Your Pet Wants This
Amanda Broughton and Michele Hobbs turned sickness into success. Two years ago, their dog suffered from severe food and environmental allergies. To prevent and lessen their dog’s reactions, Broughton and Hobbs made frequent trips out of town to buy dog food.
However, the long drive was not only time consuming, it also made them concerned about the freshness of the food. So, Broughton and Hobbs consulted with one of the best independently owned pet food manufacturers in the country (based here in Ohio). They teamed up with a with a separate company to develop a kibble that’s fortified with a vitamin and mineral complex. To maintain freshness, this food is made to order once a month and then delivered directly to their customers.
"Pet food being gluten free is more important to animals than the industry gives credit," Hobbs says. "We do not use corn, wheat, soy or animal bi-products in any of our formulas."
To sell this food, and other pet-friendly products, they opened up the first Pet Wants shop in Findlay Market. A second store – called "Pet Wants North" – owned by Elisabeth Mayer has since opened in the heart of Madeira to service suburban Cincinnatians.
They also developed and sell a high-nutrition food for your feline friends. It’s important to note that all their products are Earth healthy too. From their flushable disposable kitty litter to their re-usable bags with food-grade lining, Broughton and Hobbs are dedicated to sustainable practices and products.
Much of this was made possible when Pet Wants became the first winner for Bad Girl Ventures (BGV), a highly localized microlending company geared toward supporting woman-owned businesses. With their win, Pet Wants received a $25,000 loan to help them carry out their mission for healthy pets on a healthy planet.
"There’s no way any bank would have given us a loan. Period. And if we didn’t have that, we wouldn’t be able to grow this business to the point where it’s going to be successful in terms of the long term," Hobbs said in a previous interview with Cincy Chic.
They used a portion of this loan to set up an online ordering system. This also generates automatic reminders for customers about their deliveries so they can adjust their order before delivery. The system generates delivery routes and maps for the drivers to streamline the process for Pet Wants on the business side.
To set up a delivery of Pet Wants products to your work or home, you can visit Pet Wants online at www.PetWants.com, at one of their two locations, or call them at (513) 721-8696.
Pet Wants will be one of the featured vendors at the Sept. 23 Cincy Chic Pet Fashion Show . They will have free samples of their most popular pet food formulas, along with plenty of their housemade beef jerky, which was recently featured in Donna Corvett’s Local Food Lover’s Guide as a must-have for your pantry. They will also have hemp leashes and collars handmade locally in Loveland. And, if your pup has been good all night, they can enjoy Pet Wants’ latest tail-wagging treat: housemade Pawsicles.
