Up Close in Frodsham: Greedy Paws
By The Editor
27th Jan 2021 | Local News
Frodsham Nub News aims to support our community, promoting shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.
Over the past few months, we have been talking to some of these local businesses and organisations for our 'Up Close in Frodsham' series.
This week, we chatted to Alicja Olszanska, owner of homemade dog treat business, Greedy Paws.
Delicious snacks for discerning doggos
Greedy Paws not only sells biscuits and pure meat jerky, but also doggy cakes, complete with icing and decorations! Shaped like cute little bones, paw prints and chocolate buttons, Alicja's soft biscuits are made from real meat, a sprinkle of coconut flour and eggs. There's not a preservative or additive in sight. And if your prized pooch is of the vegetarian persuasion, never fear! Greedy Paws even offers vegetarian snacks made from fresh courgettes. "I've always loved and had dogs," Alicja says. "When I was little, I had a little Sausage dog and then a Dalmatian, now I have three super crazy Cocker Spaniels."I can't imagine my life without having a dog."
When her spaniels, Georgie, Cash and Layla first joined the family, Alicja started searching for dog treats that were both healthy and tasty, and quickly drew a blank.
"I simply could not find any dog treats that I was happy to feed my dogs," she says. "Most have too many preservatives and ingredients.
"They claim to be made with meat and yet when you look at the back of the pack, a lot of them only contain 20-40 per cent meat with the rest being fillers.
"A lot of manufacturers use grain flour as a filler, which is highly allergenic for dogs."
According to Alicja, it is much better to use coconut flour, which is gluten-free, high in dietary fibre and protein, and low in sugar and carbohydrates.
"Moreover, I believe that if something is made with meat it should be kept refrigerated. As far as I know, there are no dog treats currently on the market that are kept in the fridge.
"Also, most have an awfully long shelf life. They sit on a supermarket shelf for months, sometimes up to a year, and are still suitable for dogs to eat; I think it's shocking!
"I go by the rule that if something is not good enough for me to eat, then I wouldn't feed it to my dog, that's why I have always been making my own dog treats.
"Don't get me wrong, there are a few very good dog treat companies, mostly small businesses that make amazing dog treats. However, unfortunately I don't think there are enough of them out there."
Having conducted an initial taste test of her treats with her own dogs, Alicja then turns to the dogs of family and friends for a second opinion.
"But I'm proud to say that I'm still to find a dog that doesn't like them. Even the fussiest dogs will find something they enjoy.
"Since I make three different types of treats, there's something for every waggy tail to choose from.
"One of my regular customers buys my treats and sprinkles them on her dog's food, because he is so fussy that often he doesn't want to eat his dinner.
"But as soon as she sprinkles my treats on it, he eats it! How amazing is that!"
Sharing Greedy Paws with the world
In early 2019, as her dogs happily tucked into their homemade biscuits and chews, Alicja began to wonder whether her recipes might interest other pet owners.
"I started researching what I needed to do to be able to sell them to people," she explains. The next nine months were filled with hygiene and risk assessments, kitchen inspections from the Animal and Plant Health Agency, and laboratory samples testing the nutritional value of her treats.
"Only after that could I start selling them to other dog owners. I got my final approval in November 2019.
"After designing the packaging and preparing everything I needed, I went to my first farmers market in Chester in February 2020.
Unfortunately, we all know what happened next. As lockdown took hold and international travel ground to a halt, Alicja lost her job as a Flybe flight attendant.
"It was then when I decided to give Greedy Paws a go and focus solely on my little business.
"Since then, I have never looked back!"
Now, I'm sure you're all wondering: how on earth do you make a doggy cake?!
"I bet most dog owners will agree with me," says Alicja, "that those puppy eyes looking at you while you eat a cake, or any other human food, are heart-breaking to watch. "So, I just thought that it would be nice to be able to treat your dog to something that looks like a human cake but is also safe and even healthy for dogs to eat. "That's when my 'doggy cake' idea came into being." After filling them with meat rather than sponge, Alicja uses dog-friendly decorations to make her cakes look good enough to eat. Her icing is made from yoghurt and coconut oil, which is not only safe but also good for dogs, thanks to its anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial qualities. "I'm proud that my dog cakes look naughty but are actually healthy!" she says. Alicja's best-sellers are her 'Dog Bowl' and 'Slippers Cake', made in honour of her dog Layla, who is rather partial to nibbling on slippers in real life! "Recently, for my dog Georgie's birthday, I made a Postman cake," she adds. "Since he always barks at the postman, I thought it might be fun to let him have his own to eat (no offence to our lovely postman)!"The Future...
Alicja is thrilled with the way Greedy Paws has developed over the last year, pleasing customers and canine companions alike. "Every waggy tail makes my day!" she says. "I don't have resources for huge marketing campaigns, and even if I did, I wouldn't want to waste money on it. I would rather donate that money to charity or to support dogs in need. "My business is mostly based word of mouth, which is great. I would like it to stay that way and grow organically. "That's what it's all about, happy customers, means waggy tails and that's what my business is all about." Hopefully, in the not-so-distant future, we might see Greedy Paws treats lining the shelves in our local shops! To find out more about Alicja's products, you can visit her website or Facebook page Having completed a Diploma in Pet Nutrition, Alicja is always researching and honing her recipes, on a mission to produce healthy treats that also taste great.She also refers frequently to the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF), an organisation that governs dog treats manufacturers, researching the nutritional value of ingredients.
Alicja sends samples of her products to the laboratory every quarter to have them tested for Salmonella and Enterobacter and ensure they are safe to be sold.
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