Packaging Dog Treats For Sale

Packaging homemade dog treats for resale to the public presents a boat load of unanticipated challenges. For those with plenty of working capitol (money) the challenges are probably lessened but still very important decisions must be made before you head to market.

In my quest to start Parker's Barkery I visiting many homemade dog treat businesses, both online and in Palm Springs, CA. As of this posting there are 8 brick and mortar Dog Treat Bakeries operating on a daily basis. As in Palm Springs and online, I found the most beautiful packaging imaginable. Printed paper bags with clear windows and fancy resealable tops seem to be the most popular. Let's take a look at what I learned about these and other fancy packages for homemade or gourmet dog treats.

Bakery Bags by PaperMart make great
dog treat packages however they are expensive.

Window Bakery Bags: 

This is exactly what I was looking for! They are the right size and show off the contents quite well. Then I priced them out, they are 40 cents each plus the shipping (because they are heavy) adds another 40 cents, so my cost (before any custom printing) is 80 cents. I found the same to be true for molded plastic containers and bakery boxes. Since my target market is far from Palm Springs and is in a very rural area with just a few people, I found this option too expensive for my start-up dog treat business.


Lower Cost Alternatives to Bakery Bags:

sarahhearts.com

My next step was to investigate all lower cost packaging options. I reviewed a lot of blogs and other sites before hitting on some great tips from Bake Sale vendors. These folks really know how to make the most of cheap packaging. I learned a lot about how to create attractive packages using things like paper plates, raffia, ribbons, tissue papers, chinese food containers (I can get these in town saving the shipping cost), poly baggies and homemade labels and tags (a must-have for repeat business).


Packaging for Free Samples of Dog Treats

Part of my marketing plan for my home baked dog treat business is to have a booth at our local swap meet. This is a small gather of vendors, not a large, organized swap meet like in the city. We have approximately 4,000 residents and many winter visitors are here from October to March. I believe the best way to introduce my new company at these swap meets are to give away free samples. I know our treats are good and healthy and if the dogs enjoy them, the owners just might come back and make a purchase. Also people love to talk about free things and that is priceless advertisement.

So my Free Dog Treat Samples had to be packaged in the absolute least expensive thing I could find. Here is what we have created, so far......

Example of our Free Sample Bags. Want to try some? Click on the picture. 

This simple yet effective packaging comes in at a cost of only 9 cents per unit. This is a Hefty-brand Sandwich Baggie. They are hard to find but I did find them on Amazon. I paid $12.50 for 300 making each back just under 5 cents. Using my home printer, I print both sides of the paper, cut, string with yarn and loosely tie the bags. The paper, yarn and printer supplies average about 3-4 cents per unit making the total package less than a dime!

There is nothing wrong with this package, it is food grade poly and is perfect for storing our homemade dog treats for sale. I use the gallon size as well for half pound or full pound orders.

I would love to hear your ideas, comments and suggestions.

Til next time,

Pam Wylie - Parker's Barkery

PS: Coming soon - All About Homemade Milk Bones and Milk based Dog Biscuits