This is an amazing side hustle to get started with if you want to make extra money (an average of $1,000/month) and create yummy treats for dogs.
There are even dog treat businesses earning $5,000+ a month. The amount of money you make really depends on how much time and effort you put into your business.
Are you interested in selling dog treats as a side hustle? In today’s post, you’re going to learn how to get started with your very own dog treat business at home.
I have an amazing interviewer with Kristin, a dog treat business owner who found a way to make lots of money selling dog treats.
She even created a step-by-step course called Diva Dog Bakery and has a free workshop that teaches you how to get started with your very own dog treat business!
You learn how to create your own dog treat business making $1,000+ a month.
What initially got you started in the dog treat business?
The whole thing started with a cupcake!
My sweet pup’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to give her a special birthday treat.
Everything I found at the pet food stores was mass-produced, filled with ingredients I didn’t recognize and looked like it had been sitting on the shelves for months.
After a few dismal visits to pet food stores, I got it in my head that I wanted to bake her a cupcake.
I visited a ‘people food’ bakery and looked at all of the cupcakes for inspiration, then I went home to try to recreate the cupcake with dog-friendly ingredients.
I was not a baker so it took some effort to get it right, but my dog LOVED the final result!
Seeing her so happy made me happy, which resulted in a lot more time in the kitchen for me. It became a creative outlet to dream up new baked treats for her.
One dog can only eat so many treats, so I started giving them away to friends and family to give to their pups.
Not soon after, I received a request: ‘Can I buy your dog treats?’
I hadn’t even considered selling my dog treats up to that point, but I decided to give it a try.
Soon, I had formed my own dog treat bakery business: Diva Dog Bakery™. It went on to become a wild success, bringing in thousands of dollars in revenue per month!
How much can someone earn baking dog treats at home?
If you are doing it as a part-time side hustle, it’s pretty easy to bring in $500 to $1,000 a month once you get going.
As a full-time business run solely from your home kitchen, you can earn in the $5,000 to $8,000 range.
You can definitely break five figures a month with a dog treat bakery business, but to get to that point, you’ll likely need access to a second kitchen (thankfully, renting a local commercial kitchen is relatively inexpensive in most areas).
Where can people sell their dog treats?
Dog treats can be sold offline, online or both.
Offline, you can sell at farmers markets, from home (either pick-up or delivery), wholesale to pet stores, boutiques, veterinarians’ offices, etc.
Online, you can sell on Etsy, via your social media profiles, etc.
Who is this side hustle for?
- Anyone, no baking experience required
- Anyone who wants to sell online or in person
- Anyone who wants to make $1,000+ a month, with potential to become a six-figure business
How much does it cost to start an at home dog bakery?
For most dog treat businesses based in the U.S., you will be able to start your business for between $100 and $300. Some of the start-up costs include:
- Business license
- Treat registration fees (these vary by state)
- Initial ingredients and possibly a few basic baking tools
- Treat packaging costs
Because dog treats are a high profit margin product, you’ll earn most of your initial investment back with your first few batches of treats.
How can someone get started with a dog treat bakery?
The first thing I recommend doing is experimenting in your kitchen with a few dog treat recipes.
If you have dogs, they make excellent taste testers; if not, give them away to friends and family members who have dogs.
If you enjoy the process of baking and the treats are well-received, you can move on to contacting your state to verify their dog treat regulations.
Once you know what those are, you can file any necessary paperwork and get things started!
I go through this whole process (including recipes!) in my course, Diva Dog Bakery™, so you know exactly what to do, step by step, to start your dog treat bakery.
What equipment do I need?
If you’ve baked before, you probably have a lot of equipment already in your kitchen.
If not, here are a few things that can help you get started.
Why do you recommend this side hustle? What are the benefits?
First, it’s a genuinely fun and enjoyable business.
If you’re a dog lover like me, there is nothing like seeing your happy customers dig into one of your creations!
Second, the profit margins are excellent – most of the treats run a 60 to 70% profit margin, which is fantastic.
Third, and I think the most important, is that the healthy dog treat business is exploding in growth.
