Hi, my name is Patricia Griecci and I work for my dog Spike. Spike bakes the best all natural dog cookies, treats and cakes that offer pet parents a healthy way to show their love for their “kids with tails”.
My Background.
In 1992 I adopted Spike, a pound puppy and he became “my kid with a tail”. I decorated a room for him, celebrated his
birthdays, and made him boots to keep his pads free of snow.
In 1995 I decided that I would buy him a bed to go with the new contemporary furniture I recently purchased and could not find anything that I would want to put in my house. This made me ask the why question and sent me down this path of
investigating the pet industry. When I started mentioning my vision of the Crate & Barrel for pets, my friends and family thought I was nuts.
I moved to San Francisco and in the fall 1996 threw Spike his annual Halloween party and invited his friends from the dog park and our SOMA neighbors.....
I thought I’d start with a small collection of dog bowls and placements. While people liked the bowls and place mats, what they really wanted was fun gift items that I made for Spike and his friends. I also started getting calls to make cakes for dog’s birthdays and strangers came looking for the cookies.
Instead of making the bowls, I switched -- Be flexible and go for the void. I actually think that if I just did what I initially wanted to do, I would have failed. But by listening and
responding to what people wanted to buy, help me create
successful products.
To test the gift concept, I made Easter Baskets and sold them on consignment. Our test did really well and I decided to create a holiday line. We sold to specialty pet stores, gift stores, Target and Gumps.
We needed to take the risk away from the customer when starting out to test the viability of your products. When I
followed up with everyone in January, I discovered we had sold out in all stores!
I also discovered that I was not in the cookie business, but the entertainment business and that is what we are currently focusing on – becoming the Martha Stewart for dogs and cats. We’re starting to teach kid cooking classes as well as create branded pet departments for regional and national specialty chains.