A FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT OF RUNNING A SMALL BUSINESS.PATTING customers on the head and scratching them behind their ears is nothing unusual at Three Dog Bakery A dog bakery is a business that produces fresh baked goods for dogs. According to Retailwire1, there is a trend among US consumers to humanize and indulge their pets. This indulgence is also partly fuelled by the trend to purchase natural and organic products. . The national chain has about 30 franchise locations nationwide, with Mark and Leanna Bodnar being the only franchise licensees in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. area. The Bodnars, avid dog lovers, opened their first Three Dog Bakery in 1999 in Old Town Pasadena Built on the foundation of one of the oldest, most beautiful and most prosperous cities in California, Old Pasadena arose from the ashes of a decaying bowery that had a well deserved patina of homeless and hippie. and a second store last year in the Century City Shopping Center shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into . Staff reporter Claudia Peschiutta talked with co-owner Mark Bodnar about the stores and what they offer their canine clientele. "My wife and I were not famous but working actors here in Los Angeles for several years, and we were on the road with a show that took us through Kansas City Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). . Out shopping one day with Christmas around the corner, we happened upon a bakery for dogs. Basically intrigued, we walked in and walked out $300 poorer, but with tons of goodies for our dog, our neighbors' dogs and friends' dogs. Our thought was, 'Forget our friends' Christmas presents. Let's just get stuff for their dogs. "We inquired, while we were inside, if they had a store in California. They said, 'No.' Little light bulbs went off over our heads. "The first store in Pasadena we opened January 30, 1999. ... Just six months ago, we opened a new location in the Century City Shopping Center. "We offer all-natural, wholesome, fresh-baked treats for dogs. One of the most famous treats that we've got is called a 'Drooly Dreambar.' It is a peanut-butter flavored brownie brownie, in Celtic folklore, household spirit associated with farmsteads. Brownies help with chores, but, if criticized, they will make mischief, such as spoiling crops. If payment other than food is offered a brownie, he vanishes from a farm forever. frosted with a peanut-butter flavored low-fat yogurt frosting frosting the slight graying of the haircoat around the face, particularly muzzle, in dogs with aging and as a regular feature of some breeds such as the Belgian shepherd dog. . "The most popular items would probably be our barbecued ribs, which is garlic dough that is hand-basted in our homemade barbecue sauce. The main difference (between this and human food) is we leave out all of the stupid junk humans put in (their food). Anybody could eat this stuff. "Our client base is so broad that we have people who make half a million dollars and down to children spending their allowance. "People absolutely prefer us oodling over their dogs, as opposed to (oodling over) them. "My favorite My Favorite is an independent synthpop band from Long Island, New York. They released two CDs: Love at Absolute Zero and Happiest Days of Our Lives. My Favorite broke up on September 14, 2005, when singer Andrea Vaughn left the band. stuff is getting to see those regular dogs and people that come and they know me by name and I know them by name, and then we run into each other at the dog park. To me, that's my favorite part, getting to know people through their dogs. "I can't imagine a better business than dealing with dogs because dog owners are never unhappy. Whenever they're with their dog, it's nothing but smiles." |
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