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Andrew Gelsey

What do you do if you were a 20 year retail industry veteran who had worked for companies like Kmart and was sick of seeing the “junky” dog treats that were all that was available for dogs and other pets?

If you were Andrew Gesley of Smokey’s Doghouse, you develop your own trademarked line of organic dog treats using a proven “human” recipe, starting in this case with biscotti and call it “Barkscotti.”. BARKscotti, “the biscotti for dogs”®. These are available in 3 flavors, oatmeal apple cranberry, peanut butter carob chip and carob.

His products use only locally sourced (after personal inspection of these sources) natural ingredients like peanut butter, carob n’ chip, organic oatmeal, organic red palm fruit oil, canola oil and  organic barley flour, resulting in a product that is wheat free. This quality focus has resulted in many accolades include 2009 Editors Choice Award from Pet Product News magazine.

The present range of dog treats includes DogHouse Bones™  that come in two sizes and four flavors (oatmeal peanut butter,carob chip, peanut butter and molasses) and a range of kosher bagels for dogs. Andrew Gesley says he was so disturbed by the lack of kosher labeling of pet food products in observant households that he decided to fill this need by manufacturing a line of bagels in four flavors made in a genuine bagel factory under rabbinical supervision to ensure kosher compliance. All products are certified kosher.

While realistic about not expecting great volume growth from the bagels, Andrew is confident that his product will get noticed and will be a differentiator in the market.

In common with most visionaries, Andrew seeks growth and vindication for his efforts to create “human-grade” pet foods. However he is also a realist and understands that organic for the sake of being organic is not a sustainable growth model. A product will command the premium for being organic only when there are demonstrable benefits.

He truly believes that animals themselves are very perceptive and can differentiate between good quality and bad quality. This is why most of his products and new formulations are always tested extensively, albeit informally, with animals.

The business is starting its third year and sales have doubled year-on-year since inception. He estimated the business will top $500,000 this year and expects to double that figure next year.

His goal is growth and his vision is to expand on two fronts -- vertically into other pet treats; and horizontally into collars, leashes and clothing. Given his corporate experience, Andrew is cognizant of unfocused strategies and therefore strives to never lose focus of his goals.

As part of this growth strategy, Andrew will work with any distributor. He feels that the pet industry is driven by distributors and the key is to get larger orders to more customers. Currently the products are available in such diverse locations as Amazon.com and Ross Stores. The one heartening fact is that customers have proven willing to buy products like these despite the premium pricing.

Pet Industry Advisory research indicates that a passionate visionary can always find a market if the product is positioned as socially responsible and delivers on quality. However, significant growth is quite something else.

Once the growth capacity of the core product is reached, how an idealistic entrepreneur succeeds in line extensions and new product launches determines whether there will be break-out growth or whether the entity will remain trapped as a niche player with limited volume growth.

We shall be watching Andrew Gesley and Smokey’s Doghouse Treats to see if they will succeed in achieving the break-out volume growth they seek or whether they shall remain within the myriad niche players unable to make the leap.