CAN: Bakery is the Big Dog in the Beach

Bakery is the Big Dog in the Beach

Love for her Great Dane inspired owner to open shop where customers are greeted with a tail wag

Published On Sat Dec 26 2009

Jackie Krovblit's heart is bigger than the 120-pound inspiration behind her company's namesake, Big Dog Bakery.

Having instantly fallen in love with Trixie, her Great Dane and silent business partner, Krovblit opened Big Dog Bakery when she realized her "child" was too important for mass-produced pet food.  And now Big Dog Bakery is the big dog on Queen Street in the Beach – the only boutique pet store in the area that bakes products on the premises.

The bakery, located in the building that once housed the Three Dog Bakery, is decorated in a rainbow of colours.  Cupcakes covered in blue, pink, white and cocoa icing sit in display windows. The shelves are stacked with cookies and empanadas for cats and dogs. Dog cakes are baking in an oven behind the counter.

Trixie greets customers with a wag of her tail. The gentle Great Dane is the hallmark of Big Dog Bakery. Her face is on every package of treats the stores sells. Trixie "is my big dog in a little package,"  says Krovblit, who confesses, "I never thought I would have a dog. But when I got Trixie, my whole world opened up, like a lightning bolt."

Krovblit started Big Dog Bakery from her home in 2004. Making biscuits and treats in her toaster oven, she used Trixie and dogs in the park to figure what worked.  Big Dog then moved to Toronto's Woofstock – a festival for dogs in the Distillery District – in its first year. "They (cakes and cookies) are healthy – it's like giving your dog something really special," Krovblit says. "Yes, the look is entirely marketing, it is for the person, the dogs can't really see the colour but they can smell. So the dog will think, `What's that?'

"It goes back to what makes something really palatable for the dog. The market is there, so give people what they want. And the dog is going to feed off it and the person will get a kick out of it."

After her inaugural year at Woofstock, she started selling gourmet cakes, made with natural, human-grade ingredients and an assortment of dog treats through select stores around the GTA. It was in 2006 when she lost her job in the restaurant industry and put all her efforts into the bakery, which she opened in July.

Big Dog Bakery has since expanded to Home Sense locations throughout Ontario and Quebec at Christmas.  "I had to carry over from an existing store (Three Dog Bakery) with an American branding so it took a bit of work to convince people our product is better and healthier. All our bakery stuff is almost 100 per cent made in store. It's a new concept so people need to realize that," says Krovblit.

Iced with either carob or cream cheese, the store sells about 40 customized cakes each month in flavours like Peanut Butter Bliss, Chop Lick 'n Liver and Banana Rama. Krovblit has also discovered the purrfect companion products for dogs – cat food. So Big Dog Bakery now includes freshly made gourmet cat treats in its menu.

"People these days really care (about their pets), and they want to know where things are coming from and everybody in our market and demographic consider the dog to be part of the family," Krovblit said.  "They want to give that dog a lot and they want them to live as long as possible. And why shouldn't that
dog be on the same level of health and nutrition (as its masters)?"

Source: http://www.thestar.com/business/smallbusiness/article/742412--bakery-is-the-big-dog-in-the-beach