We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Drea Brown a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Drea, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Truly, I don’t think I would have ever even thought of or attempted to start a pet treat company had I not decided to change careers. I worked in human medicine for almost 20 years mostly as a medical records technician. In my late 30’s, I did not feel the same passion about my career as I once did. I felt a little lost career wise because I knew I wasn’t happy but I didn’t know what the path was. Around the same time, I saw a post on social media from the local animal shelter needing more volunteers and signed up. Volunteering at the shelter was literally life changing in more ways than one. Seeing the positive impact volunteering had on the dogs was the most rewarding part but it was through my volunteer experience, I realized I loved working with animals and explored careers in the veterinary field. Almost a year later, I was hired on at a local veterinary emergency and specialty hospital as a receptionist.
I kept telling myself I was crazy. I changed careers 5 weeks after quitting smoking cigarettes and 3 months before my 40th birthday. What was I thinking?!?!? The stress and anxiety of learning a whole career made me question my decision almost daily. My wonderful husband would always remind me to be patient with myself because I was learning something I had never done before. Human and veterinary medicine are similar in some ways but VERY different in many ways. But I stuck with it and eventually the self inflicted stress and anxiety went away. I truly felt like I found my new career path. Over the years, through my learning and hard work, I advanced from receptionist to veterinary assistant being able to work hands on with animals daily. Pets provide us with life enriching companionship and unconditional love. I constantly witnessed the strong, special bond between pets and their owners. It was during those years, I learned a lot about pet health, veterinary nutrition and pet food quality.
My husband and I had 3 dogs at the time that liked 3 different types of treats. Many commercially made dog treats are hard, crunchy and smell unpleasant so I couldn’t really blame them. The ingredients in the treats were even worse! I wouldn’t want to eat those either. I researched recipes and ingredients. My dogs were happy to help with research and development and I eventually came up with a recipe for a soft baked dog treat that smelled like a peanut butter cookie and they have been a staple in our home ever since. I would frequently share with friends or coworkers with dogs and always received good feedback and repeat requests. It was kind of a running joke – It would be fun to open up a pet bakery.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My husband, Mike, and I have 4 rescue dogs, Lily, Willow, Skye and Chop. They make the best taste testers and I call them my research and development team. At the start of 2024, Lily needed unexpected surgery and I decided to sell dog treats to help offset the cost. Lily healed well and I got a great response from family and friends about my treats. With some encouragement from my husband, I chased my dream and opened up Precious Paws Pet Bakery LLC later that year.
I personally have lived with Celiac disease for many years so quality, clean ingredients really matter to me and carry over into the pet treats I make. When I researched pet treats and ingredients, I was surprised at how many companies used fillers, artificial flavors and preservatives. I don’t want to eat that stuff let alone feed it to my pets. I want to give them simple, healthy, high quality treats. The more potential customers I spoke with, the more I realized they wanted the same for their pets. All of my treats are made using only high quality non-GMO and organic ingredients with most treats being 5 ingredients or less. Simple really is better.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think two things really help build my reputation. First one being my treats themselves. I have several customers that say their dog doesn’t like treats but eat mine. It brings the owner satisfaction buying something their pet will enjoy. The second being my experience working in veterinary medicine has definitely helped. Having a greater understanding of different medical issues pets experience opens up the opportunity to have a real conversation with owners about their concerns and recommend safe treats for their pet. I’ve had many conversations with owners that never purchased anything or purchased a product for a friend or family’s dog and not their own. Pet health and safety is more important than making a sale.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
I really enjoy selling my at various markets and vendor events and feel its the best grass roots effort to gain new business. Getting to interact with the pets I see and hand out samples is the fun part too. In addition to dogs, I’ve met several cats, ferrets and even a pet pig! I thoroughly enjoy the look of surprise on the owners face when their pet eats the whole treat and comes back for more, especially the picky ones. That’s typically a guaranteed sale.
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