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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Pooch Cookie Jar: Campbell resident Andres Berman holds his 'Barks for Treats' doggie snack container that he created and has been selling for the past nine months.
Campbell resident creates innovative pet novelties
By Amy Jenkins
The responsibilities of owning dogs include bathing them, grooming them, taking them to the veterinarian, taking them on walks and most importantly, giving them treats.
That's the philosophy of Campbell resident Andres Berman, 27, owner and creator of barkfortreats.com.
Berman came up with the idea for his business, which sells dog merchandise, 10 months ago while working at Gilley's, a coffee shop and restaurant owned by his parents for nine years in downtown Los Gatos. He said he noticed that other shops on Santa Cruz Avenue provide water bowls for customers shopping with their dogs, but he wanted to go beyond water and provide treats for the canine companions.
First, he placed a square plastic box filled with dog treats outside the restaurant. Once he saw how popular the idea was, he developed a prototype for a dog treat container to put on the market--a dog-bone-shaped acrylic plastic box to hold treats. The Treat Box can hold numerous dog biscuits and is meant to be placed on a counter top or out in the garage, Berman said.
Berman has no design or business background, but that didn't stop him from starting a company and running everything on his own, including the financing, product construction and webpage design.
"I bought a saw for $100 and cut away," said Berman, who also works at Gilley's full-time as a cook, waiter and busboy. "I wasn't too good at that, plus I wanted to make them in mass quantity, so I went through Tap Plastics, who gets the material from a different company."
In addition to the Treat Box, his company sells bone-shaped clocks and picture frames that can hold 4-inch by 6-inch photos.
Berman no longer saws the boxes into the bone shapes, but once he gets the materials, he assembles the boxes, spray paints them silver and completes them with black ribbons that have white paw prints or bone shapes on them.
"The ribbon was very hard to find," he said. "I eventually found out about a place in Hayward that sells it, through a dog-grooming store."
Berman was raised with dogs, and his parents still own a golden retriever--his favorite kind of dog. But after he got married and moved into his Campbell apartment two years ago, he could no longer own a dog of his own.
Berman's focus is to sell the novelties at art and wine festivals around the Bay Area, he said. The items can still be found at Gilley's and on Berman's website. For the past month and a half he has been too busy at the restaurant to work on new ideas, he said.
The name barkfortreats.com has more meaning than was originally planned.
"It was the only name available on the Internet for a company like this," he said. "The funny thing is, the name fits because people will hold the treat, the dog barks and then the dog gets the treat."
The website also contains a link to information about adopting dogs. A woman who eats at Gilley's rescues dogs and told Berman how people can help find homes for the dogs she finds. He said this is not the main focus of his website, but he likes to help dogs when he can.
"Although this is a business, the main priority is the dogs," he said. "What it comes down to is, I like to see dogs and people happy."
To find out more information about items available, visit barkfortreats.com or call 888.939.1312.
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Campbell, California
