Baldassarre Giacomo Monge was born in 1934, the second of five children. His father, Domenico, had started a poultry farm with two golden rules. Firstly, optimise costs without spending more than necessary. Secondly, waste nothing – everything must be reused. A few years later, and with these principles in mind, Baldassarre would recognise how he could transform his family's experience into a new vision for pet food.

It was a period of great change in Italy, and homes across the country were welcoming dogs and cats as members of the family. Baldassarre realised that a change in pets' diets was necessary, as their nutritional needs are very different from those of humans.

He introduced a revolutionary new approach, replacing traditional kitchen scraps with unused, steamed chicken meat. This marked the beginning of the first pet food company in Italy.

Another groundbreaking insight: easy opening. Until 1975, canned food and meat were sold in tins that required a can opener. In 1975, Monge launched the easy-open system with a pull-ring on the tins, to prevent customers from getting their hands dirty and cutting themselves. This made it the first Italian company to utilise this innovation.

Monge introduced cat pâté in 100-gram trays to the Italian market for the first time. It was a nutritional product and a serving format that immediately achieved great success.

Monge continues to break records while optimising production. Kibble is oven-baked for the first time. Previously, ovens were only used in the confectionery industry.