Clare teenager taking pet sector by storm with rabbit feed subscription service
With Easter now in the rear view for most of us, Co Clare teenager, Emma Finucane, has to deal with little Easter bunnies all year round.
Since setting up her fledgling business, Just Pets Ireland, last year, the 18-year-old has slowly but surely increased her sales of rabbit essentials' subscription boxes, even though she is in the throes of preparing for her Leaving Cert.
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Having grown up on a small farm in Clare, Emma has always found ways to turn a pound from small farm projects.
She has reared calves and lambs but turned her attention to breeding and selling pedigree lop-eared rabbits in April 2023, which led to people from all over Ireland travelling to Clare to buy her mild-mannered pet rabbits.
'Lop rabbits have been my most successful venture yet. Rabbits are easy to mind, and I have put a lot of effort into not just getting the right breed, but also rabbits with the right personality,' said Emma.
Discussions with new and experienced pet rabbit owners, who she found were having issues purchasing rabbit feed and bedding exactly when the rabbits needed it, led to her decision to set up a subscription box service to simplify the care of rabbits.
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The subscription box contains the essential things a rabbit needs every month - bedding, hay and feed - with a selection of rabbit care products and toys offered as optional extras. Her clients can subscribe for as long as they want and receive a monthly box delivered directly to their door.
She has invested her own money in the venture, having saved money from jobs, sales of farm animals and her pet rabbits over the years. She now also sells additional rabbit care products, such as water bottles, beds and toys.
While Emma is the sole owner of the venture, she gets a lot of practical help and support from her family.
Her twin sister, Roisin, often helps her with both the packaging and deliveries of the boxes. Her father helped her set up her company and check out stock.
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Emma Finucane, creator of Just Pets Ireland
Her mother designed her website, www.justpets.ie, where anyone can buy individual boxes or start a subscription. The boxes are delivered nationwide.
The two sisters have helped out in both the family's and neighbours' farms, with house construction and renovation, and have done plumbing, tiling, and more.
They both spent time in country fairs helping in a neighbour's stand, and this is where they learned the ins and outs of selling and getting customers. Hard work has been a natural part of growing up on a farm, even a small one.
'My parents have always made sure my sister and I have had a wide variety of experiences. They've always included us in any projects they have or encouraged us to work with others for wider experiences,' says Emma.
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Seeing as Just Pets Ireland is an Irish company, Emma has as much as possible tried sourcing the items in the box in Ireland.
The sawdust and hay are from Wicklow, but she has had to get the feed abroad, following the recommendations of a small animal vet specialised in rabbits.
'It took a lot of research to get and source the right products. Brexit, of course, made everything complicated by limiting the products, but as I always wanted to source as much as possible in Ireland, it was also not a huge problem,' she adds.
Emma now has regular customers and subscribers who receive their monthly box.
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Most of the business has come through her pet rabbit customers, but also through social media. She's hoping to expand further, but is also happy with slow progress as she needs to focus on her Leaving Cert this year.
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'It does get stressful at times, and I can sometimes feel I don't have enough hours in the day for everything that needs to get done. I need to spend a lot of time on my studies in the coming months, but I'm lucky to have help from both family and neighbours.
Emma's love of animals keeps her motivated. She explains: 'When you have animals, you cannot choose not to do your jobs. You must feed and care for them, rain or shine. You must be there even if it means being up at all hours or cancelling plans when they're sick', she says
Emma is determined to get high points in Leaving Cert, as it's the key to unlocking her dream of studying business and IT in college and turning her passion into a career.
She had initially wanted to study veterinary, but setting up Just Pets Ireland has given her a taste for entrepreneurship. Her goal is to follow her entrepreneurial streak and grow her business further.
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