With 92% of U.S. dog owners reported that they purchased dog treats or chews in the last 12 months, starting a dog treats bakery business is a lucrative side hustle or full-time business you should consider!
If you are a dog lover who loves to bake, this is the perfect side hustle or business idea for you.
You'll be making delicious, healthy and wholesome dog treats for your customers, as well as giving your dogs homemade chews and treats without added chemicals. The best part is, you can make an extra $500 to $1000 per month doing what you love by launching a thriving dog treat bakery at home!
Before you start planning your home-based dog treats bakery business, it's important to know about the pros and cons of this business. This guide walks you through the costs involved, your target market, how much you can charge, and how to sell and market your products.
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How To Start A Profitable Dog Treats Business From Home
Contents
Starting a profitable dog treats bakery is relatively easy and requires low startup costs.
You can essentially set up a 100% home-based business model, or consider joining a franchise dog bakery business. To decide which one works the best for you, let's break down the pros and cons of a dog treats bakery business!
I always believe firmly that getting the right education from the right mentor for any business the key to success. In this case, you are in luck!
Diva Dog Bakery is a side hustle course that covers everything you need to know about starting a profitable dog treat business from home.
How to Start a Dog Treat Bakery in 3 Easy Steps
The Dog Treats And Chews Industry
In 2020, the U.S. pet treat and chews industry is expected to reach $6.89 billion and grow at a compound annual rate of 2.8%. A recent study also found that 61% of dog owners are concerned about the safety of the treats they purchase.
As you can see, starting a profitable dog treats bakery is a viable business idea with huge opportunities. Your business will be catering to a niche group of dog owners who care about the quality of their dogs' treats.
Since owning a dog and feeding them gourmet dog treats is costly, your target market is relatively well-off and willing to spend money on your products.
However, starting a profitable dog treats bakery business requires careful planning and execution. Before you start making your delicious dog treats in the kitchen, you need a business plan in place. From your initial business idea, the next step would be to register your business. As an entrepreneur, it is crucial to map out the important elements of your business in order to succeed and be profitable.
Before we dive into the actual business planning, consider the pros and cons of starting a dog treats bakery so that you are mentally prepared for any challenges and risks.
Pros Of A Dog Treats Bakery
- With the right marketing plan in place, your dog treats bakery can be entirely home-based and pretty profitable!
- Low setup and startup costs
- Franchise opportunities are available should you consider going down that path.
- Target market can be varied. You can sell to pet stores, pet boarding shops, boutiques and online stores, doggie daycares and vet offices. You can be as creative as you want with the dog treats.
- Easily market your dog treats on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. All of which will not cost you a lot of money if your products look cute, adorable and attractive
Cons Of A Dog Treats Bakery
- Significant legal issues will occur if your treats are not produced according to regulations
- Testing your products is essential before selling. Thankfully, the Diva Dog Bakery™ – How to Start a Dog Treat Business course comes with some tried-and-true recipes to start with!
- Local permits vary according to your area. Careful research needs to be carried out to ensure you follow regulations. Don't worry, all this is coved in said course as well.
- You must follow specific regulations for processing homemade dog treats and you may need to obtain permits, which will depend on your local area . The course addresses how to research the regulations in your area, so you are definitely covered.
- Depending on your area and target market, gourmet dog treats might not be popular and thus will not sell well. Market research before starting any new business is important, so if you do your due diligence, you will be all set!
Planning Your Dog Treats Bakery Business
Here, I have put together a comprehensive guide to ensure that you start a profitable dog treats bakery that is well planned out and with the proper registration and permits to help you operate legally.
From your start up costs to understanding your target market, you will be able to start planning your business before you even develop your products!
Step One: Calculating The Startup Costs
How much will it cost to start a dog treats bakery business?
How to Start a Dog Treat Bakery in 3 Easy Steps
In the beginning, you will definitely need to spend and invest some money upfront. These are some essential costs for a dog bakery business that could cost anything from $1000 to $10,000:
- Local permits
- Insurance fees
- Business registration
- Licensing fees
- Initial ingredients costs
- Packing costs
Next, map out your business model in terms of whether you would like to operate solely from home by selling most of your product online, partnering with pet shops, doggie daycare, dog boarding boutiques or vet offices.
You can also choose to go the franchising route by having a brick-and-mortar shop front for your dog treats bakery. However, this route will cost you much more in terms of paying for electricity, hiring staff members, advertising and running an in-house kitchen.
Step Two: Choose Your Business Model
Home-Based Dog Treats Bakery Vs. Brick And Mortar
If you're just doing a home-based bakery, start-up registration or licensing for four different treats will run between $350-$700. Keep in mind that this all depends on how regulated your state is.
The Diva Dog Bakery course also includes a part of the process that can drop those fees down $300, so really only $50-$400 + the cost of the course + start-up ingredient costs.
If you're opening up your own brick-and-mortar bakery though, the costs will run much higher (but the course recommends starting in your own kitchen to keep costs low).
Want to take the guesswork out of starting your dog treats bakery biz? An exciting side hustle course “Dog Diva Bakery” teaches you everything from choosing your biz name, to how much you can charge for your treats!
