London dog treat business on building spree as demand soars in pandemic

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Pets, the big winners of the COVID-19 lockdown, are helping drive investment in London’s industrial landscape.

Bosco and Roxy’s, the dog treat business, has bought a 3.2-hectare property in a city industrial park to build a 6,040-square-metre factory to make its cookies for canines.

The new digs are driven, in part, by booming sales during the pandemic, said Jaymie Crook, who owns the business with his wife Michelle.

“A lot has happened in the last 12 months, the most significant for Bosco and Roxy’s is that everyone was told to stay home and buy a dog and that is what they did,” Crook said.

Those dogs are getting treats. The London business, on Bessemer Road, makes celebration cookies for dogs, with sayings or designs on them, for birthdays and holidays, or just for fun.

Sales have increased 74 per cent in the past year, meaning the company baked 15 million cookies.

“It has been crazy,” Crook said. “Demand is up. Bosco and Roxy’s is really a niche in the treat market. We are about celebration cookies.”

Bosco and Roxy’s employs 140 and wants to add more than 20 workers, enough for a third night shift at the plant to keep up with demand.

“We are actively looking; we are hiring,” Crook said.

The new plant in Innovation Park, an industrial park at Veterans Memorial Parkway and Commissioners Road, will be more than double its existing space of 2,600 square metres. Crook bought the land for $465,280.

The deal was finalized at city council recently, as was another sale of 3.2 hectares for $329,000 at Skyway Industrial Park on Robins Hill Road. That land was sold to Ballycorp Ltd. that makes rooftop supports for commercial air conditioning and furnace systems.

The business will move from its home on Ashland Avenue when its new 3,700-square-metre plant is completed, president Matthew Balaban said.

“We are very excited. Our business is growing. There is a lot of demand,” he said.

The business was founded by his father Jack about 25 years ago.

As for Bosco and Roxy’s, when COVID-19 hit in March 2020 demand for its treats plunged and Crook quickly transitioned to a bakery, making bread, cookies and muffins for humans. But after a few months, dog treat orders began to roll in, mostly from its U.S. customers, and sales took off.

“Demand came back in June. The U.S. has handled COVID-19 differently,” he said.

Bosco and Roxy’s treats are available at most pet food stores. The company recently landed a deal with Target in the U.S, and is in talks with Walmart. In 2014, it began selling into Kroger grocery stores in the U.S., a turning point for the business.

“It is a special treat, a feel-good purchase for a few bucks,” Crook said of the cookie.

“One of our largest customers bought a three-month supply and went through it in two weeks.”

Crook also owns Country Paws, a dog boarding business that has been hard hit by the COVID-19 downturn. Few people are travelling and demand for housing dogs has dropped.