Shawn Buckley has started and run several businesses through the years.
He was a vice president at GT Bicycles during its days in Santa Ana and headed up advertising agency Buckley/Friedman Advertising & Public Relations.
Most recently, he sold Silver Cross, a maker of luxury baby carriages, to a toy company in Britain.
Now, he’s selling dog food.
Buckley’s latest venture is True Food For Dogs, across from Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach.
True Food for Dogs uses natural and organic ingredients to make dog food at its 1,400-square-foot store. The company sells the food by the pouch at its store, which is open seven days a week. The company also has plans to sell food online.
True Food for Dogs delivers to coastal Orange County.
Buckley’s goal for the first year is to sign up 1,000 dogs on a monthly food program.
“Our online business will exceed our store business,” he said.
Buckley looked to Nebraska’s OmahaSteaks.com Inc. for advice on packing and shipping.
“It’s the same business model,” he said.
Buckley chose Newport Beach for his first store because of the area’s large number of dog owners, especially in Corona del Mar, which attracts people who are more likely to have dogs than children at this stage in their lives, he said.
Buckley’s research counts 756,000 dogs in the county, including 42,000 in coastal OC.
Dog food is a $13 billion a year industry, according to Buckley.
He hired pet and human nutritionists to come up with his recipes. People can eat the food, he said, but it’s formulated for dogs.
Ingredients include carrots, rice, pumpkin, cauliflower, ground beef and lamb.
True Food for Dogs also makes food for older dogs or dogs that are going through chemotherapy.
“Our refrigerator is full of the exact same stuff you’d see for any restaurant,” he said. “It’s all about being better for the dog.”
The food is aimed at dog lovers, those who would spend about $4 a day on dog food.
Buckley counts himself as a dog lover. He has two dogs.
True Food for Dogs gives away its recipes online and plans classes at the store on how to make the food.
“We think there will be enough people who don’t want to do it themselves,” he said.
If all goes well with the Newport Beach store, Buckley plans to open another in Santa Monica or West Los Angeles before the end of the year.
Airport Shops, Eateries
After a hard-fought contract renewal, Bethesda, Md.-based HMSHost Corp. plans to spend nearly $16 million remodeling and adding restaurants at John Wayne Airport.
HMSHost, part of Italy’s Autogrill SPA, runs the Oasis Grill & Sky Lounge, all of the airport’s Starbucks and some snack shops.
It plans to add restaurants including Ruby’s Diner, Ruby’s Milk Shack, Zov’s Bistro, Jerry’s Wood-Fired Dogs and Pinkberry.
HMSHost, which has operated concessions at the airport since 1992, recently won a 10-year lease as the primary food and beverage concessionaire at the airport.
It faced off against Delaware North Cos. of Buffalo, N.Y., which sought to bring a restaurant from Santa Ana-based Wahoo’s Fish Taco, among other eateries.
The contract win also covers a new terminal under way at John Wayne Airport.
New Jersey’s Hudson Group, part of Switzerland’s Dufry AG, and Atlanta-based Paradies Shops also won concession renewals at the airport.
Hudson Group plans a dual Rip Curl and Sunglass Hut store in terminal A and plans a CNN Newsstand Orange County in the new terminal C.
Paradies plans gift shops in terminals B and C, including a Beachfront News store, a Blackberry store and an OC TravelMart.
Auto Dealers, Jerry West
The Newport Beach-based Orange County Automobile Dealers Association held its annual meeting last week with guest speaker Jerry West, former general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers.
West played his entire professional basketball career for the Lakers. The NBA’s logo is modeled after his silhouette.
Auto dealers are expected to see sales finish 2010 up 12% from 2009. Sales are expected to keep growing this year in a continued rebound from the worst downturn since the 1970s.
