Everyone loves a tasty treat, especially those with fur.
Pawfect Sweets, a Henrico-based family-run treat brand, sells all natural, oven-baked dog treats handmade with locally sourced ingredients like peaches from Agriberry Farm, blueberries from Lesley’s Garden and peanut butter from Good Foods Grocery.
“It's not only for it to be super healthy for the dogs, but also to give back to the community,” said Krystal Barnes, co-owner of Pawfect Sweets. “If we're giving back to the farms and putting more money in their pocket to keep them rolling, then that's also providing good food for everyone else as well.”
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Barnes, her husband Chris and their two daughters, Kaleeya, 16, and Asata, 15, are the family behind the name. Each of them helps bake, package, and run the Pawfect Sweets tables at various farmers markets around town.
The business first began as a passion project to help their underweight puppy, Milky.
“When I got Milky, she was under five pounds. Really, really tiny,” Barnes said. “When I'd feed her soft food or kibble, I kept noticing that she wasn't taking it well, she’d just get sick.”
Barnes became committed to making homemade, nutritious food for Milky, and when they added their shepherd, Grizzly, they made his food at home too.
They asked themselves, “Why would we make their food at home and then go to the store and buy treats with all the extra additives?”
So they stopped and added treats to their list of homemade dog-friendly foods.
Being an avid baker, this was no problem for Barnes.
“I love to bake so much, it became a passion and I just kept doing it, and coming up with more flavors,” she said.
Pawfect Sweets offers woofles for $7-$12, nutty pretzel rods for $3, and various fun flavors of dog crunchies including blueberry peanut butter, salmon rosemary, fruit bar and more for $10-$12 a bag. The ingredients are intentional like pumpkin, which is for good digestion, and blueberries for antioxidants and fiber.
Besides treats, Pawfect Sweets sells pet accessories like bandanas, bowties, Christmas stockings and new to the list, Advent calendars, all sewn by Barnes in her crafting room at home.
But don't expect to see the brand on many store shelves. All of the baking and packaging is done in their home on the West End, and the family prefers to meet their customers at pet friendly farmers markets, parks, and other outdoor spaces.
The family takes turns covering farmers markets throughout the week including RVA Big Market, South of the James in Forest Hill and the West End Farmers Market. The treats also can be ordered online for delivery or porch pick up at the Barnes' home.
The couple recently purchased a trailer to help with visibility and have plenty of cute dog posts on their social media.
Interacting with customers, both human and canine, Krystal became adamant about making sure there was something for everyone to enjoy.
Tailor made treats
“Some dogs have allergies, but some dogs also just have their own flavor palettes. Not every dog wants peanut butter and not every dog wants chicken or cheese, but sometimes they just want something. So we would just keep coming up with different flavors. And as time went on, my goal was just to make sure that we always had something that everybody could come and leave with something.”
Gaia is a 10-year-old bulldog with a host of dietary restrictions.
“I could not tell you how many times I took her to the vet,” said Rachel Kohler, owner of Kohler Dog Training and Gaia’s mom. “It took a good while to get her healthy, because she is allergic to everything.”
Kohler landed on a hypoallergenic diet for Gaia and was able to get her healthy with minimal flare-ups.
“But I was never able to give her anything fun,” she said.
“That's where Krystal came in and changed everything for me. She created a limited ingredient treat just for Gaia based off of her allergy list. And Gaia loves them, and they're so good all the other dogs loved them.”
Krystal even makes birthday cakes for Gaia and other pet parents looking for fun ways to celebrate.
Baking and crafting are passions for Krystal but running a business and a family is hard.
“It's late nights and early mornings,” she said. “I remember last December, we mostly took naps.”
Still, for Chris Barnes, making a living with your family is a treat.
“I feel proud to be able to work with my family and own a small business. Us all being involved in it, it feels so free,” he said. “It's the American dream to actually have a small business. So it's a really nice thing for all of us to be able to do this the way we do.”
From the Archives: University of Richmond in the 1970s
11-06-1975 (cutline): University of Richmond's football team watches as their homecoming queen and her princesses try to get in on the action.
03-04-1971 (cutline): Trash litters area across from lodges in University of Richmond's fraternity row.
04-05-1974 (cutline): About 400 University of Richmond students protested the school's visitation policy last night by staging visits according to their own rules, which they adopted Wednesday. The school officially forbids visitors of the opposite sex in student rooms on weeknights.
09-11-1977 (cutline) WDCE station manager John Curtin mans microphone on UR campus.
09-01-1977 (cutline): The University of Richmond has opened it's 160,000-square-foot science center that includes a library, 27 teaching laboraties, adjoining preparation and instrument rooms, as well as five lecture halls, a 145-seat auditorium, ecological computers, a Celestron telescope and mound pad, a vivarium and herbarium, a Foucault pendulum and an electron microscope. The modular building has three floors and a partial basement. The building cost $8 million and was designed by John Carl Warnecke and Associates.
03-03-1978 (cutline): University of Richmond students are playing pool in the University Commons that overlook the Westhampton Lake. The deep windows give an excellent view of the tree-lined lake.
09-19-1975 (cutline): Marshall Bank, a 19-year-old UR student held a bunch of books he'd checked out of the university library as hostages until the authorities undertook to improve the way they cared for rare volumes.
11-18-1971 (cutline): These are the tree top students of last year's freshman class at the University of Richmond, taking a walk on their campus. They have received the R.E. Loving Book Awards, presented annually to the students who compile the highest academic average at the university during the freshman year. They also were honored at a convocation today sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa. From left are Marbry B. Hopkins II of Towson, Md., Janet Y. Ferrell of Danville and David H. Pankey of Richmond. Hopkins and Pankey had perfect 4.0 averages; Miss Ferrall had a 3.8.
05-08-1970 (cutline): University of Richmond students discuss war, Kent State Shootings. Dr. George M. Modlin, UR President, later addressed rally.
01-30-1973 (cutline): Campus patrol prepares to ticket for an unfortunate automobile.
03-16-1976 (cutline): After about two years of being dry, the University of Richmond's Westhampton Lake is filling with water. A spokesman said yesterday the water will be allowed to accumulate six feet for the time being. Following further construction on the University's $4.5 million student commons (background), the lake will be allowed to fill completely. The spokesman added there are no plans to stock the lake with fish, but as fish accumulate naturally, fishing permits will be issued to students, faculty and alumni living near the university. In the foreground is a pedestrian bridge that crosses to an island in the middle of the lake.
04-03-1975 (cutline): A section of the fourth floor wall at the University of Richmond's Boatwright Memorial Library collapsed today, leaving a gaping 44-foot-wide hole on the west side of the building. A university spokesman said there were no injuries. The building was evacuated and sealed off for several hours after the collapse.
