Best Bully’s is sticking to its game plan: Find more products its customers want to buy.
For several years the Richmond-based company, which started when a now-husband-and-wife team created a natural dog treat, has added products for dog lovers. Then they added some for cat lovers.
And now Avrum Elmakis, founder of Best Bully’s, has make the leap: people food.
BizSense chatted with Elmakis about his plans and the dog food business. Below is an edited transcript.
Richmond BizSense: What’s the new site, and when did it launch?
Avrum Elmakis: Onlynaturalsnacks.com. We went live with it a week and a half ago.
RBS: Where did the idea for people food come from?
AE: It’s just a hunch I’ve got. If someone is willing to spend time and investment looking for natural and organic food and snacks for dogs, they are likely – and again this is my own assumption – they are likely to also be looking for those things for themselves.
RBS: The site looks sharp. How many products are for sale?
AE: Right now around 80 items. We are steadily building it out. We should have it up to 200 items in the next month [or so].
RBS: How will the margins be in the people-food business? They are notoriously slim in the grocery business.
AE: We are focused on raw, organic, unique items. Most everything we sell, you couldn’t find at Martin’s or Kroger. Again, we are trying to hit a niche market that isn’t very represented in mainstream [stores]. You probably can get one or two items at Whole Foods. So to answer the question, the margins are much different than traditional grocery store competing with Walmart. [The suppliers] are small companies really focused on high-quality niche items.
RBS: We’ve covered your company for a while now, and I remember you going to a bigger warehouse a few years back. How much space do you guys have now, and what’s the latest plan?
AE: Right now we are somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 square feet. We are probably looking to move in the next year or so to something that’s closer to 25,000 or 35,000 square feet.
RBS: How do you, as a business owner, manage the new website and keep the main company humming along?
AE: The new site is very little work for me. The biggest thing is to find items I think would be interesting. We have a lot of stuff for sale we haven’t listed yet, so that takes time. But it’s doable. It’s like anything: We grow it over time. We didn’t start out as a company with thousands of products. It’s a slow progression with all of them.
RBS: And you’re not worried Best Bully’s will suffer if you take your eye off it and focus on something else?
AE: No. It’s just another venue for orders. Fulfillment is fulfillment. A bag of X or a bag of Y; it’s still just fulfilling an order. I think as it grows, we’ll have dedicated customer service specific to that. For right now, marketing is mainly through the existing base. Those folks know it’s a small family-owned company.
RBS: Any other ideas brewing?
AE: My vision is a company that has a pet division, a people division for snacks, maybe some other verticals. My true vision is a conglomerate of e-commerce companies on niche markets, ones that are underdeveloped or are unique enough to make business sense. I’d like to have a shared shopping cart. You could buy something from Best Bully’s or Only Natural Snacks. Ship it all together as one unit. That’s probably a year down the road.
Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor. Please send news tips to [email protected].
Best Bully’s is sticking to its game plan: Find more products its customers want to buy.
For several years the Richmond-based company, which started when a now-husband-and-wife team created a natural dog treat, has added products for dog lovers. Then they added some for cat lovers.
And now Avrum Elmakis, founder of Best Bully’s, has make the leap: people food.
BizSense chatted with Elmakis about his plans and the dog food business. Below is an edited transcript.
Richmond BizSense: What’s the new site, and when did it launch?
Avrum Elmakis: Onlynaturalsnacks.com. We went live with it a week and a half ago.
RBS: Where did the idea for people food come from?
AE: It’s just a hunch I’ve got. If someone is willing to spend time and investment looking for natural and organic food and snacks for dogs, they are likely – and again this is my own assumption – they are likely to also be looking for those things for themselves.
RBS: The site looks sharp. How many products are for sale?
AE: Right now around 80 items. We are steadily building it out. We should have it up to 200 items in the next month [or so].
RBS: How will the margins be in the people-food business? They are notoriously slim in the grocery business.
AE: We are focused on raw, organic, unique items. Most everything we sell, you couldn’t find at Martin’s or Kroger. Again, we are trying to hit a niche market that isn’t very represented in mainstream [stores]. You probably can get one or two items at Whole Foods. So to answer the question, the margins are much different than traditional grocery store competing with Walmart. [The suppliers] are small companies really focused on high-quality niche items.
RBS: We’ve covered your company for a while now, and I remember you going to a bigger warehouse a few years back. How much space do you guys have now, and what’s the latest plan?
AE: Right now we are somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 square feet. We are probably looking to move in the next year or so to something that’s closer to 25,000 or 35,000 square feet.
RBS: How do you, as a business owner, manage the new website and keep the main company humming along?
AE: The new site is very little work for me. The biggest thing is to find items I think would be interesting. We have a lot of stuff for sale we haven’t listed yet, so that takes time. But it’s doable. It’s like anything: We grow it over time. We didn’t start out as a company with thousands of products. It’s a slow progression with all of them.
RBS: And you’re not worried Best Bully’s will suffer if you take your eye off it and focus on something else?
AE: No. It’s just another venue for orders. Fulfillment is fulfillment. A bag of X or a bag of Y; it’s still just fulfilling an order. I think as it grows, we’ll have dedicated customer service specific to that. For right now, marketing is mainly through the existing base. Those folks know it’s a small family-owned company.
RBS: Any other ideas brewing?
AE: My vision is a company that has a pet division, a people division for snacks, maybe some other verticals. My true vision is a conglomerate of e-commerce companies on niche markets, ones that are underdeveloped or are unique enough to make business sense. I’d like to have a shared shopping cart. You could buy something from Best Bully’s or Only Natural Snacks. Ship it all together as one unit. That’s probably a year down the road.
Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor. Please send news tips to [email protected].