Is Puppy Cake Still Functional? 

Puppy Cake is a type of canine-friendly cake.  The dogs can eat this without dietary issues. Pet owners who love to pamper their animals capitalize on them.  Kelly Chaney is the inventor of this dog cake business. She is from Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania which is the hometown of one of the sharks named Mark Cuban. 

Every puppy cake needs eggs,  oil and water.  Moreover,  it comes with yoghurt frosting. The dogs love to eat puppy cakes.  But a regular cake is not at all healthy for dogs. 

In four years of business,  Puppy Cake has managed to generate $80,000 in sales.  The company has more than 150 retailers who provide the products of Kelly in their stores. Her pet cakes have been featured in multiple fog magazines.  She managed to sell $23,000 in the previous year.  According to her,  the product is viable as she has not done any advertising on it. 

Lori shared on the Puppy Cake Shark Tank episode that her mother-in-law used to make cookies for their dog.  And there are nearly 43% of dog owners who always celebrate the birthday of their dogs. 

Kelly did not take part in a trade show as she did not have adequate capital to go in front of them.  She therefore tried to call distributors but she did not receive a call back.  Kelly also said that sales were not her strong suit. In this article, we are going to discuss whether Puppy Cakes is still in business or not.  So, let’s start.

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Puppy Cake Before Shark Tank

Kelly Chaney was serving at a sales and marketing company.  There she came up with the idea of her new business venture.  One of the clients in her company served in the baking industry and she was inspired at the time of glancing at the old cake mix advertisements of the client. 

She found numerous boxed cake mixes for people but what about for dogs?  Dog lovers and owners generally want to pamper their pets by giving them treats and toys. Moreover,  they may love to make a cake for their furry friends too. 

Kelly knew very well that it would require some time and effort before making a perfect recipe. She had to ensure that her product did not contain ingredients that could be harmful to puppies.  That is why she had to undergo a lot of trial and error before creating the perfect blends for her dog cake mixes. 

Finally,  Kelly introduced Carob Cake and Banana Cake mixes which helped her to bring her Puppy Cake business into motion.  She wanted to create a fun experience for dogs as well as their owners with healthy cakes that come up with quality human-grade ingredients. 

Nevertheless,  she required some financial help for the cost of production and advertising.  That is why Kelly made up her mind to feature her business in the popular television show Shark Tank.  She expected that the sharks would be able to find the potential in her dog cake mix and would agree to invest in her business.  She required investment to give her business a kick start.

Also Read: What Happened To Kitty Kasas After Shark Tank

What occurred to Puppy Cake On Shark Tank? 

Kelly Chaney came up on Shark Tank to get an investment of $50k in exchange for a 25% share in her Puppy Cake business.  After that, she started to explain the motivation behind creating the product. She said that after running into her former client who made cakes for people she made up her mind to make healthy cakes for dogs. 

The cakes for puppies are quite similar to the cakes for people.  You just need to add to the mixture eggs,  oil,  and water.  Then you need to blend them and bake them.  Besides the cake mix,  Puppy Cake also comes with yoghurt frosting, you just need to whip it together with water. Every box is capable enough to make either 6 cupcakes or 1 four-inch round cake. 

Kelly wanted to explain how much dogs enjoy these Puppy Cakes.  That is why she feeds one to the dog she brought with her into the Shark Tank named Minnie. 

Robert Herjavec inquired why dogs are not able to eat a regular cake.  Chaney said that after research she had found that the digestive system of a dog is different from the digestive system of a person.  That is why some elements in the normal cake mix can be unhealthy for the dogs.  For this reason, she made Puppy Cake to give a safe alternative treat for them. 

Kevin O’Leary asked about the sales she had made to date with Puppy Cake. Kelly replied that she had been running the business over the last four years and in all these years she had managed to generate around $80k in sales. She had also said that she totalled about $23k in sales in the previous year.

