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Conversations with Amy Ahn and Tina Assadpour

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Ahn and Tina Assadpour.

Hi Amy and Tina, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Dogs make life so much better, and we think they should be celebrated every single day. So whether it’s a Birthday, Gotcha’ Day, Barkmitzva, or just a regular day at the park — we design beautiful cakes and biscuits to make your pup’s day as special as they make yours. Our products are made fresh to order with 100% organic ingredients and human-grade superfoods like wheatgrass, turmeric, beets, and blue spirulina, just to name a few. All of our goodies are also free from sugar, wheat, gluten, soy, preservatives and artificial additives. So our lovely ‘pawstomers’, as we like to call our furry clients, can enjoy being pampered from the inside out. And their ‘pawrents’ can feel good about knowing their pups are getting quality ingredients that look as gorgeous as they taste.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We wanted to create beautiful baked goods for dogs that prioritized using only healthy natural ingredients and none of the artificial additives, chemical preservatives, or stabilizers you often find in dog foods. But because of this dedication, we also had a lot of challenges perfecting recipes that could physically be decorated, layered, and packaged without falling apart, cracking, or melting. In the end, we knew that it was only a matter of trial and error in the kitchen. And ensuring that our products would support the health of dogs was a total non-negotiable goal for us. So after a lot of tinkering, many long nights of recipe editing, and several very adorable dog taste-testers later… we’re proud to say that we found the special formula. Baked cakes and treats that look good, taste good, and make dogs feel good are what we set out to create, and it’s exactly what we’re so happy to be sharing with the dogs of Miami today.

The other obstacles we are navigating in the short-term are the limitations of being an online-based dog patisserie. This means our customers order online through our website, schedule their desired pick-up date and time (48 hour minimum notice required with some exceptions), and collect their purchased items at a designated pick-up point in the heart of Brickell. The process is fast and smooth, but an increasing number of customers have expressed an encouraging desire for us to have a physical storefront location where they can bring their dogs to socialize and enjoy fresh daily treats. Given the demand and our personal passion for this work, we’d love to provide this type of physical dog-friendly community in the near future. We’re focusing on scalable business growth to make it happen. So if you’re a dog-loving investor reading this, we’d love to chat!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Our professional backgrounds outside of Paw Paw Patisserie make for an interesting story, as we come from very different fields of work. Amy is a Postdoctoral Researcher with a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology. She uses her astute research abilities to analyze the shifting marketplace trends and brings her precise hypothesis experimentation skills to baking — believe it or not, baking is extremely scientific! Tina is a Copywriter and works as an Associate Creative Director in the Advertising industry. She brings her experience in creative ideation, professional writing skills, as well as her marketing chops and presentation-savvy to business. Despite our seemingly unlikely pairing, we make a great team. And it’s rooted in our mutual lifelong love of dogs, and our shared desire to build our own businesses.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Words cannot express the gratitude we have for the amazing dog moms and dog dads of Miami. Our ‘pawrents’ are our biggest supporters, they generously recommend us to their friends, tag us on social media, and help us grow our audience organically. Especially Otto the adorable Cockapoo (@theottocockapoo) and his family; check out this little guy’s social media… he’s a star! Our partners, friends, and families have been extremely supportive of us from the very beginning. They’ve attended early morning photo shoots, let their dogs be our taste-testers, purchased from us, acted as ambassadors for our brand, and been a constant source of encouragement. We truly couldn’t ask for a more incredible support group. On the business side, we’d like to give a huge thank you to Adam Becker (@adamnbecker), Founder & Managing Partner of GluteHouse (@glutehouse) – a Brickell-based boutique fitness studio that is dog-friendly. If you’re looking for the best lower body workout in Miami, this is the place to be! Adam, along with the entire community of trainers and members at the gym have been so gracious in collaborating with us during live events and helping us spread the word about our business on a daily basis. Another special shoutout to Dr. Simon Czamanski at Edgewater Pet Clinic (@edgewaterpetclinic) for generously allowing us to advertise in their veterinary office. And a giant thank you to Angel Estrada (@angealest), who volunteered his time and skills to serve as our incredibly talented content photographer when we launched. And last but certainly not least, we have to give credit to the dogs of Miami who are our source of inspiration and constant joy. We love watching their happy faces when they get to experience our baked artisanal goods.

Pricing:

  • PAWSOME BISCUITS (organic dog biscuits made with superfoods that can be customized with your pup’s name)
  • POSH PAWS CAKE (organic artisanal dog cake made with superfoods)
  • PAWTY PACK (includes 1 Posh Paws Cake, 1 box of Pawsome Biscuits, & 1 box of Pawfect Tartelettes available exclusively in this package, and a complete Instagrammable “Pawty Time” decor kit in your choice of gold, silver, or rose gold)

Contact Info:

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