Your average store-bought dog treats may contain chemicals, preservatives, food dyes, rendered fat and assorted contaminants. (Let’s leave it at “assorted”–I’m not here to gross you out.) And all of them are permissible per FDA regulations. Julian Miller wasn’t going to give those “treats” to his two BFFs (best furry friends), so he decided to make all-natural cookies for them. He didn’t have much experience in the kitchen, so he started out winging it. He taste-tested hundreds of variations until he had cookies that his dogs gobbled up.
It was a nice hobby for a seriously successful techie. He enjoyed baking the cookies so much that he kept his very grateful neighbors supplied. And then Hurricane Harvey hit. To raise funds to help hurricane victims, the inveterate animal lover (2 dogs, 1 pig, 10 chickens—all rescues) baked day and night and sold the cookies on his social media accounts, donating every cent of his profits to animal shelters. He raised so much money that he realized people really want healthy treats for their BFFs.
Zookies Cookies was established with Julian as “Chief Pawduct Officer” and fellow techie and entrepreneur, Tom Simon, as “Chief Barketing Officer.” Neither was a stranger to growing a new business. Julian, with his background in graphic design, sold WedPics, a photo-sharing software that he started in his basement, right before launching Zookies. Tom sold Source3, a software that organizes and recognizes branded intellectual property, to none other than Facebook. He also has a long history as a marketing guru for an impressive list of companies. Now the two are devoting all their time to Zookies, up to their elbows in cookie mix as they ramp up production to meet expected demand and try out new recipes.
To be clear, Julian and Tom are selling cookie mix, not cookies: two flavors right now, Peanut Barker and Cocomutt. The mixes are handmade and filled with “people quality” ingredients, such as peanut butter, coconut flour, pumpkin, whole grain oats, sweet potatoes, apples and parsley—not a speck of meat, gluten, grain, dairy products, preservatives, corn, soy or GMO.
Each jar makes more than three dozen cookies. Just add water, mix, use the enclosed dog bone cookie cutter and bake. No fuss, no muss, clean-up negligible. Homemade cookies right out of the oven for your BFF. You’ll be seeing a whole lot of puppy love!
Julian and Tom have already set up a fabulous opportunity and a win-win situation by partnering with Nationwide to promote its pet insurance via a social media campaign that will link its pet product line with a Zookies Cookies giveaway.
The Zookies website is no longer available. There is some inventory on Amazon.
