Why small batches matter to us and to you

We live in a fast-paced world today. Much emphasis is placed on being fast, quick & having instant gratification.

While we too understand (and are guilty) of this need for quick results, when it comes to handmade products, we pull the brakes on our expectations. Being in the handmade dog treats business has also taught us that patience is necessary, because you cannot rush the drying process if you want to achieve good results. If a duck neck requires 60 hours to dry, it needs that time. You can’t just crank up the heat and dry it in half the time, if you are honest and truly care for the pups you feed.

It is for this reason that while we have grown as a business, we continue producing products in small batches, to order. Naturally, these ‘small’ batches have gotten larger over time, but it is still small, in that we do not produce to stockpile for ‘ready stock’, but to order.

We have a few reasons why we do this, and we invite you to have a think about why small batch production should matter to you too.

Quality control of raw produce

Producing in smaller batches allows us to check the freshness and quality of all the raw produce, before they are processed into treats. We recently returned 6kg of raw meat to our supplier, because we found during processing that it was below our quality expectations and controls. If we won’t feed it to humans, we won’t feed it to dogs.

This is also why we continue and will continue processing raw material by hand instead of using machines. When we process by hand, we are able to closely monitor and check on the quality of each item that we handle. This allows us to catch any item that does not meet our quality standards, and return or discard them. It would be harder to maintain quality control if we were just feeding the meats through machines to be sliced.

Freshness of finished product

When we produce in small batches to order, we ensure that the finished product that goes out is freshly made and not more than a few days old by the time it reaches your pup.

We appreciate it when we receive feedback that our treats smell good and fresh out of the bag, and that even picky pups love them. It is harder to ensure the freshness of a finished product if we were to make them in large batches to stockpile.

In theory, dehydrated meats can remain shelf stable for up to 1 year. However, we err on the side of caution as we are very conscious that we live where it is hot and humid, and that plays a very big role. For this reason, we will never tell you to stockpile our treats, nor will we tell you that it will be shelf stable for many months.

We want your pup to enjoy freshly made products, as much as we want to ensure that our treats that go out are made fresh.

Reduce wastage

By producing to order and in smaller batches, we are able to reduce wastage of the finished product. We intentionally do not make bulk quantities and pack them up ahead of receiving your order. We also do not stock our products on shelves where we are unable to control the stock management or store conditions.

We make as much as we need, with a little extra, and this ensures that waste is kept to a minimum. We do not want to simply throw away finished products that live past their best-by date.