Woofbowl Dog Foodie Movement
Donation protected
WHAT IS WOOFBOWL?
We recently launched Woofbowl® and became the first food truck in the nation to serve fast food doggie style. Yes, we’re a food truck that exclusively serves dogs and the difference is in our treats. All of our menu items look remarkably like human food truck items, such as burgers, ice cream, and beer, but the gag is they’re healthy dog treats made from premium, human-grade, whole food, dog-friendly ingredients that even you can eat. Don’t worry we won’t judge if we catch you taking a bite.
THE PROBLEM
For starters, we became dog parents because Ron suffers from PTSD. We read dogs do amazing work to help veterans deal with their symptoms so 8 years ago we got two French Bulldogs one year apart.
Solo came up with the idea to serve healthy dog food after noticing a remarkable change in our dogs after switching them to a raw diet. It led her on a path of learning and absorbing as much as she could on the “truth” about canine nutrition and eventually getting certified. Here lies Problem 1.0 - The truth is a lot of the food and treats available are and filled with harmful, dangerous and even cancerous ingredients. Almost half of dogs over age 10 get cancer. It’s no coincidence that the incidence of cancer has skyrocketed as commercial pet food has become more available. Most commercial dog treats available are usually high-heat processed, 4D protein-laden, carbohydrate-based dog treats that aren’t as healthy for your dog as they claim to be. Take a look at the labels on your dog treats. Can you pronounce every ingredient?
Benefits of REAL food whole food diets:
It was Ron’s genius idea to serve the treats from a food truck. As awesome as the Woofbowl concept seems, our launch was a tireless struggle; it came after a ripple of setbacks and emotional despair. And this is where Problem 2.0 starts...
Prior to getting the truck built, we waited almost 4 extra months for the chassis of our commercial truck get in stock. To customize it, we reached out to a local business who at the time had a perceived excellent reputation. They showed us a truck they were supposedly working on for Universal Studios and they were even featured on TV. What was suppose to take 12 weeks max took over 9 months for our relationship to end. Eventually communications were not returned, so we came to their place of business once again on the 9th month after being given 6 different delayed completion dates, to find no one there, their doors closed, and their office being liquidated. Nothing was complete in our truck and we had already given them our life savings with no hope of ever seeing it again. We were hurt, embarrassed, and shocked to say the least.
What many don’t know is we come from humble beginnings:
Ron was raised by a single mother and grew up in zip code 53206 of inner-city Milwaukee - the zip code that incarcerates the highest percentage of black men in America. He refused to succumb to drugs and crime, and used basketball and academics to rise above. He became a nationally recognized high school basketball athlete. Despite early struggles, he was honorably discharged from the US Navy (after having trained 10,000+ personnel) and graduated summa cum laude from his alma mater where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a focus on Pre-Law. Ron also went on to earn his MBA and became an author of several books.
Ron’s wife, Solo, who is our master chef and “graphic designer,” is a product of refugee parents who risked their lives fleeing the Killing Fields of Cambodia to come to America with 3 children. Her parents both worked two full-time jobs each to keep food on the table. It was her parents’ dream for her to become an engineer, so she pursued electrical and biochemical engineering. It was extremely hard for her to give up her 13 year professional engineering career because of what it meant to her family. She quit her job thinking our truck would be complete. She had no idea that when she quit, she would be doing it prematurely as the truck wouldn’t be done until several months later.
So now, our life savings were basically stolen, we were down to a 1 income household, we were stuck in our commercial kitchen lease, and also our initial month’s worth of inventory had to be discarded. It was raining cats and dogs! We had no investors and even family told us to quit, but we believed in the Woofbowl concept so much that we knew our only option was to move forward in finding a new builder. With this we had to take on more debt and make more sacrifices - physically and mentally. Yet, we stayed focused on the mission because we see ourselves as the pioneers of the dog foodie culture.
HOW CAN YOU BE PART OF THE DOG FOODIE MOVEMENT?
Woofbowl's purpose is to delight dogs with the most enjoyable and authentic foodie experience. Dogs bring people of all backgrounds together and we'd like to do that through our trucks, quality programs, and events in the community. Here's where we need you because your support will mean the world to us. There are multiple ways you can help Woofbowl in spreading joy to dogs and dog owners everywhere:
1. Contribute to our GoFundMe where your support will enable us to put on future events, expand to franchising and retail, and many other amazing ideas to come. No amount is too small.
2. Book a catered party for your pooch at mywoofbowl.com/book
3. Share Woofbowl with friends and on social media (Instagram , Facebook , Twitter )
4. Be kind to one another
(photo credit: @abpanphoto )
In the end, all we want the community to know is this: We’ve been extremely resilient in the face of adversity – and you can, too. We hope our story will inspire others to be resilient in their quest to become successful. Equally, we hope the community will accept us and give us the chance and opportunity to bring joy to your fur baby’s life. We hope the community will embrace Woofbowl as a goodwill ambassador for dogs.
