If not for the unmistakable scent of dog treats, Three Dog Bakery could easily be mistaken for an artisanal pastry shop. Even the tools of the trade are the same. Stand mixers sit on a wooden counter top, while an array of stainless steel baking sheets, racks, molds and bowls fill the work space where baker Jordanna Wakefield (photo on right) writes dogs’ names in icing on customized dog treats.
Dogs likely don’t care if their name is on a treat, or if their holiday snack looks like Santa Claus, but their owners do, and that’s the key to Three Dog Bakery’s success. Ultimately, Three Dog Bakery markets their products to humans, relying on the humanization of dogs into fur babies to build a market for their artisanal, hand-crafted dog treats.
“To capture and fortify human aspects of the dog treats has been a challenge,” Ilya Frumkin, Three Dog Bakery’s vice president of marketing, told Petfood Industry.
Meeting that challenge has allowed the company to expand from their first location in a posh shopping area of Kansas City, Missouri, USA to 43 stores in the US and three abroad in Canada and Taiwan. The company, which is owned by a private equity group, plans to continue opening 10 to 12 shops per year, according to Frumkin.
Three Dog Bakery translates human foods to dog treats
To fuel that growth, Three Dog Bakery employs bakery chefs who work to translate popular human food trends into safe, nutritious dog treat recipes. From tur-duck-en to chicken pot pie to cappuccino, human foods and desserts have been transmogrified into dog delicacies by Three Dog Bakery’s chefs.
“They have to adjust the recipes to be dog-friendly,” Frumkin said.
For example, on the Polar Bear Pupcake (photo on right), chocolate chip eyes are replaced with carob. The icing is made of honey yogurt butter and the cake is made with wheat flour.
The company’s most popular item is a cream-filled sandwich cookie treat, sold by pet specialty, online and mass market retailers, as well as in actual Three Dog Bakery locations, Frumkin said. His own dog, Rigley the Golden-Doodle, likes the pupcakes, but especially enjoys the tur-duck-en treats.
Celebration cakes have grown in popularity as people increasingly celebrate dogs’ birth or adoption days, and are now another top seller, he said.
“We make more dog celebration cakes than anyone in the world,” said Frumkin.
To find inspiration for Three Dog Bakery’s next hot item, one could take a walk around the neighborhood of the company’s original location, set between an upscale cheese shop and a gastropub. As long as human foodies keep coming up with new trends, Three Dog Bakery won’t lack for inspirations for the next human food to translate into dog treats.
