GS PETS Summer 2019

Queen of Hearts By Sam Ujvary

Morristown, New Jersey, is a quintessential cute town located a little over an hour outside Manhattan. You can take the New Jersey Transit to a stop and be just outside the bustling town square that features restaurants and shops encouraging visitors to eat, drink and shop local.

Here, in this picturesque town, sits Bubba Rose Biscuit Co., offering a unique contribution, retail-wise, with its selection of gourmet pet items that contribute to the successful formula that makes up Morristown. This is the only retail storefront for the Miami-based dog bakery.

The Bubba Rose Biscuit Co. uses local ingredients in its baked goods and is free of most common allergens. Meats are locally sourced, free-range, grass-fed, hormone and antibiotic free.

The company was born in 2006 and is named for owners Jessica Disbrow and Eric Talley’s rescues, Bob “Bubba” the bully and Rose the greyhound.

Though Bubba Rose’s products are made in Miami and sold in more than 1,200 stores internationally, Amanda Smith owns the one storefront with the Bubba Rose name. “We wholesale on a large scale but this is the only true Bubba Rose location,” she said when we chatted about the bakery.

Smith has been with the company about seven years now. She started out running kitchen operations and was, in her words, fortunate enough to grow with the company. Smith used her initial role as a side hustle when she liked Disbrow’s idea of creating a better, healthier dog treat than was available at the time. Smith celebrated her two-year anniversary of operating the shop in May, and we sat down to discuss further.

Gift Shop Pets: What types of products do you sell in your shop now?

Amanda Smith: We’re a very curated shop; I won’t sell it unless I feel confident in the product and would give it to my own dogs. The only biscuits we really sell are our own. We sell a few hand-selected dog foods, locally made bandanas and homewares, etc. and recently a ton of CBD products.

GS: What are some of your best sellers?

AS: Anything with bacon and peanut butter!

GS: I saw some great cake designs on Instagram; do you personally decorate or design any yourself?

AS: I do. That’s what I really love to do in our shop; I wish I could just decorate cakes all day!

GS: What’s been the most fun to design?

AS: Oh man, they’re all fun and some you develop a love/hate relationship with. One of my favorites when it was finished was a sushi roll cake we did, but it was very difficult to pull off. Another of my favorites — or I guess the story behind it — was we actually made a Sweet 16 cake for Bretagne, the last living 9/11 search and rescue dog. It was very cool to make her last birthday special!

GS: I saw you hosted a Mother’s Day brunch for dog moms. Do you host many events?

AS: Yes! We’ve been trying to do a lot of events this year and that’s been a fan favorite. We’ve also been doing events called Rock for Rescue where we choose a local shelter or rescue, find a venue and bands, the bands donate their time and all the ticket proceeds from the night go directly to the rescue. We always have a blast at those. The last one we raised over $3,000 for Randolph Regional Animal Shelter.

When I went to Bubba Rose Biscuit Co., I had the fortunate opportunity to see just how much four-legged passersby loved the treats. It’s like taking your dog into a toy store and letting them sniff out which items they want to take home. The shop has created a welcoming atmosphere and a truly fun spot for dogs to visit.

Sam Ujvary

Sam is the managing editor of Gift Shop Pets, Museums & More and Party & Halloween Retailer, and is a contributing editor for Gift Shop Magazine. She has a copywriting background and has been in publishing for six years.