked about it with my friend, Roberta, now my associate, and she agreed with me. She gave me her support, and just like that we started thinking about what to do.
Here in Italy – and also abroad – many facilities still don’t accept dogs. In your opinion, will Food For Dogs manage to change the state of things?
That’s our ambition. We still have a long way to go, but this pandemic – quite surprisingly – boosted this process. In 2020, we saw an increase in the rate of pet adoption all over Europe, especially for dogs. Lockdowns and social distancing surely helped with this. As for the holidays, in the summer of that same year 3.5 million Italians took their dog on vacation. So, let’s hope that we’re going towards a future of increasing social inclusion for our dogs.
Your services are also available abroad: what are the main differences?
We noticed that in Italy there’s a slightly higher concern with improving the travel experiences of those who own a dog, and hotel managers are putting in the effort to meet their needs. Us Italians tend to go a little overboard when it comes to spoiling our furry friends, but, still, pet hospitality is a thing all over Europe. The major issue is the lack of any standard for it. “Pet-friendly hotel” can indicate a facility that simply accepts dogs but, in the end, doesn’t really offer any service; and, at the same time, it can indicate a hotel that offers anything pet-related, like bowls, blankets, fenced spaces, dog-sitters, etc. “Pet-friendly” is, as you can see, a pretty misleading term.
Through webinars, collaborations with Apt and our customers’ feedback we’re trying to set an unambiguous standard.
What other products do you have to offer? And what’s your favorite?
Due to high demand, we created a courtesy kit line: the Bau Gift Box, the Bau Welcome Kit and a pouch containing various products. The products – which can be handmade – are as sustainable as possible, brightly colored, and showcase nice designs. The Bau Welcome Kit can be especially useful: it contains food, a “I’m sleeping here” sign, and a collar tag with the hotel name and phone number written on it for safety reasons. As for the room furnishing service, we value usefulness and elegance. Our tailor makes blankets that are to be laid on the bed and pillows for bigger dogs that sleep on the floor. These items are made from organic cotton and can be customized with the facility’s logo.
Did you perhaps benefit from a crowdfunding campaign to launch your project?
In 2018, following our victory in a contest, Como Next became our startup’s incubator and helped us launch the project. We used our own money in the beginning, and later we asked for a bank loan. That money helped us develop the room furnishings and courtesy kit lines, and we also made a deal with the French buying group Cadhi. We’ve been doing this by ourselves in order to avoid selling a high percentage of equity once we’ll start crowdfunding and welcoming new associates.
Future projects?
We’re working on a couple products to be presented at TTG Rimini, and one of those is a vending machine for dog products. We’re also trying to reach Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Sochi with our services. In 2022, we’ll begin our search for an investor, and we’ll organize a crowdfunding campaign that will allow us to develop faster and to grow our commercial network in Italy and abroad.
Credits:
https://www.facebook.com/FOODforDOGSItalia/
https://www.instagram.com/foodfordogsitalia/
