Baked adorations Winnipeg pair’s dog-designated doughnuts have got local tails wagging By: David Sanderson Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Saturday, May. 14, 2022

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This article was published 14/05/2022 (1235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Oh Doughnuts owner Amanda Kinden created a bit of a stir last month when, as an April Fool’s prank, she unveiled her latest “brainstorm,” this one aimed purr-cisely at the feline in your life.

On the morning of April 1, Kinden posted photos on her social media feeds of a pair of cats going to town on buster-style doughnuts boasting a middle-section filled with kibble and — the “paws de résistance,” she called it — a topping of glazed sardines and anchovies. Before realizing the joke was on them, Oh Doughnuts customers left messages for Kinden and her staff along the lines of, “Can this be ordered over Skip?” “Are these still available?” and “Oh, Buddy would love that!”

The first thing Kim Frobisher did after spotting Kinden’s spoof was have a good chuckle. Then she typed a comment of her own offering a thumbs-up for the gag, but added if anybody was actually interested in doughnuts for their fur babies, canines in particular, she and her pal/business partner Kerner Pieterse would happily set them up.

Frobisher, 35, and Pieterse, 29, are the owners of Woof Doughnuts, a home-based venture that has been barking up the right tree for 18 months. Three weekends ago, they were peddling their dog-centric doughnuts at a large craft sale held near Assiniboia Downs when a fellow she guesses was in his 30s happened by and, without reading a sign explaining what their enterprise is all about, commented, “Hmm, you definitely have some unique flavours here.”

“He was especially interested in what we call our Canuck, with bacon and maple syrup,” Frobisher says, seated next to Pieterse in a St. Vital coffee shop not far from their respective abodes. “He seemed so disappointed when we broke the news that they are meant for dogs. For a second there, I actually thought he was going to say, ‘Who cares?’ and leave with a dozen under his arm, regardless.”

Frobisher and Pieterse met through work about six years ago, right around the time each had just brought home a new dog. It wasn’t long before they were spending their coffee breaks sharing photos of their pooches; Frobisher’s is a Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix named Coco, and Pieterse has a corgi that answers to Nubi.

Tired of feeding Coco store-bought biscuits containing ingredients she couldn’t pronounce, Frobisher began baking her own preservative- and sugar-free treats in August 2020. She always made extra for Pieterse, who would turn around and give them to Nubi. His dog couldn’t devour them fast enough, he says, which turned on a light bulb in his head.

What if they took what she doing a step further, by turning out doughnut-shaped treats, instead? He had a bit of experience with a piping bag, he mentioned, and could decorate each with yogurt-based icing containing dog-friendly food colouring to make them look as eye-catching as possible.

“In this day and age, people absolutely love taking cute pictures of their dogs and posting them online,” he says. “My feeling was, if we could make something that looked super-good, and was healthy and nutritious at the same time, it might just take off.”

Pieterse smiles, noting it was one thing for Nubi and Coco, neither of whom has ever met a scrap of food they didn’t like, to give his and Frobisher’s early prototypes a paws-up; what they really needed, he felt, was more finicky eaters to convince them they were on the right track.

Talk about an easy sell; after spreading the word, a large number of their friends and family members willingly volunteered their pups to sample doughnuts dubbed Silly Banana (banana, peanut butter and honey), Nutty (peanuts, beef broth and oatmeal) and Chicken (chicken broth, peanut butter and whole wheat flour). As for the latter, Frobisher’s 13-year-old son said, never mind a dog, he’d be happy to throw a couple in his lunch bag, too.

“We did a bit of tweaking following all that,” Pieterse continues, “and by the end of November (2020) we felt we were good to go. If I’m being completely honest, even I’m a little surprised by how well-received we’ve been.”

Unless they have a scheduled sale to attend, in which case they’ll spend a few days building up stock, every last doughnut of theirs is made fresh to order. Shelf-life is about a week in a covered container, double that if you store them in the fridge. Then again, some customers tell them they keep theirs in the freezer, to dole out as they see fit so they’re not overly spoiling Fido.

Only every other day, Frobisher says when asked how often they’re developing new flavours. Last July they came out with a blueberry-based doughnut that encompassed freshly picked fruit, and they also regularly conjure ones tied to holidays and celebrations. Yes, they know that a dog’s colour spectrum is limited to shades of yellow, blue and purple, and that Lassie doesn’t really care if an “I’m Irish,” St. Patrick’s Day doughnut is green and white, or that a Valentine’s Day one — “Don’t Go Bacon My Heart,” they dubbed it — is largely red.

“We get our doughnuts are probably more for the owner than the dog,” says Frobisher, who just last week started experimenting with carob as an alternative to chocolate, which most dogs are allergic to. “A lot of people who don’t even have a dog will buy from us. They’ll see our booth, say something like, ‘Oh, these are so cute,’ and that even though they aren’t a pet owner themselves, they have friends who are.” (Woof Doughnuts are available in two sizes, regular, about 2.5 centimetres in diameter, for large breeds and mini doughnuts, ruffly the same circumference as a toonie, for smaller dogs.)

Frobisher and Pieterse have been approached by pet store owners interested in carrying their wares on their shelves. Perhaps one day down the line, they respond, but for the time being, they’re preferring to keep what Pieterse calls their “pet project,” no pun intended, in-house.

“We’ve also received inquiries, asking if we ship outside the province, as far as Quebec and B.C.,” Frobisher says. Again, they hate to turn down business, but in order to keep their doughnuts as fresh as possible, they currently offer delivery within the Perimeter Highway only.

“Though there was one lady who, not too long ago, drove four hours from northwestern Ontario to pick up a few dozen,” Frobisher mentions. “She told us she was doing some other shopping in the city, but ours was her very first stop.”

Oh, and we know what you’re thinking: this all sounds fine, good and yummy but what about bite-sized snacks a la Robin’s eggs; are those available for order, too? (Asking for a furry friend.)

“Actually, we use a circle cutter to make our doughnuts, and the middles are added back into the rest of the dough,” Frobisher says somewhat apologetically. “So no, there isn’t any dough left for something like Timbits.”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca