This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Pros and yogurt dog treats are no barking matter. Welcome to Side Hustle School, friends. Today, a Colorado couple creates a side hustle that gives dogs and their owners a way to enjoy frozen treats from their own bowls. This is a fun one. All this year, we're bringing you some remixes of a few of our best stories from the early years of the podcast, which goes way back now to 2017, 2018.
If you were listening back then, that's pretty awesome. Thanks for being around all this time. We're gonna remix the story. We're gonna rerecord any story that we feature in this segment. And of course, if you weren't listening back in 2017, 2018, these stories are completely new.
We'll also include some updates. So in this one, as mentioned, frozen yogurt dog treats are on the menu today. This is not the simplest project to start. I'm often encouraging our listeners to start really simple projects. Don't do anything with a ton of complexity.
Once you get into food and beverage or manufacturing anything, this kind of inventory, it does add a lot of complexity. But hey, dogs need frozen yogurt just like humans do, or at least that's what this one Colorado couple thought. The inspiration led them on a journey to what is now a full-time project for at least one of them. Total sales exceeding a million dollars. And of course, it all started with this initial idea to do something small and part-time, which is very much aligned with the values of side hustle school.
All right, frozen yogurt dog treat story is coming right up. [Music]
When Matt Meyer got tired of either denying his dogs ice cream or giving them treats that weren't good for them, he and his wife Meg decided to create a solution. Frozen yogurt treats specifically made for dogs. They named their company The Bear and the Rat after their own pets. A Lhasa Apso who growls like a bear in a rat terrier.
To test their concept, Meg and Matt made initial batches with their home blender and ice cream maker. After three successful weekends at an affluent farmer's market, where they consistently sold over $100 worth of $2 cups, they knew their idea was viable. They secured an agricultural department license and consulted with holistic veterinarians to perfect their recipe. Manufacturing proved to be their biggest challenge. The Meyers initially partnered with a small ice cream maker, but when that company moved on, they had to rent a commercial kitchen.
It took seven people to produce 11,000 cups daily, enough for just three to four wholesale orders. The small size cups made production particularly challenging and expensive. Despite modest sales of just $30,000 in their first couple of years, the brand caught the attention of a Shark Tank producer. Meg and Matt drove from Denver to LA with their dogs to appear on the show with Meg three months pregnant. While they didn't secure a deal, the national TV exposure gave them crucial credibility with distributors.
And by the way, this is something I hear a lot. A lot of people who go on Shark Tank or Dragon's Den, they're not actually in it for the money, they're in it for the exposure and it can help a ton. Still, the road wasn't easy. Throughout these early years, Meg continued working as a marketing director for a cookie company, while Matt alternated between employment and focusing on the business full-time. They faced multiple setbacks, including a failed product launch and a collapsed private label deal.
A major breakthrough came when they were considering giving up. At a trade show in Orlando, Matt persistently called Publix's ice cream buyer and secured a meeting. Two weeks after their presentation, Publix requested a product they hadn't even launched yet. This created an urgent need for large scale production. A co-packer they'd been courting for years finally agreed to work with them after seeing the Publix confirmation, allowing them to scale up just in time for the launch.
The persistence paid off. The company reached its first million-dollar sales year with expectations to double that figure the following year. Today, the bear and the rat stands out with its all-natural approach, offering probiotic-rich frozen treats in flavors like applewood bacon, banana and peanut butter, and real pumpkin. [Music]
Well, as I said, the bear and rat are still going strong. Check out the bearandtherat.com.
You can also purchase their ice cream from Petco, from Amazon, Instacart, other retailers all across the United States. Not sure if they are international yet or not, but they have expanded quite a bit. They're still going strong, as I said, lots of new flavors and just a fun project. Also some encouragement to you. Don't go barking up the wrong tree.
You need support. You need knowledge. You need encouragement. And that's what side hustle school is all about, or that's what we try to be, a little daily source of encouragement and a positive story. Maybe a tip, practical idea, an answer to someone's question, whatever it is we're trying to be there for you, the side hustler, the small business owner, or the person that's just out there and just like, hey, what can I do for myself?
What can I do to pursue a creative idea, hopefully make some money from it, be able to maybe even forge some independence so that I'm not dependent on a day job? That's what we do in one way or another, every single day, seven days a week. This was episode 3,035. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