Lori Grenier was curious to know whether the product was sold solely online or whether she supplied it to retailers.  Kelly replied that she did both. She supplied Puppy Cake to 150 retailers and the product was also sold internationally through their website. 

According to her,  the product has the potential to become sensational if it gets proper funding as it was already doing very well although she had not done any promotion by herself.  Various magazines like Modern Dog Magazine, Bark Magazine, and Pet Product New International had all acknowledged her cake mixes and featured them in minimum one of their topics. 

Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec were not impressed.  They did not think that this would be a great product to put on shelves. According to Herjavec,  it was just a novelty product and O’Leary was not completely sure that people would want to go through the endeavour of baking a cake for their dogs. 

Nevertheless,  Grenier sounded to say that her aunt baked cookies for her dog as she treated her pet just like her child.  As per some research,  it was known that 43% of people celebrate the birthdays of their dogs. O’Leary debated that a birthday occurs once a year and it did not seem so sensible to make a product that would only be bought once per year. 

Kelly Chaney countered that there were at least 700 million homes all over the United States who have one or more dogs and stated that even if they were only able to tap into 1.5% of that market they would still be able to sell 1 million boxes.  However, she was not been able to sell more than $23k worth because she did not have the adequate capital that she required and did not have the proper advertising connections. 

Chaney encountered another problem: that she was not the best saleswoman.  She had tried her best to get in touch with firms that distribute per product and had visited pet stores to ask them whether they were eager to sell her Puppy Cakes but he had a hard time pitching her product. This was another reason why she was expecting to get a deal with one of the sharks so that they could do the conversation for her. 

It was unfortunate that Herjavec still did not find the original potential in the product as he could only find it to be a novelty.  Hence,  he made up his mind not to invest his money in the business.  Kevin O’Leary then started to argue that there were not a lot of dogs who died due to consuming normal cake.  Chaney then counteracted him by saying whether he would give his child something he knew was not good for them. 

He claimed that dogs were not foolish and they knew very well what they should eat and what should not.  But that was not at all true as dogs generally eat the things that are put in front of them.  O’Leary still could not seem to feel for the situation though he argued repetitively with Kelly for some time as he did not think that she should run this business venture.  In the end,  he finally ended up telling her that he was not willing to invest in the business. 

According to Lori Grenier, people were not eager to spoil their pets.  She did not give any offer as she thought that Kelly should work on producing a whole line of puppy-friendly food products. 

Mark Cuban was the only shark who thought that she originally had a good product.  But he was not happy with the fact that she had spent four years making a lot of sales but she generally excused that she was not a good salesperson at all. 

He said that as she did not have adequate endeavours to drive her business he was not able to give her investment.  Only the shark Daymond John was left.  He admitted that he had dogs but they had it quite rough as they lived mostly in the yard.  He also did not have any faith in her product.  That is why he also did not give any offers.  So, when all the Sharks went out of the deal,  Kelly Chaney had to leave the Shark Tank show bare-handed.

Also read: What Happened To Tipsy Elves After Shark Tank

Puppy Cake Shark Tank update

After appearing on Shark Tank,  Puppy Cake had not entirely flopped like the sharks thought it would.  Kelly had taken her product to various trade shows and won various awards for her product. 

After taking part in these shows she managed to get publicity she was required to make connections with other businesses and firms that could help her to develop.  She now supplies Puppy Cake mixed in hundreds of retail locations along with their website. 

You will be able to find on the website that Chaney followed the suggestion of Lori Grenier and added various products to her line of products.  Puppy Cake now provides a firm of puppy chips and ice cream for dogs.  All around things seem to be going quite well for Kelly Chaney and her firm even though the sharks thought that it was going to be a flop.

Also read: What Happened To Windcatcher After Shark Tank

Final Opinion

Although Chaney had to walk out of the Shark Tank show bare-handed,  she returned with a new perspective on her business.  While leaving the Shark Tank stage she thanked the sharks for showing her weaknesses.  Her website is still functional and she is still selling her product smoothly.  So, it is quite obvious that she has remained true to her vision. 

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