Natural Dog Treats Gain Popularity at Local Bakery [VIDEO]
WAITE PARK -- Great Harvest Bread Company has been catering more to man's best friend with one of their highly sought after creations.
"It's kind of been a surprise little hit for us. We did it just as an add on, with the ingredients that we had in the store and they've just taken off like crazy. We have people that drive from Brainerd to get dog treats. We've had requests to mail them to Mesa, Arizona for snowbirds."
Dog treats are flying off their shelves at the bakery. DeNae Hiltner owns the business with her husband Mike Hiltner. She says dogs and their owners love the simple biscuit treat.
"I think what owners like about it though is that there are no preservatives in them. So they are really basic but dogs seem to love them."
Making the dog treats isn't difficult either.
"Baker Mike mixes up the dog bone dough typically and it comes in a really big batch. Then we start cutting them into smaller balls to roll out. We use a bun press to press them out and we get 36 dog bones per press and we're doing probably 400-500 dog bones per batch."
Great Harvest Bread Company first opened in 2000. Hiltner says they focus on whole wheat varieties of bread and bakery goods.
"We love our business, we mill our own whole wheat flour, we bake fresh every day. We are a small family owned business with a wonderful staff, it's like a family."
A bag of dog treats is $6, you can buy them in the store, Great Harvest Bread Company is at 135 Divison Street in Waite Park.