A discount pet retailer isn't supposed to win on frozen raw. That category belongs to the premium end of the aisle, the stores with the chalkboard signage and the staff who can pronounce every ingredient. But UK-based Jollyes just closed a fiscal year with revenue up 8.7% and transactions up 7%, driven in large part by frozen raw and private label. While most specialty retailers spent the last two years chasing the premium customer, Jollyes opened 14 new stores and proved the value tier still has white space if you stock it right.
Here's what just happened
Jollyes reported revenue of £169 million ($227M) for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2026, up 8.7% year-over-year. Transactions rose 7%, meaning they pulled new customers, not just upsold existing ones. The company credited three levers: store expansion (14 new locations), private label growth, and frozen raw food. That last one is the surprise. Frozen raw has been positioned as a premium play for years, high margin, high education, high price point. Jollyes is a discount chain. They're not supposed to make that category work. But they did, and the transaction bump suggests customers showed up for it.
Why this is actually a big deal
Anyone running an independent pet store has heard the same story for the last three years: the customer is trading up, premium wins, value is a race to the bottom. That narrative has sent a lot of operators into the premium-or-die corner, stacking the shelf with $80 bags and hoping margin holds. Jollyes just ran the opposite playbook and grew faster than most of the specialty channel. That doesn't mean premium is wrong. It means the value customer isn't gone, and the categories you thought belonged to premium might work at multiple price points if you merchandise them correctly.
Frozen raw is the headline, but private label doing real work is the structural story. Private label in pet specialty has historically been filler, the house brand you stock when you can't get the name brand or need to hit a price point. Jollyes is using it as a margin lever and a differentiation tool. That's a different animal. It means they're building SKUs customers actually prefer, not just tolerate. And if a discount chain can do that, the playbook scales to any store size.
The 14-store expansion in one year is the other signal. Jollyes isn't opening cautiously. They're moving fast because the model works and the white space is real. While a lot of specialty operators worry about over-saturation and cannibalization, a value-forward chain just proved there's still unmet demand if you price and stock for a customer segment most indies have stopped serving.
What this means for the shelf
For the store owner: If you've written off frozen raw as a premium-only category, this is the case study that says otherwise. The question isn't whether frozen raw works at your store, it's whether you're stocking the right SKUs at the right price points and whether your freezer case is positioned as a destination or an afterthought. Jollyes didn't win by carrying the $15/lb artisan blends. They won by making frozen raw accessible. That's a merchandising decision, not a customer demographic problem.
For the buyer: Private label and frozen raw are both margin levers, but stacking them requires intentionality. Jollyes is proof you can run a value-forward assortment without racing to the bottom, but only if your private label SKUs are genuinely competitive and your frozen selection isn't just the stuff the premium stores didn't want. Pull your private label sell-through by category. If it's only moving in the categories where customers don't care (litter, waste bags), you're leaving margin on the table. If Jollyes can build private label that customers prefer, you can too, but it starts with treating it like a brand, not a placeholder.
For the brand/DTC operator: If you've been pitching exclusively to premium independents because you assumed the value tier wouldn't carry your product or couldn't move it, Jollyes just opened a lane you're not covering. A discount chain moving frozen raw at volume means there's a customer segment that wants the category but won't pay the premium price. That's a distribution opportunity and a product development signal. If you're only building for the $80 bag customer, you're leaving the $40 bag customer to someone else, and that someone else is growing faster than you are.
The value customer isn't gone. You just stopped stocking for them.
How we're thinking about it
We've been watching the premium-or-die narrative dominate pet retail strategy for two years, and it's produced some genuinely great stores. But it's also left a lot of white space undefended. Jollyes didn't invent a new category or discover a new customer. They just stopped assuming the value tier was a race to the bottom and started treating it like a real business. That's the move. Frozen raw at a discount chain works because they made it accessible, not because they compromised on quality. Private label works because they built SKUs worth preferring, not just tolerating. The 14-store expansion works because the customer they're serving, the one who wants better food but won't pay $80 a bag, is still walking around looking for a store that stocks for them.
The overhyped part: this doesn't mean every store should pivot to value. If you've built a premium assortment and your customers are loyal, don't chase this. The underrated part: if your margin is shrinking and your transaction count is flat, you might be over-indexed on a customer segment that's smaller than you think. Jollyes is growing because they're serving a different customer. Most indies aren't even trying.
If this is the kind of operator-level read you want every week, subscribe to PetRetailNews.
What to do about it
-
If you carry frozen raw but it's tucked in the back corner... move it. Jollyes is using frozen as a traffic driver, not a specialty add-on. Reposition your freezer case where customers see it when they walk in, not after they've already decided what to buy.
-
If your private label only moves in low-engagement categories... audit your assortment. Pull sell-through by private label SKU. If customers only buy your house brand when they don't care (litter, poop bags), your private label isn't doing margin work, it's just filling space. Build or source private label SKUs in the categories where customers actually have opinions (treats, chews, toppers). That's where Jollyes is winning.
-
If you're a brand operator and you've only pitched premium independents... build a value-tier pitch deck and test it with 10 regional chains or discount-forward independents. Jollyes just proved the customer exists and the category moves. If you're not in that channel, someone else will be.
-
If you're a buyer at a small chain or a multi-location indie... run the Jollyes playbook as a test. Pick two underperforming locations. Stock them value-forward: accessible frozen raw, strong private label in treats and chews, competitive pricing on staples. Measure transaction count and margin over 90 days. If it works, you just found your next five stores.
-
If you're a single-location store owner watching margin compress... ask whether you're over-indexed on a shrinking customer segment. Pull your transaction data by basket size. If your $100+ transactions are flat or down and your $30-50 transactions disappeared, you might have chased premium so hard you priced out the middle. Jollyes is growing because they kept serving that customer. You can win them back, but only if you stock for them.
The Bottom Line
A UK discount chain just grew 8.7% by stocking frozen raw and private label for the customer most independents stopped serving. The value tier isn't dead, you just stopped competing there.