Today we’d like to introduce you to Don Pryor.
Hi Don, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, let’s briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
On April 25, 2011, we started making homemade dog treats on our ranch in Texas. The impetus was my Coon Hound, Buddy. Buddy was just a puppy, and I bought him some dog treats that were America’s number one-selling dog treats. Buddy would not eat them! Growing up with and hunting coon hounds. I knew something was not right, so I read the ingredients label, and next to last, after a lot of chemicals and stuff I couldn’t even pronounce, was the prime ingredient bacon fat. My wife and I had never had children; dogs were our kids, and nothing was too good for them. Buddy has just started a company! We began making dog treats and selling them at the Boerne Farmers Market. That was then; this is today: We ship daily nationwide. We attend festivals across the US. In Texas, our biggest market, we attend as many as 20 festivals yearly Pecan Street, Georgetown Poppy Fest, Port Aransas SandFest, Dickens on the Strand, Galveston, Tomball German Fest, and many more in Texas. We enjoy the face-to-face with other dog and even cat owners; many of our smaller treats are loved by cats as well.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
For us, it was very smooth. We made money in our first years in business, and it has been on a vertical growth curve ever since. Yes, COVID Lockdown hurt. We only had our Internet business. But we made it through the year. We are fully self-financed and do not carry debt, which kept us alive over the COVID days.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us more about your business.
17 Oaks Ranch Companies LLC is the holding company for Buddy’s Bonz and 17 Oaks Properties. Buddy’s Bonz is a self-funded company with no debt; we are financially stable and have been since 2011. We are a Value Added Manufacturer. We are also a smokehouse, and that is how we preserve our products rather than employ chemicals. Many of our products begin as USDA Certified for human consumption, and you cannot make a quality product unless you start with a quality product. An example is our Chicken Jerky which we buy from HEB, Costco, or Sam’s Club, and everyone has case quantities in stock when we go to put in an order.
We also move an amazing amount of products yearly, so much so that we prefer pricing or Distributor pricing. This allows us to sell far below our competition and deliver higher quality. What we are known for and specialize in is our Bone line. Our bones are naturally roasted with meat left on. We have all sizes for all sizes of dogs, and we cut our bones ourselves fresh for the shows. Our smokehouse operation sets us apart; we buy the best quality raw goods and make them on our property ourselves. We know dogs. Having had them all of our lives, we have hunted with them and taken care of them. My wife and I are the only 2 employees, and its all we need to run a high-performance, very successful business. I am a retired US Army Officer, and my wife is retired from her IT services company Connectsys LLC which she sold in 2000. We are a Veteran and Woman owned business.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The top of our website page says it all:
- Obsessed with Quality
- Obsessed with Customer service
- I graduated from one of the top business schools in the US, SMU, and have started several companies over my life. My first was in Dallas, TX, in 1969. I ran it successfully for 5 years. It put me thru 2 colleges and 2 degrees. I sold it when the Army called me to active duty as an officer.
Pricing:
- Take 10% off your Internet sale: WEB 10
- We accept all credit cards
- We accept Apple Pay and other taps to pay
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.buddysbonz.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buddysbonz/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buddysbonz1/
