My Biz: Bushy Tail Bakery

By Rebecca Groff

• Name: Lea Taplin

• Title: Owner

• Company: Bushy Tail Bakery

• Address: 6320 E. Kacena Ave., Marion

• Phone: (319) 423-5670

• Website: www.bushytailbakery.com

• Elevator pitch: Healthy teats for dogs and cats. With peanut butter.

Peanut butter, it seems, was key.

Dogs love it, said Lea Taplin, baker and owner of Bushy Tail Bakery, a Marion healthy-treats-for-pets business she began researching in November 2010. She launched the business in May when she first took her treats to local farmers markets.

“I started researching recipes on the Internet and created recipes that Shadow could eat because she has a sensitive stomach,” Taplin said of her miniature rat terrier.

Out of that search came a new product, an apple-carrot treat, which sold well initially. But it was the introduction of peanut butter-flavored treats that really caught on.

“Nearly 40 percent of my sales now are the peanut butter flavor,” she said.

Taplin does all product prep and baking in her east Marion kitchen for 5 to 6 markets each week.

“On a busy week, I bake five mornings,” she explained. “On slower weeks, I bake two or three mornings.”

Saturday markets are her busiest and best-selling venues.

Her recipes incorporate healthier ingredients such a natural peanut butter, whole wheat flour and canola oil, as well as eggs from cage-free hens.

“I use rice flour for the apple-carrot treats, and soy milk as some dogs are lactose intolerant,” Taplin noted.

A small amount of a natural preservative is added to the recipes, and the treats are dehydrated as keeping the moisture out helps them last longer.

“If the treats are kept in a container in the refrigerator, they will last up to a month,” she said.

Beef- and chicken-flavored treats are made with redcued-sodium broth for flavoring.

“Dogs don't need salt,” she said.

The finished dough is rolled out and cut with cookie cutters into bone, butterfly and flower shapes before being packaged into 4-and-a-quater-ounce bags ready for market.

A former office worker, Taplin says she enjoys implementing her Kirkwood College training in accounting, marketing and management in her new business, and she is continually tweaking and playing with new recipe ideas for her bakery. She hopes to expand her markets by distributing her treats to veterinary offices, grooming shops or even pet day care centers.

She hopes to introduce a new liver flavor soon, and has added a line of treats for cats.

“The biggest challenge I have,” Taplin said, “is getting my name and product out there. People can go and buy their dogs treats at the big box stores, but I can offer them a healthier and more natural product for their pet.”