Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaime Cooper.
Hi Jaime, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We spent the last 3 years in the pet food industry – learning the business and becoming familiar with the products and companies that exist in the space. During that time we attended conferences all over the country and started noticing patterns in the industry. One, a lot of the products and the marketing were very similar and two, their were not many people in the space who looked like us and represented our culture. It just made sense for us to create a brand that represented us, a product that would be beneficial and healthy, and an experience for pet owners to enjoy and share with their pets.
With 2021 as our target launch date – we spent 2020 building out the idea, curating the product and packaging and building out the business plan. We wanted to give ourselves time to make sure our plan was sound.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been an interesting and fun ride to say the least. We were able to build a business during a pandemic. One positive from the pandemic is that is gave us time to really focus in on what we were trying to build because the distractions were limited.
Half the battle is starting, but we truly wouldn’t know half of what we know now if we hadn’t. One thing we learned quickly is that our actual customer was not who we thought it would be. Using Analytics from our Marketing we were able to quickly pivot – which has been key to our growth.
We also learned the importance of supply chain – we had an incident where our packaging was mislabeled. Lucky for us, it happened in our first month and we were able to quickly work with our supplier to fix the error.
We’ve learned there will always be issues and things that come up – identifying them quickly has been key but also giving yourself a break and reminding yourself things are not as bad as you may think they are.
We’ve been impressed with D.R.E.A.M Pet Food, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
D.R.E.AM. Pet Food (Dogs Rule Everything Around Me) is a hip-hop inspired all-natural pet food treat.
Our goal is that D.R.E.A.M will become a successful black-owned pet food company in the space, taking inspiration from those that are already here and inspiring future black-owned pet food companies to enter the space.
The ingredients are at the forefront of everything we do – it was important we curated a treat that had ingredients you could actually pronounce and understand what they are. We use the same ingredients humans feed themselves – we’ve heard the Honey Cinnamon flavor is quite tasty! The treats are great as a reward or for training and come in varying sizes and flavors.
The history of hip-hop is also a key ingredient to D.R.E.A.M’s vision – hip-hop is not only the most listened to and influential genre of music in the world, but more importantly it provides a voice for an underrepresented group, as hip-hop artists use their music to comment on social and political issues important to them and their culture.
D.R.E.A.M is well positioned to re-envision pet food not as a stand along product but as an experience for dogs and their parents. Our mission is to build a culturally relevant and progressive brand with individuals and other partners that represent the D.R.E.A.M brand. These partnerships will serve as a platform for self-expression and uniqueness. Dogs Rule Everything Around Me means making your dog an extension of your family.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We are always looking for dope, creative people to collaborate with – whether it’s at events that celebrate our pups, new bag design or content creation. We’re always looking for collaboration opportunities, even if they aren’t directly in the pet space. Anything that will help get our product into the hands of the pet parent we welcome. They can reach out to us through our Instagram or our website.
Contact Info:
- Email: theteam@dreampetco.com
- Website: dreampetco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dreampetco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dreampetco/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DreamPetCo
