07/18/2024
For those who might be new here, my name is Ashlin, and I’m the founder of Winnie Lou. In 2018, we started as a food truck for dogs, and I made every treat by hand for 14 hours a day for the first year and a half of the business. We’ve grown a ton since then and now have an amazing team, and a production facility with real equipment, which means I haven’t done full production runs myself in quite a while.
Well, this Sunday, I did! Not to go into detail, but our first employee, who we thought of as family, broke into my office while I was gone a few weeks ago, took & forged business checks out to himself, stole quite a bit of money from us, and fled town. I’ve *mostly* worked through the emotional, professional, and personal toll it’s taken (if you don’t laugh you’ll cry, right?!)
Owning a business is a DAILY rollercoaster of ups and downs. BUT, as we work to recover and train our amazing new team member, Rand and I hopped back into the production kitchen this Sunday and got to work (your pets’ treats don’t make themselves)! I have to admit, it felt good. To get my hands in the dough, and make our treats from scratch, felt pretty nostalgic in a good way. Mashing strawberries, scooping applesauce, and watching the coconut oil melt into the dough was meditative in a way. Like reconnecting with these products I created, and that are the foundation of everything we stand for.
I love what we’ve built and am so proud of our products, and it feels amazing sometimes to go back to where it all started and remember how far you’ve come. Not to mention, I’ve always proudly been able to say that I’ll never ask one of our employees to do something I haven’t done many times myself!
All this to say, thank YOU! We wouldn’t be able to push through these peaks and valleys without all of your support. Telling your friends about our products, spreading the word, leaving us reviews, it all allows us to weather these storms and ensure that we’re here for your pets and their clean snacking desires for a long time to come 💙💙
Xoxo,
Ashlin