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CONTACT SCBJ Kurt Batdorf, Editor kbatdorf@scbj.com

Entrepreneurs’ Corner - September 2007

Earlier this year, the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association forecast consumer pet spending at more than $40 billion for 2007, nearly double what Americans spent on their pets in 1996. Hearing those numbers, Craig Weindling chuckled ruefully.

“The pet economy boon is much more in the boutique segment. It doesn’t help us at all. So we’re missing a huge opportunity,” said Weindling, who has been selling and delivering pet food and supplies locally for the past 15 years as the owner of Smiley Dog.

Unlike other pet stores, Smiley Dog does not have a pretty storefront or gussied-up product displays. Instead, it operates out of an Edmonds warehouse, where the company’s three-member staff takes orders via e-mail and phone; loads up trucks with high-quality pet foods, toys, kitty litter, collars and other related goods; and delivers those goods to customers’ homes — at no added charge.

Smiley Dog trucks cover more than 500 miles around the Puget Sound region each week. And while Weindling would like his company to be outfitted with a fleet of electric hybrids to make those runs, making that dream a reality is cost prohibitive, at least for now. To cut down on his company’s carbon footprint, Weindling instead joined the TerraPass program this past year, with membership fees helping to fund renewable energy projects.

Like other companies that deliver their goods, Smiley Dog has felt the pinch of rising gas prices in recent years. To discuss this challenge as well as how a former stage manager becomes the owner of a pet product enterprise, Weindling sat down for a chat.

SCBJ: You started Smiley Dog in 1992; what were you doing before that?

Weindling: I was a stage manager for 20 years. It was a great job. It was hard to leave.

SCBJ: Why did you?

Weindling: Smiley Dog never started as a business idea. It started as a fun thing to do. I started ordering pet toys from catalogs (because they’re cheaper but you have to buy in large quantities). I started pooling orders with friends. It sort of blossomed from that. At a Fremont Sunday market I set up a display of toys there, and after the 20th person asked if I sold food … The toys I sold were only those I had experience with. Clearly, there was a need for pet food, and that was the push for me to get educated.

SCBJ: How do you get educated on pet food and stay on top of industry trends?

Weindling: We have a close relationship with some of our suppliers. They bring in new products. … We talk to manufacturers’ reps; we attend seminars to learn about the new stuff, the new trends. There’s a lot of information online. … There’s anecdotal information that we get from our clients. We’ve amassed a lot of knowledge over the past 15 years doing what we do. It doesn’t compare with the life stories that we get from our customers.

SCBJ: Describe the Smiley Dog demographic.

Weindling: The majority of our clients are regular folks who lead busy lives. The age range is the 20s to senior citizens. We’ve found that the No. 1 reason (they use) Smiley Dog is the convenience. The No. 2 reason is the knowledge and trust. … Our clients are fundamentally loyal to us. They do trust us.

SCBJ: What geographic area does your home-delivery service cover?

Weindling: We cover Everett to the north, Tukwila to the south, and we stay for the most part west of Lake Washington with the exception of parts of Kirkland, Bothell and Woodinville. We try to avoid the (Lake Washington) bridges.

SCBJ: What days do you deliver?

Weindling: We’re delivering Monday through Thursday on a regular basis and Friday more often than not. We’re not on weekends unless we’ve made a mistake we need to fix. But customers can still e-mail and call in orders on weekends. Business is seven days a week; we’re just not on the road seven days a week.

SCBJ: Your premium foods are competitively priced; how do you turn a profit with home delivery?

Weindling: Philosophically, we don’t want to charge for our service. We don’t want it to be a luxury. We want to offer it to regular folks as a convenience. … Competing with the big-box pet stores, we can’t compete on price. We’re on the same playing field as the smaller pet stores in town. We don’t have the cost of an employee sitting or standing at the store when we’re open; they don’t have the cost of being on the road. The operating costs (for Smiley Dog) are the same as other retail operations; it’s just a different breakdown.

SCBJ: How have you dealt with higher gas prices?

Weindling: It’s been hard. Our suppliers, both the manufacturers and suppliers, have been factoring in the price of fuel increases. We implemented a temporary fuel surcharge two years ago when prices went wild. By the end of that first year, we figured out a new pricing formula to drop the surcharge. It was a philosophical problem.

SCBJ: The company’s name is Smiley Dog, but you supply cat food, toys and supplies as well. Are there any other animals that you serve?

Weindling: We also do limited birds and fish; we do requests for whatever the customer needs.

SCBJ: What pet food trend do you see growing in popularity now?

Weindling: Raw food has been a passion of mine for the past decade. When we started, no one was feeding raw. Now even the big manufacturers are entering the market. In drips and drabs at least more and more people are asking the question. The main goal is to ask them to try it.

SCBJ: With the news that the pet industry is expected to pull in more than $40 billion this year, it seems that more and more Americans are investing in their pets. What has your experience been with this?
Weindling: What’s really been exciting over the past few years is that clients have been more knowledgeable. … The result of that is people are feeding better food, and they know they’re feeding better food. As a result, pets are living longer. … It’s really cool.

For more information on Smiley Dog, call 206-903-9631 or go online to www.smileydog.com.

— Kimberly Hilden, SCBJ Assistant Editor