PET Food Processing - September 2018 - 27

SMALL BUSINESS PROFILE

theBUTCHERshop
This Oregon meat business is a dog's best friend.
By Steve Krut | petfoodprocessing@sosland.com

The old expression "happier than a butcher's dog" gets a
boost at The Butcher Shop, Inc., an Eagle Point, Oregon,
small meat business where partner Cam Callahan oversees a fast-growing pet food business.
Callahan began trying to conjure up a healthy food
for his boxer eight years ago after he looked closer at
what was going into the food he was giving his personal
pet. "There is no such thing as 'it's just a dog,'" Callahan
emphasizes. "Your pets are your family too. I kept consulting with various veterinarians and developed my
own formula."
As one can see from the shop's website, butchershopinc.
com, where a 7-minute video of the pet food making process outlines the product and the philosophy the small
shop employs, the company makes the pet foods more
for the animals than for a profit.
The Butcher Shop uses locally sourced, all-natural
beef and lamb, as well as elk and buffalo from South
Dakota. Each mixture contains meat, trim and no fillers. Day-old hamburger from the retail side of the business is also included in the mix. Callahan says they have
customers who want other varieties with vegetables such
as sweet potatoes, yams, carrots and seasonally green
beans, and they fill that demand as well.
Operating under FDA inspection, the company includes triple ground bone in its blend. Its 5-lb. rolls of
dog food and its 1-lb. chubs need refrigeration. The firm
also offers a variety of dog bones baked at 120°F. for four
hours, but they do not smoke them to keep carcinogens
out of the product. The bones and other pet snacks and
treats are shelf stable.

"We're hoping to build a 3,000-sq.-ft. plant just for pet
food processing in another year or so," Callahan says.
"Things have really taken off so much in our pet food
work that we had to discontinue doing it for our customers who raise their own livestock and want us to process them for their own use. In fact, we're buying about
2,000 lbs. of bone a week for use in our pet treats."
The Butcher Shop also produces turkey, chicken and
rabbit feeds for cats and indicates the company wants to
do more with fish proteins in the near future. Although
the plant has 15 to 18 employees, only Callahan and a
younger worker (the lifting guy) are responsible for all
the pet food manufacturing in the shop.
Callahan says he worked with a few other companies
who wanted him to make product for their own sales
but couldn't keep up with their demands. Many of them
were selling pet foods that were priced close to $30 a
pound, he notes.
But it is his personal desire to make the product to
help dogs live healthier and longer lives that drives him.
He derives great satisfaction from the fact that his last
boxer lived 15 years on the diet he provided.
"It seems we've spent the last 50 years reinventing diets for dogs, when all they really needed was to go back
to the protein sources they've thrived and lived on for
thousands of years," he concludes. "We call it 100% allnatural meat dog food."
Many small meat processors succeed by listening
closely to the preferences of their customers, but at The
Butcher Shop, it's the dog's needs that are growing the
company's pet food program by leaps and jumps. PFP

Despite the small
size, The Butcher
Shop makes from
600 to 1,000 lbs. of
dog food daily.
Paradux Media Group

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PET Food Processing - September 2018

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