Howl’oWeen is nearly upon us.

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Just a quick update, to you all and a voucher, for all our Subscribers to use on any upcoming Halloween purchase. You can redeem HOWLOWEEN20  to get your 10% discount on the checkout of Halloween products

The boxes will be ready to purchase in the first week of October, with lots of spooky decorated treats for you.  We will be partnering with The Pet Party Planners for this event, and they will be bringing lots of eerie Halloween toys to the mix.  Would be great if you could give their Facebook and Instagram account a like and share.

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The weather has changed here in Saltfleetby and we are seeing the first signs of Autumn.  The trees are turning into the most beautiful colours, reds, purples, orange and brown, and the grass has tinges of yellow.  This is my favourite time of the year.

We have reached a new business milestone 4000 followers and likes on Facebook and I am so grateful for all the support.  We love to see all the celebrations and thank you to those of you that share that special day with us.  The shares, they are also fantastic as this helps us get to more people who love their pets.

Organic Pupcorn is one of the latest edition to our range of treats, this is especially for the older pups, who like a softer treat, but can be enjoyed by all.  We are also introducing a Biscuit Happy Birthday celebration box with a round biscuit shaped birthday treat, with a personalised matching bone and one of my favourite little pups with a beautifully decorated collar.  The little pup biscuit has been an addition to all the orders we have had from last year, and I hope you all liked them too.

Side Oven Bakery is now our main suppliers of Organic Wholemeal Flour for our biscuit treats.  We have been trying out a few new suppliers and this flour stands heads above some of the others we tried.  The flour is very flavoursome, it has a lovely texture to it when rolling and end result is beautiful.  Highly recommend you having a look at what they supply and their range of Organic Cereals look delicious.

We have been very lucky here in Saltfleetby, and have been welcomed to the Lincolnshire area, by so many lovely new customers.  Safe collection is always available from the safety of the front gates as is contactless payments on our card machine.

The opening of the Bakery and Treat Shop has obviously been delayed with Covid 19, but we are hopeful that this will pass and the doors can be open to everyone to pop in and see our amazing shop.

Since our little enterprise started, I have been so lucky with lovely customers, we have had some scary moments with Royal Mail and their delivery times not being up to the normal service you would expect, but I hope our Customer Service was up to scratch with reaction times and replacements when necessary.  Looking after our customers is very important, and we pride ourselves on listening to any problems and try to achieve a great outcome for the customer.  At the Bakery, we are aware that things don’t always work out the way we hope, so we have a willingness to change, adapt, and change any processes going forward.  To make sure we always get it right, we need and appreciate your feedback, so please let us know, as we are listening.

For the newbies who have just subscribed, a little about what we bake and whats in the celebration boxes.  We only use the best fresh ingredients and we don’t add any preservatives to them.  This obviously affects the shelf life, but as in any celebration, weddings etc, where you order goodies for the day, we don’t expect them to last for more than a week.  Some of our yummy biscuits last for up to a month, but they are best kept in the fridge, again, only the best ingredients with nothing added to make them last longer.  If you look at our cake, you can see its a proper cake.

 

That’s all for now, just a big thank you and a little offer of a discount on our products when they launch, look forward to your orders and even more so, looking forward to seeing the happy pets.

Lots of love, Tarnia

 

 

 

 

Summer Business Update

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Hi everyone,

Firstly, we have been sooo busy in May, June and July, with lots of lovely celebrations, so a massive thank you to all of you for your support in helping us keep going during lockdown.

My lovely sister Beverley, was helping me throughout, and because she loved the baking too, I was lucky enough to get a lovely summer break for a week on the canals around Oxford and Reading, and it was so beautiful and peaceful around there.  The weather was very kind to us too..

We have had some absolutely fantastic reviews, which is heartwarming, so a thank you to all those who took the time to let us know about your experience with the Bakery.

Some more fantastic news for us, as we were contacted by a new start up business, who are looking for the Bakery to supply them with cakes and treats for their Pet Party Venture.  During our conversation, I obviously asked why we had been chosen over the many pet treat bakeries out there, only to find that the lady is a Veterinarian, and as a business, looking for suppliers, they had struggled to find a pet bakery that had all the correct statutory compliance for selling pet treats in place.  There are lots of Pet Treat and Cake bakers on Facebook, Instagram and Etsy, but the majority, much to her dismay, had not even registered with their local authority.

The Bakery and shop is nearly finished here, just getting the signage and stockists completed and we will be ready to open to the public.

I thought that if I talk everyone through the process for Pet Treat Baking, this may help some of you who want to start a bakery, as its a little bit confusing, but there is lots of help from Trading Standard, and I am always available on the phone to give you extra support.

Setting up as an approved Pet Treat Bakery

Firstly, gather up all the information you can on what ingredients are the most nutritious for dogs, cats, or horses.  We choose only the most Healthy Ingredients and only use Natural Colourants.

Next, try to find recipes that just use those ingredients, and then have a go at baking those recipes yourself using any cutters or plungers you choose.

If you find you are enjoying baking and love the results, try giving them to family and friends to gain some feedback.

The next stage, should you wish to sell them, is to get yourself registered.

