Dog lover and owner Sarah Meredith has been busy working out plans to open up a specialist pet bakery and boutique from her home in the beautiful rolling hills of Shropshire.
The idea for Life of Riley came from her own experiences with her dog Riley, for whom Sarah was always on the lookout for natural healthy treats which were not full of artificial flavours, colours and preservatives.
Having fully researched the pet market, potential customers and routes to market and also enrolling on a canine nutrition course, Sarah has set up a Pet Bakery in a 170 year old converted stone outhouse at her beautiful rural Shropshire home.
Here Sarah bakes gluten free 100% natural treats, doggy celebration cakes and seasonal items for this growing market. As well as securing local stockists she also offers a mail order subscription service. In addition to baked goods she will also hand makes non food items such as paw balm, dry shampoo and anti-flea treatments – all using natural ingredients many of which are organic and, where possible, sourced locally.
Sarah attended a free Good2Great Start-up Workshop at the Telford Growth Hub over two days in January and now, having taken her final accountancy exams at the same time as preparing for a new business and refurbishing the bakery, launched her business in June. The workshops are available for anyone in the Marches area (Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin) who is thinking of starting, or has recently started, a business and funding is provided for this programme by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership and the European Regional Development Fund.
“The workshop really helped me focus on my business aims and objectives, and the follow up support from my own dedicated business advisor since the workshop has been invaluable – I would thoroughly recommend signing up for these workshops” said Sarah.
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