We were lucky to catch up with Melissa Schmuke recently and have shared our conversation below.
Melissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?
My parents are my heroes. We grew up fairly poor in a tiny two-bedroom home, my two older brothers and I sharing a small bedroom in our early years. Growing up I watched my parents work tirelessly to provide the best life they could for us. They worked long hours so they could move us to a bigger house and afford catholic school tuition. We were given amazing educations and I truly don’t believe my siblings and I would be where we are today without it. My mother used to always say we were “rich with love” and that was just fine by us. Her saying is something I say often to this day. It’s what I would tell my students when they were concerned about money or buying things, I’d say, “we may not be rich, but we are rich with love!” and it was just fine by all of us.
My parents are kind, generous, honest, loving, and fair, and would do anything to go out of their way and help us. They are my role models, the ones who instilled strong values and morals, and the ones who told me I could be anything I wanted to be, and still do. Both my parents fully support my dreams and believe in me. I often think how I wish I would have told them when I was younger how much I appreciated the things they did for me, but I guess that’s life. You take it all for granted when you’re younger, and then when you grow up you realize how much love and sacrifice your parents gave you. If I turn out half as good of a parent as they were to me, I’ll be happy. My mother is my best friend, we talk, text, and facetime every day. Growing up my brothers would say, “you’re just like mom!” Oh I would hate it, I despised it when they said that, but now, I hope I am just like my mom. I hope I turn out to be everything she is, because it’s all good.
My parents have made me who I am today; they took the best parts of themselves and gave them to me. My parents are my heroes and deserve more than I could ever give them. I hope one day I can repay all their hard work. Thanks, mom and dad for making us rich with love!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Schmookies: Artisan Dog Treats started out of my tiny kitchen all because of my rescue dog, Amora. When I started Schmookies, I was a full-time kindergarten teacher, pursuing my Doctor of Education Degree in Transformative Learning in the Global Community. One day after I was finished teaching, I decided to go take a look at the Animal Protection Association (APA), as they were doing a “valentine fling foster” where you take a dog home to foster for the weekend in hopes to de-stress and let the dog relax out of the chaotic animal shelter. The dog I went to go see was gone, so I decided to walk through the shelter to see what other pups were available. As I looked through the cages I stopped dead in my tracks as there was a huddled up, defeated dog with her face in the corner. She looked exactly like my childhood dog. I went to the front desk and asked to see “Tasha” and inquired about her back story. They told me she was around 10 months old, was brought in with her sister, and they both lived their entire lives outside tied to a pole. She was scared but sweet, and I decided she was coming home with me for the weekend! She had never been inside a home, had never been given a treat, had no idea what kisses were, and shook like a leaf in the wind when I lifted her onto my bed. On day 2 of being in my home, she ate 15 mini bags of popcorn in the middle of the night. She wasn’t scolded, instead, I cleaned up the mess and tried to get her to take a treat from me. She shyly took the treat, looked at me, and gently licked my face. It was over, that little girl stole my heart and wasn’t going anywhere! Fast forward a few months, and I decided that I wanted to give Amora healthier treats and options instead of all the preservative-filled treats with random ingredients that were on the market. Amora was my ultimate taste tester, we tried out so many dog treat recipes until we found the perfect ones! Friends and family were so supportive of my new business adventure, and still are. For that, I am eternally grateful. I specialize in artisan dog treats, dog cakes, pupcakes, paw butter, bandanas, and collar flowers! I bake, decorate, package, and sew everything by hand and all by myself. I like to say everything is made in small batches with love! I pour my heart into everything I bake or create because I love seeing my customers and their pups enjoy it.
The idea of Schmookies started in mid-2020, but it wasn’t until 2022 that I decided to pursue this small business adventure full-time. Teaching has always been my passion, but after a couple of extremely difficult years, I decided to choose myself and my mental health for the first time in a long time. The education system needs a revolution, we are losing so many extremely educated and amazing teachers every year that truly love teaching and love their students, but that’s a whole different conversation to be had! I decided that I was going to take a risk and focus on building up my small business while writing my dissertation. In May 2022, I quit my teaching job only to be thrown into the hardest summer of my life with my doctorate. I came out of that summer as a doctoral candidate and with more passion than ever for building up my small business. These past 6 months have been a whirlwind of testing new products, doing more marketing, trying to create more connections, and trying to be at all the vendor events and markets I can! I absolutely love interacting with all the pet parents, my customers, and every single pup I cross paths with. I hope to continue to grow Schmookies, and once I graduate with my EdD next year, I hope to open up a fun concept and build a local shop in St. Louis.
Whenever I have extra treats, I like to drop them off at shelters or pass them out to random people wherever I am. I have been a foster for Stray Rescue for the past 4 years, and have a long-time medical cat foster, Viola. The house is a zoo sometimes with two cats and two big dogs! But we are all happy and healthy and covered in fur, haha. I am very big about supporting local and love to support other small businesses, dog ones too! I am all about the idea of “there’s room for everyone to eat at my table”, I want everyone to be successful! St. Louis is the biggest small city. We have a special connection to our city and I think we are great as a whole about really wanting to support local and have the people of our city thrive.
I have a more extroverted personality and I love to make conversation and laugh! Humor gets me through the tough days. In my spare time, I love to hang out with friends and family, try new restaurants and cocktail/wine bars, take care of my ridiculous growing collection of plants, try all the local coffee shops, and take my pups on adventures! Everyone says it’s all down hill from 30, but I feel like at 30 years old my life is just beginning!
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
I bake, decorate, package, sew, craft, and design everything all on my own! It can get overwhelming and exhausting at times, but I am proud of myself and the effort and work I put into my small business. Getting started was the most difficult part. I have a bachelor’s in child development, master’s in early childhood education, and working on my Doctor of Education degree-starting a business was not in my bag of tricks! What all started as an idea over a glass of wine, quickly consumed my thoughts and I began researching. If there is one thing that is ingrained into my being, it is that I am a researcher by nature! I researched recipes, business strategies, requirements, legalities, etc. I reached out to fellow small business owners for advice and information; this helped tremendously. One of my small business friends connected me with a pet food coordinator from the Missouri Department of Agriculture, Madison Fink. Madison was extremely helpful in breaking down everything I needed to get my agriculture feed license, such as getting my treats analyzed and label/packaging requirements. There were a lot of steps and registering with different departments, but Madison was always there for me to reach out to no matter how silly my questions were. It makes a big difference to be able to have someone help along the way. I am still learning every day, I don’t think I will ever stop learning and researching whether it be for work, school, or business. I hope I can continue to make connections, grow my business, and learn along the way!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think my reputation is still building, but I think some of the key attributes that have contributed to my reputation is that I am an honest and kind business owner. I am no big shot, I am still a small business working tirelessly to make a name for myself and figuring out new things every day. I am honest about my company, and I am doing it for all the good boys and good girls out there! I try to use as few ingredients I can, making sure they are beneficial for dogs and human grade ingredients. My most popular treat is the peanut butter banana made with only peanut butter, fresh bananas, oats, flour, and honey. My customers can feel safe knowing they are giving their babies the best treats. I try to always be kind and show humility and grace when working with my customers and other vendors at markets. Being a crafter, maker, or creator is no easy feat, so I try to always support other vendors at markets I am at and share their products on social media! A shoutout only takes a quick minute, but makes a difference to the small business owner immensely, at least it always does to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: In Progress!
- Instagram: @schmookiesdogtreats
- Facebook: Schmookies: Artisan Dog Treats
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-schmuke-b281b21b9