Hi, I’m Ash.
I farm bugs.
And somewhere between raising black soldier fly larvae for chicken keepers and watching what goes into most dog treats, I had an idea. What if the bugs were the treat?
That’s Bug&Bark. This is how we got here.
How it started
The farm came first.
Syntects started with a simple question: what if food waste could become something genuinely useful? Black soldier fly larvae turned out to be the answer. They eat organic waste, grow fast, and produce some of the most nutritious protein on the planet as a result.
We built our farm in Yoxall, Staffordshire from the ground up — raising BSFL to sell as live calci-worms for backyard chicken keepers, and turning the frass into Flytiliser, our insect-based fertiliser. It was a circular system that worked. The chickens got great nutrition, the gardens got great feed, and nothing went to waste.
“We were already farming the most nutritious protein most people have never heard of. It seemed obvious to ask what else it could do.”
Then one afternoon, watching the chickens go absolutely feral for a tube of live larvae, the thought landed: dogs would love these too. Not just love them — they’d benefit from them in ways that most dog treats simply can’t offer.
The problem we saw
Most dog treats are less honest than they look.
Spend five minutes reading the backs of dog treat packets and a pattern emerges. Chicken derivatives. Beef by-products. Wheat fillers. Long lists of ingredients that sound reassuring but don’t tell you much about where anything actually came from, or how it was processed.
For the estimated one in five dogs with food sensitivities, this is more than a labelling issue — it’s a daily problem. Itchy skin, upset stomachs, ear infections, low energy. Often the culprit is right there in the ingredient list, hiding behind a vague collective noun.
“We already had the solution sitting in trays in a heated room in Staffordshire. We just needed to bake it into something dogs would go mad for.”
We weren’t trying to build another pet food company. We were trying to solve a problem we could see clearly — and we happened to have exactly the right ingredient to do it.
Three things we won’t compromise on.
Every recipe decision starts with one question: is this actually good for dogs? Not just palatable — genuinely, nutritionally good. We’ll never add fillers, flavourings, or allergens just to hit a price point.
Insect farming is genuinely low-impact — but we won’t hide behind green language without the substance to back it up. Our larvae are farmed on food waste, on our own land, in Staffordshire. That’s the whole story.
One ingredient. One farm. One team you can actually contact. We’re a small operation and we like it that way — it means we can stand behind everything we make. If you have a question, Ash will probably answer it.
Where we are now
Still small. Very much on purpose.
Right now, Bug&Bark is in recipe development. We’re baking test batches, trialling different formats, and collecting honest feedback from the only taste testers whose opinion actually matters — real dogs.
We’re launching at the Great British Farm Fest in May 2026, where we’ll be handing out the first Bug&Bark samples in person. We want to meet the dogs (and their owners) who’ll help us get this right.
We’re not in a rush to scale for the sake of scaling. We’d rather build something genuinely good slowly than something mediocre fast. The farm is already running. The protein is already there. We just want to make sure the treat is worth it.
“We want Bug&Bark to be the treat you feel good about giving — because you know exactly what’s in it, and exactly where it came from.”
If that sounds like something your dog deserves, join the waitlist. We’d love to have you along for the ride.
Find us at Farm Fest.
We’ll be at the Great British Farm Fest, Stoneleigh Park from 22–24 May 2026 — with samples, stories, and a very hands-on demonstration of what happens when you give a dog their first Bug&Bark treat.
If you want to meet Ash in person, ask questions, or just let your dog do a taste test and give us an honest review, come and find us. Bring your dog — they’re the ones we really want to impress.