THEY said they were mad to do it.
When husband and wife business partners Tony and Caryn Lynch started ‘Sig and Viv’s natural pet food pantry’ in 2014 people couldn’t understand, saying there was plenty of provision for their pets in the Vale, however, obviously they were wrong, as Sig and Viv’s has just expanded to a new bigger store, so what’s the secret to their success?
“When we first set up people thought ‘what are you doing?’,” said Mr Lynch. “A little village, Pets at Home that way and that way, but we offer the finest food you can get for your animal.”
Sig and Viv's pet food store has moved to a bigger premises (Image: Newsquest)
The new shop has more space and more parking spaces (Image: Newsquest)
Mr Lynch explained it in a nutshell saying “doctors and nutritionists and the like are telling us humans to stay away from processed food, well, keep your animal away from it too.”
Mr Lynch explained how his daughter’s dog Sig suffered from bad skin and despite sinking £1,800 into vet bills, the vets couldn’t solve the problem.
When they were at a dog show in Leeds they saw there was raw dog food – unprocessed. So Mr Lynch did a bit of digging online and realised that, at the time, the nearest raw pet food retailers were across the bridge in that country of England – so he and wife Caryn decided to set up Sig and Viv’s in the Vale, in Dinas Powys.
Sig and Viv's team from left: Joel Hennessy, Tony Lynch, Caryn Lynch and Izzy Bradley (Image: Newsquest)
Dogs Sig and Viv (Image: Newsquest)
What do you get in a packet of pet food from Sig and Viv’s?
Their main suppliers are Gentle, Nutriment, and Natural Instinct and in a pack you can find ingredients like turkey with bone, beef tripe, fresh broccoli and kale, and salmon oil!
Mr Lynch described the start of Sig and Viv’s saying: “We started next to a pub, we had one parking space, it was a bit of slow start, but then everything kicked off.”
And kicked off it did, in fact, Sig and Viv’s set quite a trend of feeding animals unprocessed food in South Wales.
On Wednesday, July 10, the couple, along with staff members Izzy Bradley and Joel Hennessy opened the new look shop in part of Andrew Wilson Motors on Cardiff Road, Dinas Powys.
And not only does Sig and Viv offer healthy nutrient rich food for your pets, they do their bit for charity, particularly the Dogue de Bordeaux breed of mastiff that is often used by gangs as guard dogs – Sig and Viv’s has raised £1,800 to help the breed.
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