Adele Mans, a South African entrepreneur creating a food business catering for pets — Lionesses of Africa

What inspired you to start your company?

My husband and I decided not to have children and so Bismark, our mini schnauzer boy, is the child spirit in our house. We got him in 2014 and even took maternity leave to celebrate his new life! But in December 2017, at the age of three and a half, he was diagnosed with genetic heart disease. We were devastated. The prognosis was very poor and according to the vet, the only way to save him was with emergency open heart surgery, at a cost of R45 000! The vet didn’t have any information about healthier diet options, and warned that any squirrel hunting or running on the beach – the two things Bismark loves most – could result in sudden death.  We were forced to look at healthier food without any preservatives and started cooking organic, fresh human grade food for him. Within two weeks, he was a healthy happy shiny dog, full of smiles and energy. He just celebrated his 8th birthday and behaves like a two-year-old naughty puppy. His full story is written on our webpage.

Why should anyone use your service or product?

Our passion is to help cats and dogs with alternative healthy food so that they can thrive and look and feel better. We approach this in the same manner as our own human diets: Eat fresh and balanced food and avoid processed food with salt and preservatives. We work with an animal nutritionist and vet and we are in the process of having our food approved by the Agricultural department of South Africa. Dogs require very specific proportions of meat protein, organ meat, vegetables, fruit, herbs, seeds, fresh produce and carbohydrates. All Bismark’s Bistro meals are proportioned as follows and can be custom made:

40% Pure protein whole meat (fish/chicken/venison/pork)

10% Organ meat (heart/kidney/liver)

35% Vegetables (seasonal vegetables)

6% Bulgar wheat

6% Fruit 

3% Eggs and shell

The meals are calculated according to the dog’s weight and delivered to the clients door around Cape Town. For cats we have a selection of turkey, chicken or fish meals in a mousse or ground consistency as well as healthy liver treats.