Having been in the north Queensland commercial fishing industry for 18 years, Glen Murray saw firsthand the amount of waste common practices in his industry produced.
“Every time we fillet a fish for human consumption, we only use 30% of the fish, with the remaining 70% going to waste,” Glen says.
“Along with this wastage, there was a time where I ended up with a large amount of queenfish, which isn’t highly sought after for human consumption. Four days later I only managed to sell it as crab bait for $1 per kilogram, and I thought well this is crazy, there has got to be a better use for this resource.
“This is when I began to look for alternative uses for fish and fish waste, and [that] was the beginning of All Fish for Dogs.”
All Fish for Dogs makes dehydrated dog treats and chews, exclusively from fish.
“We upcycle the unused fish, whole fish and the fish waste itself,” Glen says.
There are three main problems that All Fish for Dogs is solving: providing nutritional treats for dogs (and cats), boosting commercial viability in the fishing industry and combating environmental and waste issues.
“My wife and co-founder Selena Murray and I are owners of three dogs ourselves and we found that the treats available on the market aren’t as natural as they made out to be,” Glen says.
“Many of them have high levels of additives, preservatives and fillers, rather than a single ingredient, and we wanted to make a more nutritional treat for not only our dogs but other dogs (and cats) too.”
Glen - a fisherman by trade - says the profession is a fairly hard gig at the best of times and he wanted fishermen to be able to sell everything they caught.
“We are able to provide sufficient demand for everything fishermen catch, which assists in the industry becoming more commercially viable. This also means there is less of a need to harvest excessive amounts of fish, which supports the environmental issues we are tackling,” he says.
“We are creating an environment for reduced overfishing as we can use everything fishermen catch, regardless of the type of fish. Additionally, as we utilise the whole fish, including the 70% that would usually go to waste, we are able to limit the amount being discarded back into the oceans or into landfill.”
The All Fish for Dogs team are most proud of the awards they have won since they became established in 2014.
“We’ve won a few awards now and we are really proud of these accomplishments,” Glen says.
“In 2018 we won two awards at the Tropical North Queensland Innovation Awards - the Eco Innovation Award and the Overall Proven Innovation Award. It was a big thing for us as we were up against some stiff competition. In January of this year we also received the Cassowary Coast Regions Australia Day Award for Excellence in Innovation.
“At the end of last year, we managed to get into one of the major supermarket chains here nationally, which has been a huge achievement, being able to crack that market.”
As with many startups and small- to medium-sized enterprises the biggest challenge All Fish for Dogs has faced has been sourcing capital for expansion.
“We’ve expanded quite rapidly, with sales last year growing by 128%, which is pretty phenomenal in any sort of manufacturing business,” Glen says.
“The biggest challenge that has come with this is financing the growth. We’ve needed to increase manufacturing for extra stock and put on more staff.”
They have however been able to get some funding through various lending institutions.
“We have found that the big banks are hesitant with new startups, you’ve really got to have points on the board in regards to trading and showing that you’ve got a certain amount of turnover,” Glen says.
“We’ve now gotten over that magical five-year mark, which means we are finally being listened to.
“We also have a couple of grant applications out at the moment but are still waiting to hear back.”
With the hopes that they will secure the funding required, expansion is on the cards for All Fish for Dogs.
“We are trying to secure funding to expand. In the past couple of months the business has gone global as such, with exports into South Korea. And we are currently investigating pricing on freight to the US for a customer who has put in an order for 800kg of product,” Glen says.
“We have also had discussions with the Austrade office in Bangkok. There is a large importer over there who is currently importing New Zealand products, which we would be able to compete with quite competitively. Depending on how things pan out with COVID-19, we are hoping to attend a really large trade show in Thailand towards the end of the year to get our foot in the door.
“Looking at export markets, we are really eager to upscale the business and continue to grow to the next phase, which is looking at putting in some modern mechanisations, which is unchartered territory in doing fish treats for dogs. The export market is eager for Australian products, as our reputation is considered Clean, Green, Safe and Trusted.”
Although a relatively small company, All Fish for Dogs is by far the largest manufacturer of fish treats for dogs in Australia.
“We’d like to hold that position and have that key spot in the marketplace, which is why we’re looking at upscaling and growing the business,” Glen says.
“We’d also like to develop some new products. One of the grants we are hoping to receive is a research grant and will be put towards this. We are doing a joint research project with James Cook University, to look at new products, which currently aren’t in the market. It is some pretty groundbreaking stuff.
“By the end of this year we are looking to move into a larger premises, which is purpose built. If we can get that all happening in the next six months or so, then the remainder of the year will be looking at getting additional equipment, which has to be adapted and modified to do what we need it to do. Basically we utilise equipment from food manufacturing areas and then need to adapt them for our needs, which is very innovative.”
