When I was a young girl, I used to dream of becoming a veterinarian. I used to watch closely when the veterinarian would come out to our farm to check on the horses, clean their hooves, and administer medication for the cows and horses, if any was needed. My future career path shifted direction once I learned that vets need to give shots to dogs. My young mind just couldn't understand how anyone would want to cause them pain! In highschool I dreamt of going to college for music and sound recording (I recorded two independent albums in the early 2000’s!) but fate struck when in the last half of my senior year in high school, I took a class called Gourmet Foods. Feeling inspired and anxious to get a degree that would give me tangible skills quickly, I enrolled in pastry arts classes at the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
During culinary school I dreamt of making beautiful wedding cakes and one day owning a bakery! After I graduated culinary school I wasn't pleased with the selection of places to work in my rural home of northern NY, so I chose to move to Florida and live with my dad for a bit! He told me there were mansions and yachts and fancy restaurants and hotels where he lived, on the gulf coast about an hour and a half south of Tampa. Looking back, I think my dad was just excited to get me down there and spend time with him - I didn’t find any fancy bakeries or posh hotels, so I decided to do a bucket list job I had always wanted to do - work at a pet store!
Bottom line is, dogs have always been and will always be my most favorite "people". I consider it my duty, an honor, to provide pets and their owners with the knowledge I've gained throughout my life.
After working in a pet shop, and checking that off my bucket list, I worked here and there landing back up in my hometown in Northern NY and finding a special little bakery called Chrissy Beanz. I worked there for a couple years and yearned to work for a pastry chef who knew more than I did - I wanted to do chocolate work and design sugar centerpieces! Before long, I found myself in Houston, TX working as the Assistant Pastry Chef at The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa! I checked off more things from my bucket list - designed and built an enormous gingerbread house for the mantle of the fireplace in the lobby, designed and built countless centerpiece displays of chocolate and sugar for various banquets, and I led a staff of 8 pastry cooks and 3 bakers while the pastry department was without a head chef for 8 months! I grew tremendously working there, but I was exhausted with constant 16 hour days and I knew I needed to leave before I resented the work I loved doing.
Oh a whim, I accepted a friend’s invitation to stay with them in the Bahamas while I looked for a new job, and that is how I ended up working as the chef on private yachts! After a few years of that amazing lifestyle (yes, the drama-ridden tv show, "Below Deck" is accurate!) I moved to Philly to work for a family as their private chef, and that is when Candy came into my life, officially making me a dog mom!
As the doors of opportunity opened before me, I let my chef skills and desire to create new things craft the vision inside my head. This lead to the development of a business focused purely on creating treats for pets, but featuring foods that would be rescued from going to waste!
As any mom, or dog mom, will tell you - they want their child (dog children, too) to thrive, grow strong and remain happy and healthy for as long as possible. It was motherhood, and a lifetime of caring for animals, that inspired me to delve into the nutritional aspect of pet food production. If you've ever shopped with us in person, you're well aware that most of the conversation we have pertains to the health of your pets, questions you might have regarding nutrition, allergies or weight loss. Back when I was in culinary school, I never thought I would end up as a chef for pets, but when looking back it's clear to me that this is what I was meant to be doing, and it's the best decision I've ever made. It brings me joy to prepare nutritious and of course, delicious treats for your pets. This work is the perfect blend of my talents and passions.
Thank you for reading a bit about my history as a chef and for your choice to support Piggyback Treats and our mission reduce food waste!
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