Suburban Pup offers human grade dinners using canine appropriate recipes, all because humans are busy and dogs are awesome. Naturally, I asked how Suburban Pup came to be. Anna replied, “very simple.”
It all started one night in her kitchen. Her husband Pat was taking a nutrition course at the time. He was standing at the drawer where they kept their dogs food and as he picked up the little pouch to feed the boys he said “Hey, why doesn’t the dogs food have a nutritional panel?” “I guess thats because you probably don’t want to know what’s in it,” Anna replied. “I think we should start making the dogs food.” She was at her hairdressers not long after, when she mentioned their decision to make their dogs food, and coincidentally her hairdresser happened to know Ruth Hatten- a canine nutritionist who runs Sahaja Animal Healing. Anna set up a meeting with Ruth, who spoke of providing the dogs with optimal day to day health and not only a well life, but a longer life that is well. It was this idea of longevity for her boys that really spurred Anna on.
At the time, Anna was working incredibly long hours at QPAC. She would come home at 9pm and realise that she hadn’t cooked food for her dogs, meaning lots of late nights were spent in the kitchen. She went looking for premade, but still human grade, food for the boys. She found it. The issue was that it came in a huge box of large frozen pieces. Each piece needed to be defrosted and then mixed with additional vegetables. Given that her dogs only eat 100g per meal, over the course of a week the meat would spoil. “I really wanted My Dog. I wanted the convenience of a small serving. I wanted to do what I’ve always done, but I wanted it to be good for the boys.” It was a lightbulb moment for Anna. She realised that there must be people out there like her. Proud parents of little dogs, who lead busy lives and want the best, healthiest options for their furry family members.
“All I could think was, wow, what a purpose to have,” she said.
When recommending people change their dogs diet, Ruth likes to set people up for success using a hierarchy - the bottom being whatever is currently fed, the peak being organic human grade. Anna kept the same hierarchy within Suburban Pup and now has 5 meal varieties: Weekend Pawridge, Chicken Organics, Beef Rawganics, Turkey Dins and Turkey in the Raw.
Anna was very unsure about starting a business, stating that she didn’t want to put herself out there. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was needed and continued to work behind the scenes on her business. 9 months later it was launched at a Hound Hutt Dog Daycare event. This was 18 months ago. Anna has just celebrated 18 months in business. She doesn’t plan to give up now, and has current plans to increase their food range to other raw and cooked varieties. “There are so many dogs out there who have requirements that many premade foods wont cater for, so I think Suburban Pup can definitely be a huge help to them. Especially those who are unable to eat raw foods for whatever reason.”
If human grade, home delivered meals aren’t enough, this may just sway you. Anna is extremely environmentally conscious. Even bringing her soft plastics home from her commercial kitchen as it doesn’t have the resources to recycle them properly. All of her clients are able to return their containers to be used for their next delivery, and almost all do. It's good for you, good for your dog and good for the planet! Winning all-round.
Suburban Pup https://suburbanpup.com.au Facebook | Instagram
You are reading Part Four of our Behind the Business series! Read the Introduction, Part One, Part Two and Part Three!