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Fressnapf founder Torsten Toeller outlined plans to create a “one-stop-shop” for pet owners as part of a long-term strategy to build “an eco-system around pets”.

Speaking in a keynote interview with host and business journalist Steph McGovern at the World Retail Congress in Berlin, Toeller, 60, said he hopes to “double the business over the next five, six, seven years”.

“We need to expand, we need to work hard on loyalty, and on efficiency using AI. But the long term strategy - our seven-year roadmap - I think the goal is to build an eco-system around pets.”

Toeller said the company’s mission is to “solve every problem around pet ownership, with the aim of becoming the business customers turn to for answers “about living together with pets”.

The entrepreneur, who founded the company 36 years ago, also reflected on the highs and lows of building the business over nearly four decades and he said he was inspired to launch the company after discovering PetSmart, although the early years were far from easy and included coming close to bankruptcy.

Toeller, who owns three dogs, seven cats and four horses, said: “I started the business when I was 24 so franchising was super helpful.”

However, he said franchising looked very different at the time, with “no real rules or regulations”.

“The best time of my life was sitting with my franchisees with a case of beer in the store. This is totally different today. It got more professional.”

Fressnapf opened 50 stores between 1990 and 1995, but Toeller admitted the company also made mistakes, including expanding into too many countries at once, especially in smaller markets, and launching online too early.

“I was too early in the online business, lost billions,” he said, as he also reflected on mistakes during the Covid-19 pandemic boom in pet ownership.

“Everyone said it would continue. We ramped up, we hired too many people, we hired too many advisors, we spent too much money.”

Today, the company operates nearly 3,000 stores, generates around €4 billion in turnover and employs roughly 22,000 people.

“Nothing makes you more successful than making others successful. If you see that and believe that, it’s a win-win situation you create,” Toeller said.