PEABODY — Entrepreneur and dog lover Dulcie DeCillis hopes her home-cooked dog food is a recipe for success.
On the heels of last year's pet food recalls, DeCillis launched her Washington Street business The Dog Bowl. She had cooked intermittently for her own pets for years, but the scare prompted her to prepare their food daily.
The idea grew with the encouragement of family and friends, she and her husband, Tony, said.
Each has run a business in the past: Tony ran a hockey store in Lynn, and Dulcie had a home cleaning operation in West Peabody.
Dulcie DeCillis said their products are certified by the Association of the American Feed Control Officials and developed to provide a balanced diet for those prized pooches.
How did you get The Dog Bowl started? I've home-cooked for my dogs for years, a little here and a little there. When the scare came, it just became full-time cooking for them. We saw such good results with our dogs, we said, "Let's share it. Let's do something different."
Tell us about your dog food. We have 17 ingredients in our food. ... A lot of customers have seen the results (in their dogs). It's not a miracle food. It's all local market food, all fresh vegetables, all fresh meats. I don't buy anything less for the dogs than I do for me and my family. I'm careful about it. I wear gloves. I don't feed my dogs anything unless I make it.
What have you learned? To be better organized. If I was cooking the way I was last year, I would be a crazy person. ... We moved, in a couple of months, from smaller things like mixers to the commercial ones.
You have to have the right equipment to put out the quantity. ... Everything has to be weighed and measured. ... It's a ritual to me now. It's a lot of work but it's a ton of fun.
What's your business philosophy? We do believe in customer service, giving out free samples. So we really, really try to be on the customer service side. People come in for long periods of time talking about their dogs.
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