A Rocky Start

So, you're probably wondering "where did this crazy idea come from?" Well, let me tell you. It all started with a flyer that showed up at school sometime in February, inviting kids in grades K-12 to join the Young Entrepreneur's and Market Biz Kids Club. The club is designed to allow a venue for young business boys and girls to design and start a business to run at the Astoria Sunday Market. Since we love the market, and I knew Maia was always up for a challenge, I suggested she give it a try.

Maia was immediately interested in the idea. Since we had previously run our own booth at the market in the past, she knew what being a vendor was all about, and only needed an idea for a product. The search for the perfect market was a challenge because there are so many great ideas out there, and Maia is a really creative kid. It was hard for her to nail down one thing she thought she could do and do well AND be something other people might want to buy.

One weekend I had gotten a bug to do some sewing, and created some softies out of felt, buttons, and embroidery thread. Maia and Ainsley both found this idea fascinating and jumped in to help out. We created several little projects over the weekend, and from this sewing session Maia decided she would like to try sewing felt food (cookies, cupcakes, and other bakery items) to sell for her business. She thought she might set up her display to look like a bakery, and had some great ideas for making the booth look appealing. We worked together for a couple of days to create some fun designs.

Unfortunately, Maia realized how much work it was going to be create these cute little goodies, and wasn't sure that there would be much of a market for felt cookies. It was from this idea, however, that the idea of baking real cookies and making them for the canine customers was born. We immediately started searching the net for information on making and selling treats for pets.

We learned so much right away! We found a very helpful website through the Oregon Department of Agriculture which outlined everything we would need to do to legally make and sell dog treats in Oregon. We learned about requirements for labeling. We learned about ingredient statements. Most importantly, though, we learned about the guaranteed analysis requirement. We found that in order to sell pet foods, your label needs to include the percentages of crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, and moisture found in your product. How do you figure that out? We spent hours searching online before finally realizing that the only way to get this information is to have your product analyzed by a lab.

So, who does this testing and how much does it cost? Again, we searched and searched online to find that there are not many labs that do this sort of testing. The closest lab is located in Bellingham, Washington and charges $250 per product tested. That means if we wanted to sell two kinds of dog biscuits we would have to pay $500! We had hit a dead end. I broke the news to Maia. It looked as though we would not be making dog biscuits, and she was once again on the search for a product to sell at the market.

While Maia went off to think up a new business idea, I did a little more research. I couldn't believe that so many people in small markets and on sites like eBay and Etsy could be selling their dog treats and were paying $250 per product to have them tested before selling them to the general public. I decided to go right to the experts. I called and emailed several dog bakeries asking for resources for testing and recipes. It was a Monday, so my phone calls were not too productive, but I did receive responses to a couple of emails. Finally, I received a reply from Julie at The Love of Dog Bakery. She shared her similar experience in starting up her own business and recommended the lab they used in starting up, Midwest Laboratories. They only charge $27.50 for their testing, and they could get us the results in three days! Hurray! We were back in business (or on our way), and Maia was thrilled.

The Journey Begins

Welcome to The Pupcakery Blog! You can check here to find out what is new in the world of baking, testing, and selling dog biscuits in Astoria, Oregon. This is the place where we will document what is happening and what is new as Maia and Ainsley set out to create a successful business. We'll share our successes and our failures and document this exciting adventure that these two young entrepreneurs are about to embark on. Check back often to see what we are up to!