  • Register with your Local Council as a Pet Feed Manufacturer.  This will mean you are registered with the correct governing body, Trading Standards.  We don’t come under Environmental Health.  They will issue you with a Trading number.  You can do this online.
  • Do your Health and Hygiene Certificate at Level 2.  This you can do online and takes up to about 5 hours to complete.
  • Put together a method of tracking and tracing the ingredients used in each batch you bake, and record against each customer you sell them to.  You need to be able to list each ingredient, where you purchased, the batch code and the expiry date of each item.  I use an excel spreadsheet that has been set up for me (I am not the best at Information Technology)  This is called HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) and is a very important part of producing the cakes and treats, Trading Standards will want to check on this.
  • Take out Public Liability Insurance for your business ensuring you take out the maximum cover you can afford.
  • Then you need to bake a batch of 150 grams of each of the products you want to sell, and send this off to an approved laboratory for a Nutritional Analysis. The laboratory costs vary from £110.00 per product to £60.00 per product.  This information must be on your website advertising the product and as a separate label on every treat or cake you sell.  If you want the details of a laboratory recommended by myself, please message me for the details.  They take 10 days to send you the analysis details that you must put on the item description.
  • It gets a bit more complicated if you want to sell cakes or treats with any animal derivatives, if you wish to use cheese, meat etc, you will have to then register and seek approval to use them from DEFRA and APHA this is because of the implications for animal health from the improper transport, storage and use of material of animal origin.  We at the Bakery, do not use anything animal.  Everything is Vegetarian or Vegan by choice.
  • If you then create a Website, or selling on any media outlet (Etsy) you have to show your full address from where the item was baked and your registration details for Compliance with Trading Standards.

The most important thing to remember is Track and Trace, if there is a product recall from any of your suppliers, you must be able to contact your customers asap, and you must have Public Liability to cover any claims.

We here at the Bakery, want to make sure that all pets are safe, so if you notice a Pet Bakery, on Etsy, Facebook, Instagram or in your local Market, and they haven’t got any of the above listed, you can give them my details and I am more than willing to help them get to a position where they are Baking and selling safely.

Sending lots of love to you all and please shop safely.  Kind regards, Tarnia x

Loss, Baking, An Exciting Opening on The Horizon

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Farewell Dad & Sonic

Firstly, a really big thank you for your support over the past few months, the Covid 19 Virus that has caused so much chaos and heartache over the past few months, is now hopefully coming to an end. and we can start to get back to some sort of normality.

On a personal note, as some of you know, I lost my lovely Dad to the Virus, and as he lived in Dorset, the funeral arrangements were very strange as we had to sit apart, and only 8 people could attend.  This felt really cold, as we couldn’t hug each other, everyone was upset, and as such we couldn’t celebrate my Dads life properly.  As a family, we have decided that we are going to have a get together for a memorial service for Dad as soon as we can when this is all over.

Also, I lost my beloved horse Sonic Girl to a hoof ailment, her pedal bone was pressing on the base of her hoof, she was in pain and it couldn’t be put right, so we had to make the very hard decision to let her go to sleep.  What is really lovely is, as we are now on my sister Bev’s farm, we were able to make her a fabulous resting place in the orchard with all her favourite apples.  I can visit every day and pop a Polo mint on their, and its a really peaceful place for reflecting on our wonderful years together.

Throughout all of this, it was being able to bake, which I love, and also seeing others happily celebrating their pets, that kept me going, it was so lovely and so special, and I thank you for that, it was just what I needed.

The New Bakery Shop, Doggie Parties and Camping

We were also kept busy with setting up the new Bakery Shop, and we have had support from the local traders as they were willing to work here as they could easily socially distance themselves, it was just a bit difficult getting all the supplies they required as most of the DIY stores were closed.  Now we are seeing more of the suppliers opening again, we can hopefully start moving forward again.

The Bakery is going to expand to include Doggie Birthday Parties, Doggie Camping and a lovely place just to sit and enjoy your pups company whilst you enjoy a full range of yummy cakes and treats for yourself in The School House Cafe at Sturdys Farm.

We will have a shop with bespoke personalised gifts, lots of lovely accessories, including leads, collars, bandannas, pet beds and of course all of our yummy cakes and treats for pets.  If you would like to showcase any of your products in the shop, please let me know.  One of the suppliers I am really happy to have on-board is Charlie & Boo, they have gorgeous homemade pet accessories.

We are also looking to add suppliers of homemade, bespoke pet soaps. as this will complement our ethos, of natural homemade products, I am sure there are plenty of other items that would fit in with what we are trying to achieve here, so please let me know if you have anyone you can think of.

Hopefully, in about 6 to 8 weeks we will be ready to open at Sturdys Farm, and at the opening, we will have the local press and some editors from your favourite Doggy Magazines to come and have a look at what we have done, and we will be reserving places for all of our VIP Friends who will, of course, have a lovely treat box to celebrate with us.

Royal Mail Hick-Ups

The Royal Mail postal service is still experiencing a few hick-ups in some areas, and orders can take a while to get to you.  I have tried to send the celebration boxes out to you at least two or three days before to get to you, and I thank you for your patience.  The best rate to choose at the moment is guaranteed next day, as we have the ability to track your items.  1st Class postage rate is not guaranteed, and if the parcel is lost, it can take up to 10 days before the post office will look into where your parcel has gone.  If your delivery area is particularly bad, please consider the Guaranteed Next Day rate at checkout.

New Biscuits & Celebrating Summer

There are lots of new biscuits being added to the Website for the summer, and we appear to be very lucky with the weather at the moment here in Lincolnshire. You can browse through the range here.

Lots of love Tarnia