Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shelly O’donin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Shelly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
You know, I thought about this question for a long, long time and I think that my biggest risk was starting my business. Puppy Belly Deli was always in the back of my mind. I was passionate about home cooking for all dog babies since I adopted my first chihuahua pup in 1997. I had just completed graduate school with a Masters degree in Music and moved to New York City. After a period of burn out, I decided to enroll at The French Culinary Institute in Soho because I needed to work with my hands and have something concrete to show for my efforts at the end of the day. I always loved cooking. Some of my favorite memories from my young adulthood was my afterschool job at Longacres Horse Race Track in Washington State. I managed concession stands and my favorite assignments involved the hamburger shack, the sandwich shop and the huge open steak grill pit during the summer. I loved making people happy with food. Some stints in the NYC restaurant scene made me understand that I should be my own executive chef and find a way to cook for the most important people in my life. After moving to Arizona in 2011, I decided that it was time to share my passion for home-cooked dog meals and treats with the dog parents in my community. My husband is an accomplished finance executive but he stepped back and let me find my own path and make my own mistakes. Tons of uncertainty and too much anxiety for my liking… but everything worked out. I’ve been profitable for all twelve years and I have loved being highly productive and creative. And with all of the product development and taste testing required, my dogs love me more than you can imagine.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I adopted my first dog baby in 1997. Her name was Dini – named after Natalie Wood’s character in Splendor in the Grass (I’m a cinema fanatic). She was a tiny, sickly 12 ounce chihuahua who was facing imminent euthanasia at a local rescue. I remember taking her to the sweetest vet who helmed a charming animal hospital in an old brownstone on Lexington Avenue… Doctor Johnson. He was supportive and kind to us and I remember him handing over a stained file folder containing numerous hand written recipes for canine nutrition. He told me that everything would be just fine and if I had the time and the resources, I should home cook for Dini. He told me that people shouldn’t eat processed food that comes in a huge bag for every single meal and that our fur babies shouldn’t either. Trial and error was hard. I screwed up on her supplementation and she lost all of the hair on her tail for three months. Looked like a rat, she did! After a few courses in animal nutrition at a prestigious university, I became confident that I could nourish Dini and keep her healthy and happy with personalized nutrition. Cooking for her became the highlight of my day. Scaling up my business and making my recipes available to the dog lovers in my community was the best thing I have ever done. I’ve learned so much. I found a great local lab that regularly tests my recipes for nutritional consistency and earned my Commercial Feed License from the Arizona Department of Agriculture. Starting a business can be scary and overwhelming but every small business comes from passion. If you stay true to your vision and you love what you do, anything is possible.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I started playing the flute in the third grade. I knew that I was going to be a flutist since I was… well, I can’t remember. It was my passion. It was my predestined profession. I practiced my flute in my room up to seven hours per day during summer vacation and as often as I could during school hours. It was an obsession that gave me such joy. Like when you are hiking and exhausted but you MUST see what is around the next corner, over the next hill or behind the distant vista. Obsessed. I finished my Master of Music flute degree in 1996 and moved to NYC to marry my high school sweetheart and pursue my career. Burnout is a real thing. It happens to the best of us. So cooking school was a great place to refocus and recharge. Something very different but curiously the same. Hours upon end in solitary confinement – either in a rehearsal room or at a culinary station. Practicing scales or chopping carrots. Sitting in the middle of a symphony orchestra or loading deck ovens in a boisterous kitchen. Performing a masterpiece of chamber music or plating a beautiful meal. When we moved to Arizona in 2011, starting a dog food business was on my mind but I didn’t think I had the ability to do something so out of my wheelhouse. It took some time to reframe and redefine my experiences and to convince myself that starting my own business was absolutely possible. Sometimes creative types need to step back and realize that creativity, passion and hard work can be refocused into anything. Any discipline. Don’t be afraid to pivot, try new things or reinvent yourself. You don’t have to stay the same. Change is worth the struggle.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
The most difficult part of running a food-based business is ingredient procurement. I didn’t realize how hard it was to find ingredients for a food-based business when you are just starting out or in the growth phase. For the first few years I was buying my ingredients at retail prices at local farm markets, grocers and butcher shops. That was really tough. I didn’t have the volume of business to switch to wholesale vendors. I didn’t need 100 pounds of chicken breast, 75 pound bags of carrots or a truck-load of potatoes. I needed smaller lots for my cooked-to-order business. It was almost impossible to find a purveyor who would work with a small batch business. Over time, my volume increased and I was able to start purchasing ingredients in bulk and at a higher frequency. All I can do is encourage small business owners to reach out to vendors and see if you can make a deal that benefits both parties. Restaurant supply stores, Costco Business centers and local food purveyors might have a program or a supply chain solution that will work for you. You just have to reach out and ask. I had so much support and help from community members and businesses… it really warmed my heart. Just remember that almost every community has support for new business ventures. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. Reach out. You might be surprised.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://PuppyBellyDeli.com
- Instagram: puppybellydeli
Image Credits
Sylvia Hardt Photography