:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/IPM552OHWBGHZC4BJSBKHHG7EA.jpg)
Shortly after Gary Hughes and his wife, Laura, opened Gangsta Dog in Yorktown in 2021, customers started coming from across Hampton Roads to Riverwalk Landing to buy the homemade, all-natural dog biscuits and other assorted dog goodies.
When Hughes realized a considerable number of customers were from Norfolk, he began to think of expanding in that direction. That thought became reality this past August when Gangsta Dog opened at 9555 Shore Drive in East Ocean View.
Gangsta Dog is named after Bruiser, their cairn terrier-miniature schnauzer mix. When folks inquired about the dog’s breed, Hughes preferred to say “gangsta dog” over mutt. Like its store in Yorktown, the Norfolk store offers cookies and cakes in a variety of flavors, everything from toasted coconut and pumpkin to peanut butter and bacon cheeseburger. Additionally, Gangsta Dog offers soft treats, dog food, specialty products for food allergies, dog food sprinkles, cupcakes and products for senior dogs, along with CBD oil products.
“The 700-square-foot Yorktown store is cute,” Hughes said. “But the Norfolk store is amazing.” It offers 2,250 square feet of space to display the wide variety of goods offered, among them shampoo, dental sticks, toys of all sorts, beds, leashes and collars and even “Dogfather” hats, T-shirts and cocktail glasses. Notably, the bigger store has a full kitchen that facilitates the daily process of mixing and rolling ingredients using Hughes’ own oat flour, all organic and without artificial flavors or colors.
“The new store is also fun to come into,” he laughed. “We have paintings of dogs dressed up as movie characters and have a game customers can play.” Prizes of a dog biscuit or dog doughnut are awarded depending on how much information the customer can supply for the paintings. When the nearby Sandfiddler Cafe has customers waiting, Hughes said the cafe will send them to Gangsta Dog to play the guess-who game.
Hughes hired a pastry chef to handle the hands-on baking who most recently prepared a bacon maple cupcake for sale. Before any product hits the shelves, Hughes has an usual testing procedure. He first tries the new taste with his dogs, Bruiser, Machine Gun Daisy, Pretty Boy Copper and Eliza Scarface Doolittle. Pending their approvals, he puts the word out on social media and asks for volunteers (one dog each). He provides a free sample in return for feedback. After tweaking any tasting issues, the product is submitted to the Virginia Department of Agriculture for analysis and testing and ultimate approval to make sure the ingredients are safe and meet state standards for consumption.
Because Hughes insists on on-site involvement for him and Laura in all of their stores for quality control, training, new recipes and product development, the logistics of back-and-forth driving from the Yorktown location to Louisville, Kentucky, led him to close that flagship store, founded in 2018, and concentrate on growing Gangsta Dog stores in Hampton Roads. Hughes is thinking about a third store in the region because the reception of the Norfolk store has been enthusiastic.
Hughes said he’s looking into developing a dog biscuit factory southside. He has recipes lined up along with packaging designs and equipment requirements. Estimated cost: $500,000. “All I need is to choose a location, install equipment and start baking for ultimate product distribution nationwide to stores,” he said.
Then, there’s the possibility of a franchise. He has met with an attorney and has started preliminary steps for creating a franchise, involving issues such as bar coding, training programs, registrations, cookbooks, processes and procedures and assorted other critical elements.
“I want to make sure each franchise is profitable. It’s important to provide all the ingredients necessary for that success” he said.
Inside Business
Although Hughes has store managers for each location and a brand manager to handle online store sales, his involvement is nonstop. He doesn’t really take a day off. Business has been so good that it buys items by the pallets, which is necessary for the Yorktown store selling 4,000 pounds of dog food daily and an anticipated 20,000 pounds daily in Norfolk.
“We don’t sell stuff just to sell stuff,” he said. “We’re here to help with issues dogs may have. We offer advice, products, personal attention.”
His customers aren’t the only folks offering accolades. Gangsta Dog was named a 2021 Pets Retailer of the Year by the Retail Alliance in Hampton Roads and was recognized for branding in Pets+ magazine’s 2022 America’s Coolest contest.
“I’ve had dogs drag their owners into the store,” he laughed.
Hughes said that when he started selling handcrafted biscuits in farmers markets in Louisville in 2014, he didn’t really expect what it has grown into and how much fun he would have.
“I love what I do,” he said. “It’s amazing.”
For more information, visit gangstadog.com