Husband and wife Matthew and Jenny Snell have received a top industry award, just 12 months after bringing a new pet food franchise to north Wiltshire.

Mr and Mrs Snell, who run their Trophy Pet Food franchise from Calne, were chosen as the firm’s best new franchisee at a conference in Oxford on February 17.

They started using pet foods made by Trophy to help their ageing mongrel Morse, who was suffering with painful joints as a result of hip dysplasia.

After setting up with only four existing customers, they now have 260.

Mr Snell said: “We only attended the conference to hear about our new range of foods, so to hear our names read out was very surreal.

“But now we’ve had time for this to settle in, we have a feeling of immense gratitude towards our customers, whose feedback to the industry played a significant part, and to Trophy for providing the truly excellent products at a very competitive price.

“The rest has just been hard work, which we have both loved every minute of.”

Over the last 20 years, Trophy Pet Foods has established 94 independently owned small business franchises across the UK. The brand sells pet food made using high-quality British meat and predominantly British-farmed ingredients, as well as offering free delivery and nutritional advice.

To help celebrate their awards success, Mr and Mrs Snell would like to offer Gazette readers a free dog or cat meal.

To get in touch with the company, call 07454 677303 or (01249) 828438.