Learn how to start a dog treat bakery in 3 easy steps with this free workshop here.
Step Three: Decide On Your Dog Treat Bakery Name/Business Name
Whenever you start a new business, some deliberate thought must be put in for your business name! In order to help you come up with a unique and memorable business name for your bakery, start by brainstorming with this ingenious Pet Bakery Business Name Generator.
Alternatively, you can start by figuring out how to name a business instead.
Sometimes, the best ways to come up with a unique business name is by combining two words.
For example, if you love making gorgeous looking dog treats for pups who have a vegan diet, consider a few combinations of words such as Pawfection, or WoofTreats or so on.
Step Four: Target Market Research
What is your Ideal Client Avatar?
This next step is one of the most important steps ever! In order to market your dog treats effectively, you have to understand who your target market is. From their age group, their needs and wants, to the kind of packaging they will respond to, you need to know the answers to all this!
Here's a great exercise generally known in the digital marketing space as an Ideal Client Avatar(ICA). Grab a notepad or a piece of paper and find a space where you can write down anything that comes to mind to these questions:
- Picture your ideal client. For each gender, start down the answers to these questions.
- What is his/her name?
- How old is your Ideal Client?
- Where does he or she live?
- What kind of dog does your ideal client own?
- Why does your ideal client want to buy dog treats from you?
- How can you offer value to your ideal client?
After doing this, your homework is definitely not over yet! You also need to go online and do some market research. Here are some ideas for you to try:
- Figure out where your ideal client hangs out online. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, you can see the kind of questions they ask online. You'll usually find those on online forums, Google search results and Facebook group discussions.
- Ask questions: Instead of just lurking online, why not use it to ask questions? Find out the struggles of your ideal clients. This includes what kind of dog treats they would like their beloved dog to have instead of the mass-produced ones they see at the supermarkets and shops
- Check out your competition: This is a simple but crucial exercise. Do a quick search online to find other dog treats bakery who are going to be your direct competitors in the future.
The only course that teaches you how to start a profitable dog treat business
Whether you are starting a dog treats bakery as a side hustle or full-fledged business, there is potential to bring in an extra $500 or even $2000 each month just from selling your dog treats!
The best way to succeed in this dog treats bakery business is to learn from someone with plenty of experience and has gone places. Guess what? There is a brand new ONLINE program that is launching within a week that does just that.
Diva Dog Bakery teaches students how to start a homemade dog treat bakery and sell treats in person or online. The founder of Diva Dog Bakery course, Kristin Larsen started her boutique dog treat bakery business while she was in college(!!!) So, this course is unlike anything on the market and based on Kristin's years of experience in this field.
The Story Behind Diva Dog Bakery
Kristin found herself quickly scaling her bakery to a full-time business after being laid off from her 9 to 5 job during the Great Recession.
She found herself raking in hundreds of dollars at in-person events on Saturdays and consistently selling her treats every day through her Etsy shop. Additionally, her bakery was picked up by print magazines and online press, and she even was invited by the Emmy's to gift her dog treats in the swag bags.
What is inside the course?
So what will you learn from this online course?
Diva Dog Bakery has 8 modules that covers everything from developing your dog treats and products to marketing and making a profit in your business:
- Practice Makes Perfect: You’ll learn Kristin’s favorite recipes and everything you’ll need to get started. No experience necessary – Diva Dog Bakery will show you how to start a dog treat business with what you’ve got!
- Hobby to Business: Formalizing your business, legal obligations and more
- Presentation is Everything: In this module you'll learn a fool-proof method to efficiently get everything packaged and shipped.
- How to Price Your Treats: In this module, we’ll break down pricing structure for you so you’re ready to roll and actually make a profit!
- How to Accept Payment: Keeping the money flowing means being ready to receive it! We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about accepting payments.
- Shipping and Delivery: How to ship your dog treats and what to include in your packaging. There's also a review of our preferred shipping method and cover the must-have items inside your package.
- Promote Your Business: It’s time to share with the world what you’ve been baking in the kitchen!
Yummy bonuses included:
That's not all. Here are some yummy bonuses to help you start a profitable dog treats bakery business:
- Guaranteed Analysis / Nutrition label ($499 value):Learn the ins and outs of creating nutrition labels so your customers know exactly what goes into your delicious treats. It’s required by certain states in the U.S., so the Diva Dog Bakery course provides you with the exact information needed for several of their dog treats that will literally save you HUNDREDS of dollars in lab analysis fees.
- Dog Treat Recipe Book ($49 value): In this course, you will also gain access to Kristin's best seller recipeswith easy-to-follow directions that you can bake from scratch, even if you have no experience in the kitchen.
- 30 Days FREE Access to Diva Dog Bakery™ Group ($19/month value): Receive support from the biggest diva dog bakery community online. No matter if it is receiving support from Kristin, the Diva Dog Bakery Team or a community of your peers. They will be cheering you on all throughout your journey!
How much does Diva Dog Bakery cost?
This course is very affordable. For Insane Freedom readers, you can get instant access to Diva Dog Bakery and 30 days free access to the community
Otherwise, you can watch the free training workshop here to get started!