The Doggy Kitchen
Meet Karli and Shane of The Doggy Kitchen!
Specialty: Fresh dog food and treats
How’d you get started and what sparked the idea for your business?
Our business began when we returned home to Hawaii after living in Seattle with our two dogs and discovered there were no fresh dog food options available. While living in Seattle, our dogs had been eating fresh dog food for most of their lives, benefiting greatly from the switch away from commercial dog food. They became more excited about mealtime, their digestive issues disappeared, and their skin and coats improved dramatically. So back home, we had no choice but to cook their meals ourselves. As interest grew among family and friends in what we were preparing for our dogs, we were inspired to create The Doggy Kitchen in 2020.
How has your business evolved since you first started?
Our business has evolved tremendously over the past 4-1/2 years. We started by cooking our stews in multiple crockpots at home and shaping the finished product into 2oz patties by hand! The whole family would pitch in because it was such a time-consuming and tedious process. Looking back, it’s crazy—and a bit funny—how inefficient that method was! Fortunately, we improved our production and packaging pretty quickly at our home kitchen/office because we couldn’t imagine cooking and making patties the way we were for much longer.
Now, we’re fortunate to work at Hana Kitchens, where commercial-sized equipment greatly speeds up production even more!
What are you most proud of about your business?
We’re incredibly proud of what our business has become, starting from absolutely nothing! Both of us took a huge risk by leaving our jobs to launch The Doggy Kitchen. It’s been a journey of learning, research, and trial and error to get the products we offer today. We’re still discovering ways to grow the business, so we can continue to be even prouder of its progress. Most importantly, we want to show our daughter the value of following your passions, even when it feels daunting or unconventional.
What do you love most about being a food entrepreneur?
We love hearing the joy and excitement from dog owners about how much their dogs enjoy our stews—or can’t live without them! Food is essential to life, so being able to create a dog food that helps dogs thrive is incredibly rewarding for us.
What’s one piece of advice you have for other food entrepreneurs?
One piece of advice I’d give to other food entrepreneurs is to take the time to listen to your customers and treat them well! They can be your toughest critics, but they also offer the most valuable insights. Their perspective or ideas might reveal opportunities you haven’t considered that could help improve your business!
What makes your business unique/special?
What makes us special is that we’re the only fresh cooked dog food made in Hawaii. We incorporate local ingredients and cook batches every week to ensure a fresh, high-quality stew!
What’s your best seller (or favorite item that you can’t miss) at the moment?
Our best sellers are our Grass-Fed Beef Stew, Organic Chicken Stew, Organic Chicken Nuggets and Grass-Fed Sirloin treats.
Check them out at thedoggykitchen.com!
