CALERA – The entrepreneurial spirit is alive in Bryan County and local pets are going to reap the benefits.
Happy Tails Kitchen, a pet food business started to provide healthy dog food, is having a grand opening this weekend in Calera.
Co-owners Deanna Culbreath and Emily Carr, and their husbands – all Bryan County residents – are operators of the new venture. The idea originated as Culbreath wanted to do something to help her dogs get more healthy and lead better lives.
“I started feeding my own dogs about two years ago,” Culbreath said. “Just because I started doing some research on dog food. One of my dogs was seriously overweight and the vet kept saying that she needs to lose weight. We had a German Shepherd (one of her four dogs) who was having hip issues.
“It’s kind of like with people – if you eat a lot of preservatives, it seems you have more health problems. When you start researching dog food, you find out there is very little meat and natural ingredients in it and lots of other things. So I started cooking my own dog food, just chicken and beef and adding some vegetables that I had researched and made sure they were good for the dogs.
“When I started feeding this to them, I noticed changes within 30 days. Their coats were shinier and softer. Their coats weren’t as brittle. Delilah, one of our dachshunds, started losing weight and started getting healthier. They had more energy. And they just absolutely loved the food.”
Culbreath siad she bought another quality brand for a while and it was good and the dogs liked it. But it was expensive. So she said she started considering the possibility that she might be able to offer a dog food locally that’s made from Oklahoma ingredients.
“We get all of our ingredients from Bryn County itself,” Culbreath said. “We source from local vendors and ranchers.”
And she said she thought they could offer it to other people at a price point they could afford.
“It’s not outrageous and we don’t’ have to build in all these preservatives and additives that aren’t really good for the dogs anyway. It’s just real food.”
All of the owners are starting this venture in addition to other jobs. Culbreath works at Cigna and her husband Jimmy works with BNSF Railroad, while Carr is a teacher and her husband Jake is a firefighter.
Culbreath said that at first they were going to do this project from their own home, but a better opportunity came along.
“We started talking to Jake and Emily in probably January of this year and we were going to do it in a building at our house,” We were finishing it out. We were going to put freezers and everything in it.
“And then we found this location that is so good. It’s right here in Calera. You can see it from the highway. The price point wasn’t outrageous. So we decided we were going to look into buying this old restaurant. And as God would have it, it just seemed like there were a lot of doors that opened that probably mean that this is where we’re supposed to be.
“The restaurant had refrigerators, freezers, stoves, stainless steel tables – it had all sorts of things that usable in what we’re doing. It was set up as a restaurant for people. And now we just set it up as a restaurant for dogs.”
The grand opening will be at 102 W. Haney in Calera. The building formerly housed Seoul Korean Kitchen. They have had soft openings each of the last two weekends with the official start planned for Saturday, Aug. 23.
“We’ll be open on Saturday (Aug. 23) from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. I’m not sure if we’re going to be open on Sunday, but our plan is that we’ll be open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturdays and from 2-6 p.m. on Sundays. We don’t want to miss church and don’t want other people to miss church, so we’re trying to do it in those weekend hours. Because like I said, we work and then we cook at night to make sure the food is fresh for the dogs.”
There will be food trucks at the grand opening. Culbreath said they will also have some pet-related vendors of other pet-related businesses in Bryan County.
“We’re going to have some giveaways and prizes and games and photo ops, with a photographer here throughout the day.
“And we have a scale so that you can weigh the dog and track their progress. We have a health sheet so they can send to us, and we can keep it up record so they can tell us later if the dog is improving or if they need something else. We are endorsed by a local veterinarian who has looked at our ingredients and said they believe in what we are doing.”
People and pets are invited to come out to the event. Culbreath said they welcome all of the furry friends.