We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aisha Byrd a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Aisha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

My passion for baking dog treats started in 2005 after purchasing my dog Benjamins’ 1st birthday cake. I learned that Benjamin had a very sensitive stomach along with allergies at a very young age. Benjamin developed severe diarrhea and had to receive medication to help his stomach for several days after celebrating his 1st birthday. I began to notice that some treats even irritated his skin causing it to be itchy along with occurrences of diarrhea. I wanted to ensure that I could provide Benjamin the best quality of life so I began to research nutritional information for dogs.

Through this research I found that many treats and baked goods for dogs contained ingredients that were both harmful and unhealthy. I began to bake treats for Benjamin and by the time his second birthday came around I was able to bake his birthday cake. Reese joined our family in 2008 and I continued to bake and experiment with different recipes for both of them. They have lovingly earned the title of “Professional Taste Testers”. I baked their treats for many years at home and would occasionally bake treats for friends and family dogs as a hobby.

I always wanted to share my healthy treats with other dog families so I began to conduct additional research on the safest and healthiest unfree for a dog’s diet. After relocating to Fort Worth, Texas in 2014. I began to gain knowledge that there were many dog families that faced some of the same dietary needs I had encountered and struggled to find healthy natural treats.

In January 2018 I officially opened R&B Dog Bakery LLC. I developed all of my own recipes and even own copyrights to a pet favorite specialty item called “Doggy Donuts”. My recipes were formulated based on compliance and best practices of AAFCO (Association American Feed Control Officials) and all of the treats are lab tested for guaranteed analysis. They have all passed strenuous testing for deliciousness by our in house taste testers.

Driven by my love for dogs and a passionate commitment to their health I started the bakery as an e-commerce store. Despite having little capital, I developed ingenuity and perseverance and embraced the challenges of designing my own website, marketing my products and expanding my brand. Eventually I began attending Las Colinas Farmers Market located in Irving Texas. Professionalism and consistency has been the key to my success. When signing up to attend these events, of paramount importance is being prompt, having a pleasant demeanor, maintaining a professional work ethic and staying consistent. Embodiment of these characteristics eventually led me to several personal invitations to various events hosted by cities, local business and additional farmers markets.

In the summer of 2019, we were offered an amazing opportunity to begin offering our treats inside Green Oaks North Pet Hospital and Pixee Paws Pet Palace located in Arlington, Texas. R&B Dog Bakery officially opened a retail store in August 2021 which was a very exciting time for myself and my brand. Although this step was integral to our growth, we are currently looking to expand into a larger facility to continue serving our clients’ growing pets needs.

Aisha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am most proud of how my brand has developed relationships throughout the community. My relentless commitment to providing quality products has allowed extraordinary growth within the Arlington and Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. As a business owner I have spent an innumerable amount of dedicated time researching and developing my own recipes and products for my dog bakery. Their were challenges because some of the information that I needed was not always readily available to formulate my recipes. There were a lot of trials and errors especially with our Dog Cakes but perseverance and determination allowed me to develop the products I currently offer. A problem that many pet parents face are dogs having sensitive stomach, dietary restrictions and allergies which makes it hard to find treats especially Dog Cakes. I formulated my recipes to cater to all dogs life cycle from puppies to seniors, so that dogs can enjoy healthy treats and celebrate special occasions. I specialize in custom dog cakes which allows clients to celebrate Birthdays, Gotcha Day, Gender Reveal, Puppy Showers and more. Our cake recipes have been formulated to ensure dogs can enjoy natural gluten free cakes without all the added sugars, salts and dyes that most cakes contain. My recent excitement has been our expansion to a physical retail location in Arlington, Texas as of August 2021. This has allowed clients the opportunity to shop for their pets treats regularly and pick up pre-made and custom cakes. We also host rescue of the month which allows us to collect donations for various rescues through the DFW area. As we are committed to our clients we continue to attend weekly Farmers Markets in DFW which include Las Colinas Farmers Market in Irving, TX, Watauga Farmers Market in Watauga, TX and various dog events.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I know that my dedication and professionalism has helped to build my reputation which allows my clients too see the passion and commitment that I have for providing healthy treats. Developing a strong positive reputation in the community has enabled me to be invited to various city markets and community events which has led to continued growth and success. Also having a pleasant, friendly and caring personality has allowed me to gain repetitive clients throughout the DFW area. I am very proud of the reputation that I have built and maintained during my years in business.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

When I opened the new retail store I faced the challenge of obtaining new clients from the community. Marketing is a huge aspect in business and I learned quickly how much clients use Google. I quickly updated our Google page along with establishing a Yelp page. I began to post more photos along with running ads to assist with marketing. Since I have a niche for custom dog cakes majority of the clients have successfully found me on Google and Yelp by searching dog cakes. As a small business we thrive on reviews which has led many of our new clients to us. Our commitment to excellent client service and top quality products has allowed us to receive many 5 star reviews which allows clients to entrust us with their pets dietary needs.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rbdogbakery.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rbdogbakery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rbdogbakery
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWhNAGWmvGpMTOaUaldPHuQ
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/r-and-b-dog-bakery-arlington?osq=R%26B+Dog+bakery

Image Credits
Photo credit to VIZIONBYAG

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