Ruff's Recipes Dog Food

At Law Print & Packaging, some of the most rewarding projects are those that combine great design with a genuine technical packaging challenge. The new Ruff’s Recipes 12kg dry dog food range for Pets at Home certainly delivered both.

We have worked on numerous packaging projects for Pets at Home over the years, collaborating closely with the retailer and its manufacturing partners to develop packaging that delivers on performance, practicality, sustainability and shelf appeal.

For the launch of Ruff’s Recipes, the co-packer producing the retailer’s dry pet food products approached us as one of its key packaging suppliers. The requirement sounded straightforward at first: create a premium large-format bag for the new range. The reality was considerably more challenging.

What did we do?

Materials & Manufacturing Expertise

Format Optimisation

Pre-and Post-Press Quality Management

Print & Colour Management

Supply Chain Logistics

A New Brand Built Around Comforting Recipes

Ruff’s Recipes is a Pets at Home dog food range built around the idea of honest, comforting food for dogs, with recipes inspired by familiar dishes and flavours. The dry food range includes recipes such as Cosy Chicken Casserole, Rustic Lamb Hotpot, Homely Fish Pie, Hearty Game Stew and Salmon Bake for puppies.

For the 12kg range, the packaging needed to reflect this distinctive brand personality while also delivering the strength and functionality required for a substantial volume of dry pet food. And this was where the technical challenge really began.

Packaging Brief

The bag needed to incorporate a number of important features:

Recyclable PE/PE mono-material laminated structure
Large Flat Bottom Bag format
Pocket Zipper for easy opening and reclosing
Side gusset carry handle to make the 12kg pack easier for consumers to lift and transport
High-quality print reproduction across the complete range
Strength and durability throughout filling, transportation, retail handling and consumer use
Strong shelf presence appropriate for a major new retail brand

Individually, each requirement needed careful consideration. Bringing all of them together in one large-format recyclable bag made the project considerably more technically demanding.

The Challenge of Going Large in PE

Producing large Flat Bottom Bags in laminated PE/PE structures is notoriously challenging.

As brands move away from conventional multi-material laminates towards recyclable mono-material solutions, packaging converters have to achieve the required pack performance while working within a very different material structure. At 12kg and 700mm high, the Ruff’s Recipes bag also needed to withstand significant weight and stresses during filling, palletisation, distribution and handling. Seal integrity, dimensional stability and overall bag construction therefore became critical considerations.

Adding a Pocket Zipper increased the complexity further. The closure needed to operate effectively across a large pack while integrating successfully with the PE structure and maintaining the overall integrity of the bag. Finally, the inclusion of a side gusseted carry handle introduced another important technical element. With consumers potentially lifting and carrying a 12kg pack using this feature, the handle area and surrounding structure needed to perform reliably without compromising the bag.

Collaboration from Concept to Commercial Production

Projects like Ruff’s Recipes demonstrate why packaging development is about much more than simply supplying a bag.

Law Print worked closely with the co-packer throughout the project, always keeping the expectations of Pets at Home and the practical requirements of the packing operation front of mind. Our team combined technical packaging knowledge, manufacturing expertise and project management to help translate an ambitious specification into a commercially viable packaging solution.

Material performance, bag construction, filling requirements, sealing, functionality and print reproduction all had to work together. Close communication between Law Print, the co-packer and manufacturing teams was therefore essential throughout development. It is exactly this collaborative approach that enables potential issues to be identified and resolved before they become production problems.

Performance Meets Shelf Appeal

Technical performance was only one half of the brief.

Ruff’s Recipes has a warm, distinctive identity, so the finished packaging also needed to reproduce the artwork consistently and make a strong impression in store. The large printable area of a 12kg Flat Bottom Bag creates fantastic opportunities for brand communication, but it also makes print quality, registration and colour consistency particularly important.

The finished range combines the visual impact expected from a major retail launch with the technical features required from a large-format dry pet food pack. The result is a bag that does much more than contain the product: it protects the food, supports handling and storage, provides consumer convenience through its zipper and carry handle, delivers strong branding and supports the move towards more recyclable packaging structures.

Packaging Expertise Where It Matters

The Ruff’s Recipes project is a great example of the value of involving an experienced packaging partner when a brief moves beyond the standard.

Large formats, recyclable materials and additional convenience features can each introduce new technical considerations. Combine all three and packaging development becomes an exercise in balancing sustainability, functionality, machinability, durability and brand presentation.

By working closely with the co-packer and understanding the requirements of Pets at Home, Law Print was able to turn a technically demanding brief into a successful commercial pack.

Large format. Recyclable structure. Pocket zipper. Carry handle. Great print.

A challenging combination – and exactly the type of packaging project where Law Print’s technical expertise, collaborative approach and service levels can make the difference.

This was a challenging but really rewarding project, with Pets at Home’s co-packer and our long standing customer looking for something quite specific — a large flat bottom bag that was fully recyclable, with both a pocket zipper and side carry handle. Adding these features to a bag of this size was unusual and presented some real technical challenges. We worked closely with the co-packing team throughout the project, and together we developed a solution that delivered. It is a great example of how working collaboratively with a customer, combined with Law Print’s technical expertise, can turn a challenging packaging requirement into something that really stands out.

Tate Jones

Sales Account Manager

Good packaging protects your product, great packaging protects your brand.

Contact our team today to see how we can add value to your brand.