Frontier Pets founder Diana Scott dishes the detail on her Gold Coast business success

Shark Tank investors thought she was barking up the wrong tree, but it didn’t stop one woman from turning her love for her pups into an empire. HOW SHE DID IT

Four years after being knocked back on hit television show The Shark Tank, Diana Scott has taken her ethical pet food business from a spare room side project to a $6m empire.

After turning over $100,000 in her first year, the Gold Coaster’s business Frontier Pets has achieved phenomenal growth, having increased its revenue by 6,000 per cent.

The company produces an astonishing 40,000kg of pet food from a facility in Evans Head, New South Wales.

The Helensvale resident’s journey started in 2017 after discovering there was no commercially produced free range pet food for her two beloved English Bull Terriers.

In 2018 after realising she would need some serious coin to jump-start the business, she appeared on Shark Tank asking for a $600,000 investment.

They knocked back the idea, but she persevered.

Picture: Supplied.

She said the funds would be used to purchase a freeze-drier capable of extracting water from the free range frozen ingredients – while retaining 100 per cent of the nutritional value.

“When you combine this technology with the human-grade, free range and organic produce we use, feeding your pet Frontier is as good as hand-making it yourself, just more convenient, Ms Scott said.

She said the freeze-dried pet food was ideal for puppy parents who were time-poor – and could be kept in the pantry.

“I was also worried about the environmental toll traditional pet foods were taking on the planet, as well as the negative effects they had on my dog’s health,” Ms Scott said.

“I started spending Sundays making my own pet food and finally got fed up with the process and the fact I could buy myself organic, free-range food but the same options didn’t extend to my dogs.

“I knew I couldn’t be the only person who thought like this, so I decided to do something about it.”

Ms Scott was recently named winner in the Outstanding Growth category at this year’s Australian Small Business Champion Awards, and a 2022 Telstra Best of Business Progressing Australia State winner and national finalist.