We recently launched Woofbowl® and became the first food truck in the nation to serve fast food doggie style. Yes, we’re a food truck that exclusively serves dogs and the difference is in our treats. All of our menu items look remarkably like human food truck items, such as burgers, ice cream, and beer, but the gag is they’re healthy dog treats made from premium, human-grade, whole food, dog-friendly ingredients that even you can eat. Don’t worry we won’t judge if we catch you taking a bite.
THE PROBLEM
For starters, we became dog parents because Ron suffers from PTSD. We read dogs do amazing work to help veterans deal with their symptoms so 8 years ago we got two French Bulldogs one year apart.
Solo came up with the idea to serve healthy dog food after noticing a remarkable change in our dogs after switching them to a raw diet. It led her on a path of learning and absorbing as much as she could on the “truth” about canine nutrition and eventually getting certified. Here lies Problem 1.0 - The truth is a lot of the food and treats available are and filled with harmful, dangerous and even cancerous ingredients. Almost half of dogs over age 10 get cancer. It’s no coincidence that the incidence of cancer has skyrocketed as commercial pet food has become more available. Most commercial dog treats available are usually high-heat processed, 4D protein-laden, carbohydrate-based dog treats that aren’t as healthy for your dog as they claim to be. Take a look at the labels on your dog treats. Can you pronounce every ingredient?
Benefits of REAL food whole food diets:
It was Ron’s genius idea to serve the treats from a food truck. As awesome as the Woofbowl concept seems, our launch was a tireless struggle; it came after a ripple of setbacks and emotional despair. And this is where Problem 2.0 starts...
Prior to getting the truck built, we waited almost 4 extra months for the chassis of our commercial truck get in stock. To customize it, we reached out to a local business who at the time had a perceived excellent reputation. They showed us a truck they were supposedly working on for Universal Studios and they were even featured on TV. What was suppose to take 12 weeks max took over 9 months for our relationship to end. Eventually communications were not returned, so we came to their place of business once again on the 9th month after being given 6 different delayed completion dates, to find no one there, their doors closed, and their office being liquidated. Nothing was complete in our truck and we had already given them our life savings with no hope of ever seeing it again. We were hurt, embarrassed, and shocked to say the least.
What many don’t know is we come from humble beginnings:
Ron was raised by a single mother and grew up in zip code 53206 of inner-city Milwaukee - the zip code that incarcerates the highest percentage of black men in America. He refused to succumb to drugs and crime, and used basketball and academics to rise above. He became a nationally recognized high school basketball athlete. Despite early struggles, he was honorably discharged from the US Navy (after having trained 10,000+ personnel) and graduated summa cum laude from his alma mater where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a focus on Pre-Law. Ron also went on to earn his MBA and became an author of several books.
Ron’s wife, Solo, who is our master chef and “graphic designer,” is a product of refugee parents who risked their lives fleeing the Killing Fields of Cambodia to come to America with 3 children. Her parents both worked two full-time jobs each to keep food on the table. It was her parents’ dream for her to become an engineer, so she pursued electrical and biochemical engineering. It was extremely hard for her to give up her 13 year professional engineering career because of what it meant to her family. She quit her job thinking our truck would be complete. She had no idea that when she quit, she would be doing it prematurely as the truck wouldn’t be done until several months later.
So now, our life savings were basically stolen, we were down to a 1 income household, we were stuck in our commercial kitchen lease, and also our initial month’s worth of inventory had to be discarded. It was raining cats and dogs! We had no investors and even family told us to quit, but we believed in the Woofbowl concept so much that we knew our only option was to move forward in finding a new builder. With this we had to take on more debt and make more sacrifices - physically and mentally. Yet, we stayed focused on the mission because we see ourselves as the pioneers of the dog foodie culture.
HOW CAN YOU BE PART OF THE DOG FOODIE MOVEMENT?
Woofbowl's purpose is to delight dogs with the most enjoyable and authentic foodie experience. Dogs bring people of all backgrounds together and we'd like to do that through our trucks, quality programs, and events in the community. Here's where we need you because your support will mean the world to us. There are multiple ways you can help Woofbowl in spreading joy to dogs and dog owners everywhere:
1. Contribute to our GoFundMe where your support will enable us to put on future events, expand to franchising and retail, and many other amazing ideas to come. No amount is too small.
2. Book a catered party for your pooch at mywoofbowl.com/book
3. Share Woofbowl with friends and on social media (Instagram , Facebook , Twitter )
4. Be kind to one another
(photo credit: @abpanphoto )In the end, all we want the community to know is this: We’ve been extremely resilient in the face of adversity – and you can, too. We hope our story will inspire others to be resilient in their quest to become successful. Equally, we hope the community will accept us and give us the chance and opportunity to bring joy to your fur baby’s life. We hope the community will embrace Woofbowl as a goodwill ambassador for dogs.
Organizer
Ron Holloway
Organizer
Merrifield, VA
