A North Bay businesswoman has turned a hobby into a booming business by making all-natural single-ingredient pet treats.
Dawn Gagnon's business is Mellow Acres Raw, located on Front Street, and she carries products you may not expect to find in your typical store including "Moo Tubes" which are beef trachea, beef cheeks, cow hoofs and beef kneecaps and tongues. Also for sale on the more exotic side, you'll find swordfish, kangaroo, and beaver.
Gagnon tries to source all her ingredients locally if possible and has partnered with local farmers All snacks are single ingredients with no preservatives so that you can be certain your pets are only getting the best.
Like many other business owners, she started small.
"I bought a freeze dryer and started making treats for my coworkers at the hospital and it went gonzo," she told BayToday while at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair in Toronto. "I started expanding, got into the North Bay farmers market, and found a huge group of people who are looking for products like mine, all-natural, locally sourced meat. I turned it into dog and cat treats."
Gagnon says it's important to her that, as much as possible, she uses local farmers to get her supply.
"Very important. I keep all stock from local businesses, products like locally-made dog beds, and locally-made dog blankets. My supplements are all as local as possible. The furthest I go right now is Huntsville, so it's pretty close.
Business at Mellow Acres Raw is so good Gagnon has had to expand to keep up.
"There's huge demand. All our treats are all-natural single ingredients. I don't add anything so there's no preservatives, no salt, no gluten, any of that stuff. People are looking for an all-natural dog product that they can trust and that's what I'm trying to offer. We make everything in-house.
So what about the Kangaroo treat?
Gagnon smiles, before answering. "Yep, so this kangaroo is more like a specialty novelty item but also there are dogs that have protein allergies, but they can tolerate the kangaroo. That's why I care. Our most popular treat? It's a beef lung. It's low in calories. It's not nutrient-dense, so it's great for training or spoiling."
Like many businesses, hers was affected by COVID, but not in a bad way. She thinks the pandemic produced more dog owners, which meant higher demand.
"Oh, so I was working at the hospital when COVID started and that's what I think helped my business because everybody went out and got dogs. Then I started researching what the pet food places are actually putting in their food and realized it's not good."
Business became so good Gagnon quit her hospital job to build her business full-time.
"Yeah, so I quit my full-time job and my husband quit his full-time job. He was a truck driver. So we do this full time and we have three part-time employees.
Something you might not expect to see on sale are water buffalo horns.
"They actually come from Nepal. I met a fellow who told me he farms them. So now I'll have a local supplier and I can sell them a little bit cheaper. They're the longest-lasting dog treats going! People use them for their dogs. It's a great treat. I've had people buy them for ornaments to attach to their helmets for their motorcycles. Witchcraft, you name it, kids buy them because they think they're cool. Yeah.
Dawn presently has a Mellow Acres Raw booth at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.
FedNor will spend $716,800 to help operate the Northern Ontario Agri-Food Pavilion at the fair, the world's largest indoor agri-food exhibition. Close to 50 northern Ontario agri-food and services businesses are at the annual global event.
See: Northern farmer starts successful pork business after watching YouTube video
The Royal opened Friday and runs until Sunday, Nov 10.
