Nutritionist Karen Celebrates 25 Years at Burns

Two and a half decades later, Karen celebrates her 25th work birthday and career so far at Burns.

A little celebration is order as it’s been 25 years this week since Karen Armitage started working at Burns! It all began when Karen attended a dog show in Dublin in March 1995 with John Burns himself and then started selling the food in the April. Since then she has done a variety of jobs within the company including Sales Rep and Nutritional Advisor.

Karen said

It’s been a pleasure to work here all this time. When I first started back in 1995, I was self-employed visiting local stockists.  I also worked alongside John promoting the food at trade, agricultural and family events giving out advice to pet owners and getting the Burns name out there.

In 2000 I divided my time between nutrition and field sales for south Wales. I enjoyed working in the field, being a nutritionist, I was often asked to do open days in shops. I have worked solely in nutrition since 2017, even after all these years still get a tremendous buzz helping owners and their pets. I have attended numerous conferences over the years including a few trips to VMX in Florida, BSAVA in Birmingham, ESVCN in Munich as well as many retail and trade shows across the UK and Europe.

Founder John Burns said;

Karen and I have worked together since 1995 when it was just she, me and one other staff member.  We’ve done a lot of shows together.  We even got robbed together!  Coming home from a show in London, our unattended car got broken into at a motorway service station and all our personal stuff was taken.  We didn’t realise until we got back to Kidwelly.  She has always been hardworking, enthusiastic and a pleasure to work with and long may it continue.

Nutrition Manager Laura Crotch Harvey said;

Karen is someone we all go to for advice and she knows all there is to know about Burns! We’re lucky to have her on our team and she will have helped thousands of dogs over the years. John agrees that it’s a fantastic achievement to put up with him for 25 years! I think it’s a great achievement! Although we’re not in the office to celebrate with cake due to lockdown, it’s a good excuse to celebrate at home on behalf of Karen, I’m sure she won’t mind.