Upscale Doggy Treat Business Finds A Market

Upscale Doggy Treat Business Finds A Market 27-5-9 What started as a part-time home business has grown quickly for Chris and Audra Bell - so much so, that two years after first starting to sell their home-baked doggy treats, they've opened up a retail store. The couple got the idea for their unusual pet food business when they saw a dog bakery while visiting a big city. They named their company, "Taffy's Gourmet Dog Treats," after one of their own two dogs. "While developing recipes, I consulted our veterinarian, and he recommended a small animal nutrition manual to use as a resource," Audra says. "I also took an æanimal health care aide' course by correspondence to get more credentials. That took me nine months and provided a lot of nutritional knowledge." In June, 2001, the couple began baking up tasty dog treats in their kitchen and became occasional vendors at a large outdoor Farmers' Market where sales were brisk. By 2002, they were fulltime vendors at the Saturday market, and had developed many loyal customers from the nearby city. They bought a refurbished commercial convection oven that would bake 2,000 medium-sized biscuits at a time, and set it up in their garage. Audra recalls, not so fondly, having product sitting all over the house, due to the limited space available when they were just establishing their business. The first year, both Chris and Audra held down fulltime jobs, in addition to their part-time business. However, since opening the store, Chris operates the store, while Audra works in the office of a local college. The couple uses human-grade ingredients to make their healthy treats. They also cater specifically to dogs with allergies or restricted diets. They developed many recipes by trial and error, testing new ideas on their own dogs, as well as those of relatives. Their products have no added refined sugar, salt, preservatives, fillers or artificial flavors. They're also low fat. The Bells offer 19 flavors of biscuits including, "wheat free ham and Swiss on rye, wheat free apple cinnamon, lasagna, chicken cordon bleu, cranberries and turkey, pumpkin pie, cool mint breath biscuits, peanut butter banana, and veggie. As an example, the lasagna biscuits contain noodles, mozzarella, beef, cottage cheese, tomato sauce and biscuit dough. Biscuits are priced at $12.95 per pound Canadian (about $9 U.S.). Many other treats of all kinds are also available. "Our customers are our best source of ideas," Audra says. "We started producing custom decorated birthday cakes and muffins, after getting numerous requests for them. We decorate them with icing made from low fat cream cheese, honey and carob powder." Audra says they display all information that helps make them unique in the marketplace. All products have a list of ingredients and a complete nutritional breakdown. They also promote that they are vet-approved and offer free samples. In addition, they carry unique, high-quality pet-related products from other sources in their store. One such novelty is U.S.-made "Crunch Cards." These are all occasion greeting cards for dogs, made from a flat piece of rawhide with edible, vegetable-based printing ink. They come with envelopes for mailing. Another novelty they carry is designer pet cologne. "I was raised on a farm and love my dogs, but never thought I'd be doing some of the things I do for them. Different people take it to different levels, like some people will give their dogs only distilled or bottled water," Audra explains. "We saw there was a market for the kind of thing that makes people feel good about having dogs." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Taffy's Gourmet Dog Treats, c/o Chris and Audra Bell, 13663, St. Albert Trail, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5L 5E7 (ph 780 732-4008; fax 780 732-4009; email: taffys@email.com); website: www. taffys.ca).

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