The 2023 Queensland AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award winner Emma Gibbons was recognised for her innovative pet food business and commitment to regional manufacturing. Pippa Haupt writes.
When Emma Gibbons started her pet food brand Huds and Toke in 2012, making 400,000 Doggy Doughnuts for Krispy Kreme to distribute in the US and Australia was not in the business plan.
Gibbons says she had worked for herself in one form or another over many years, but had never started a brand.
“The name came from my kids. When my two boys were very young, Huds and Toke were the names of their imaginary dragons,” says Gibbons.
Growing up on a property in regional Queensland, Gibbons studied applied science and majored in animal production and nutrition.
“I was really interested in getting back to my roots and building a brand and a business that I could be really proud of, and at the same time, support the regional communities I love so much. I’m also totally animal obsessed, so it made sense to be a part of the pet and equine industry,” she says.
She invested in a manufacturing facility and set about building a scalable brand and business that would add value to the rural community. Her goal was to develop products with domestic appeal and export potential.
“I really felt there was an opportunity for me to build a business taking Australian agricultural commodities and value adding them in some way into a higher value product and so, Huds and Toke was born,” says Gibbons.
From a manufacturing perspective, Gibbons started from scratch, creating the recipes and then optimising processes to ensure a commercially viable product.
For Gibbons, the relentless pursuit of quality, belief in your vision, and always being flexible to adapt and adjust to new solutions and discoveries, are integral to being a successful start-up or business.
“It took a lot to convince the market that a Doggie Doughnut was a thing and that the horse treats we were making were better for horses than giving them a sugar cube or a whole carrot,” says Gibbons.
“The R&D process was long and arduous, but it was absolutely essential to ensure we had the right products that would set our business apart from the competition.”
She recounts the difficulties she faced as a woman coming into the manufacturing industry and trying to introduce products into retail networks.
“We never took no for an answer and I hounded people until they realised, regardless whether I am a woman or not, that I was not going away until I was heard… And because of this resilience and persistence, we slowly started getting traction.”
Today, Huds and Toke has an all-female team of 15, plus Gibbons’ husband.
“We take great pride in employing local women who want to work in a production environment and learn new skills to help them in their future endeavours.
“We have found that these women, who are all from the local region, have particular skills that really suits the outcomes we are striving for,” says Gibbons.
Regional recognition
Gibbons won the 2023 Queensland AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award for her innovative work in sustainable pet food and building a successful business with the help of sustainable agriculture.
She was selected from a field of four finalists who epitomised the significant impact women have on rural industries, businesses, and communities.
A sweet adventure
When a global iconic company came calling, Huds and Toke opened the door.
Krispy Kreme Australia contacted the company to discuss a potential collaboration to celebrate International Dog Day.
“My team and their team would meet regularly and workshop our respective ideas and we eventually came up with the concept the market sees today,” she says.
Krispy Kreme launched its Doggie Doughnut range in August 2021 with healthy doughnut-shaped dog biscuits in classic Krispy Kreme flavours like Original Glazed, Nutella, and Chocolate Sprinkles.
“Obviously Krispy Kreme is far larger than we are, but it is a wonderful endorsement for Huds and Toke that one of the most recognised brands in the world is comfortable to partner and collaborate with a regional Queensland manufacturer,” says Gibbons.
The project was so successful it expanded into Krispy Kreme’s North America network as well.
To meet the requirements of supplying as many Doggy Doughnuts as possible to the retailer, Gibbons knew it was critical Huds and Toke find a suitable logistics partner that would deal with any problems that arose in an efficient way.
From the manufacturing side of things, Huds and Toke had already invested in more capability, so it had the factory capacity to handle the increase in volume.
“We did, however, need to significantly improve our supply chain. We had countless meetings with our key suppliers to ensure they had the capability and were willing to supply increased volume of our raw products.
“The project also made us examine our financial systems and structures.”
Gibbons says the success of this project came down to “extreme ownership and extreme communication”.
“When there were problems, each and every person had to own that problem and then communicate with every other person within the supply chain to get to the solution as quickly as possible,” says Gibbons.
This year, Huds and Toke is poised to supply the UK Krispy Kreme network as well as Australia and North America, a direct result of the success of last year’s first consignment.
This article first appeared in the June/July 2023 edition of Food & Drink Business magazine.
