You’ve heard of food trucks for people, but what about a food truck for your furry family members? Tiffany Brown, the owner of Bone Apetreat!, has created just that: a dog food truck that caters to our beloved four-legged friends. This dog food truck sells Barkuterie Boards, Paws-Noir, “Fitos” (not Titos). They even have options for cats, too! It’s hard to miss the bright blue Mercedes Sprinter vans when they’re out on display, decked out with paw prints, bones, and photos of Brown’s German Shepard, Graham.
Brown first began brainstorming ideas for her business when the pandemic hit. She used to work in corporate America for a large liquor distributor managing a big portfolio of wines for nearly two decades.
“I was the go-to person between the wine supplier and the sales team. So I told them what we’re gonna sell, how we’re gonna sell it, gave them sales goals, managed inventory, managed pricing. So a lot of that was super helpful in doing what I’m doing now,” Brown explained.
When the pandemic hit, Brown took it as an opportunity to reevaluate what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She moved from Chicago back to her parents’ home and knew she wanted to start a business that had to do with dogs. She bounced ideas off of her folks for a dog-centric business she could launch, and settled on the idea for a dog food truck. Her 12 year old nephew came up with the idea for naming the food truck “Bone Apetreat!”
In January 2021, they were up and running. Unlike many small businesses, the pandemic seemed to be helpful to Bone Apetreat.
“During the pandemic, a lot of people adopted dogs; it was great. So the actual dog owner community grew significantly. On top of that, people were looking for safe ways to get out of their house, and we were able to provide them with that,” Brown said.
Bone Apetreat! schedules its events months in advance. It can be found at places such as Golden, Colorado’s Goldens in Golden on February 4, where thousands of Golden Retrievers gather to celebrate their unique heritage on National Golden Retriever Day. The truck is also found at farmers markets in the summertime. During the winter months, Bone Apetreat! can often be found parked in LoDo, Highlands and Denver suburbs.
Bone Apetreat! only keeps five employees. One of the biggest struggles working in corporate America, according to Brown, was feeling that other people interacted with your customers differently than you would interact with them or being stuck “waiting to provide somebody with something because you were depending on someone else that was taking too long.”
“One of the things that I love about owning my own business is that I’m the only one that is responsible for interacting with our customers, making sure every experience is a positive one, getting them what they need in a timely manner. As much as it’s super hard to be the director of every single department it’s also rewarding because you know that everything’s going to be done the way that you want it to be done.”
Bone Apetreat! doesn’t only cater to dog lovers, though! For all cat lovers out there, Bone Apetreat! has a place for you.
“I think our most memorable customer was a hairless cat that came to the truck and he crawled inside the truck and was like the most muscular animal I’ve ever seen in my life. He was really enjoying himself. So yeah,” chuckled Brown.
