Wild and Game launches crowdfunding campaign

If you visited the GunsOnPegs stand at the 2021 Game Fair, you may have spotted a display chiller groaning with delicious game-based pies, sausage rolls and other goodies. These were supplied by Wild and Game, and I think it is fair to say that the GunsOnPegs team more or less lived on them for the duration of the event.

Similarly, Wild and Game provided the sustenance for The GunsOnPegs Podcast Shoot Day at Stockton towards the end of last season. So you can take it as read that we are all big fans of the company and their wares.

Growing the market for wild game

Now, thanks to a new investment crowdfunding initiative launched by Wild and Game, you have the opportunity to help the business to grow, and bring the joys of wild game meat to a wider audience. The fundraise, which opened to the public on Monday 2nd May, has already attracted considerable interest in its first ever funding round.

Founded in 2017, Wild and Game sells frozen game products including ready to cook meats, pies, pasties, sausages and charcuterie. The company was set up in response to two pressing issues: the environmental cost of intensive farming and the underconsumption of wild game meats in the UK - despite the fact that they are in plentiful supply here. Wild and Game’s vision is to encourage people to replace farmed meats with wild game, and for meats such as pheasant, venison and wild boar to become as common in supermarkets as chicken, beef or pork.

With a Trustpilot score of 4.7 stars, Wild and Game has grown rapidly over the past three years. It launched its direct-to-consumer operation in 2020 and achieved its first supermarket listing, with the Co-Op, in the same year. Since March 2020 it has shipped over 40,000 direct-to-customer orders and in the past six months it has exceeded £1 million in revenues.

Putting game on the menu

The company started life in Bristol and is now moving to larger premises in the West Country. It intends to use the investment from this current fundraising round to boost marketing and fulfilment and accelerate its progress towards putting game fully on the British menu.

“We’re strong believers in the potential of the wild game market in the UK. Wild game is healthy, has excellent sustainability credentials, and is in plentiful supply," said co-founder of Wild and Game Steve Frampton, adding: "We’ve worked hard over the past few years to get people more familiar with game, we’ve introduced thousands of people to the pleasures of eating game by putting it into some of the UK’s favourite recipes, and by giving our customers inspiration to help them discover ways to cook with game at home. We’ve been pleased to see how many people try us once then become game converts – and because we sell frozen game, we’re able to make it available all year round, not just in game season."

"We’ve have great plans for the coming years, including putting game into more supermarkets and moving to new premises which will enable us to better serve our fast-growing customer base. We’re delighted to already be approaching our minimum fundraising target and we see this as a reflection of the growing appetite people have for wild game in the UK," he concluded. 

If you're interested in the fundraise, you can choose to invest as little as £10, and each level of investment comes with a reward, from free shipping on orders for a year to clay pigeon shooting days and the chance to have lunch with the team to discuss strategy.

Find out more about Wild and Game and their fundraise here