Now more than ever, people want to know what their dogs are eating. We’ve seen this with people (‘clean eating,’ ‘eat local’), and now it’s becoming a thing for pets too. People want to know they’re feeding their pets the very best.
Are your students seeing success after taking the Diva Dog Bakery course?
Yes! We’ve had some incredible success stories and I couldn’t be prouder of our students.
I launched the course only six months ago, and we already have students selling out of their pre-sales, selling at multiple farmers markets, selling on their own websites and more.
It’s possible to see success really quickly with a dog treat bakery business and our students have shown that!
How you can get started
There is a completely free workshop for anyone interested in selling dog treats.
You get a feel for selling dog treats from home,
The free workshop teaches you:
- How and why Kristin started Diva Dog Bakery
- How Kristin went from making her first $20 to over $1000 per month
- The best places to sell your homemade dog treats (online & offline)
- Marketing tactics to boost sales and profit margins
- How to source ingredients and packaging supplies
- A special limited time offer for our course
Sign up for the free workshop here.
What’s included in the Diva Dog Bakery course?
Module 1: Practice Makes Perfect: You’ll learn our favorite recipes and everything you’ll need to get started! We urge you to start with what you have and build from there.
Module 2: Hobby to Business: Next, it’s time to formalize this endeavor! We’ll share the process of forming your business so you can legally sell dog treats. Don’t worry, it’s simpler than it sounds.
Module 3: Presentation is Everything: In this module we’ll share how to make everything look beautiful (without hours of effort) and how to efficiently get everything packaged and shipped.
Module 4: How to Price Your Treats: Don’t get stuck worrying what to charge. In Module 4, we’ll break down pricing structure for you so you’re ready to roll and actually make a profit!
Module 5: Where to Sell: Whether you want to sell your treats in person, online or both, we’ve got your back! We’ll share proven strategies to get your baked goods in the marketplace using easy to follow techniques.
Module 6: How to Accept Payment: Keeping the money flowing means being ready to receive it! We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about accepting payments.
Module 7: Shipping and Delivery: Wondering how to ship your dog treats and what to include in your packaging? We’ll review our preferred shipping method and cover the must-have items inside your package.
Module 8: Promote Your Business: It’s time to announce your brand new business – and we’ve got the BEST ways to promote it (for free!). Get excited because now it’s time to share with the world what you’ve been baking in the kitchen!
Bonus #1: Guaranteed Analysis / Nutrition label ($99/treat value): You’ll learn everything you need to know about creating nutrition labels so your clients are never wondering “what’s in this?”. Required by certain states in the U.S., we’re giving you the exact information needed that will literally save you HUNDREDS of dollars!
Bonus #2: Dog Treat Recipe Book ($49 value): We’re sharing our exact recipes that we spent months perfecting that went on to become best-sellers online and in-person! Inside our recipe book, you’ll learn how to make all of our dog treats from scratch, which will help you get a jumpstart in the kitchen.
Bonus #3: 30 Days FREE Access to Diva Dog Bakery™ Group ($19/month value): Our supportive Facebook community will help you get all your questions answered while you launch and grow your new side-hustle. Got marketing questions? Questions about taking your business online or tech support? Don’t worry – we’ve got you covered!
Bonus #4: All New Course Material for Free (#priceless): Every time we add new content to the course material, you will receive it for free for being a student! As we add course material, the price of the program will go up. Because we plan to expand on the training material – there’s a lot we still want to teach you! – enrolling NOW will allow you to receive all new course material for FREE!
Look at how other students are doing after taking the Diva Dog Bakery course!
Free Workshop
Make sure to take advantage of the completely free workshop available to anyone interested in starting this side hustle that has a ton of potential to become a full-time business.
At the workshop, you’ll learn:
- Why the homemade dog treat business is HOT and getting hotter every year
- How to turn a dog treat bakery business into a side hustle pulling $500-$1,000 per month, or how to scale it into a 5-figure/year business
- The best places to start a dog treat business, online or offline
- How to price and sell your treats
And more!
Don’t forget to sign up for the free workshop here.
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