PARKVILLE, Md. — You know the saying: a dog is a man best friend.
However, in one Parkville neighborhood, there's not a man who can compete with Vishal and Shruti Mehta. Their 'doggy treats' have pets in the area unable to keep their paws off them.
“They’re basically our dogs," said Vishal.
It’s because they never come empty handed. The two bake the treats themselves and sell many of them to their neighbors. Their customers are hooked.
“Like 50 every week," Vishal said about how many they would give out for free to the dogs in their neighborhood.
At first, they would give them out for free, but then a neighbor gave them an idea that changed their lives.
"Giving the treats to do the dogs made them very happy, so when a neighbor had recommended that we start a business out of it, we thought it was a very good idea," Shruti said.
The two started what is now called VS Doggy Treats about a year ago. They spend countless hours baking and packaging the treats.
The ingredients they use are natural and organic.
For them, it’s didn’t take a focus group to know what their customers liked.
"We have peanut butter banana because dogs love peanut butter," said Vishal. "Then we have apple peanut butter which is another peanut butter flavor. I mean because why not.”
Vishal and Shruti have always wanted to make money on their own. They started doing odd jobs for their neighbors years ago. It was to save money to help pay for college.
“Whenever I would go buy school supplies--when I started taking care of people’s houses--I would pay for them myself. When I saw they came up to $40 and $50, I was like if one year of elementary school cost $40 imagine one year of college that would be insane," said Vishal.
Swati Metha, the kids' mother, said she couldn't be happier for them.
"We are really proud of the kids because the fact they from an early age have learned it’s important to be debt free. it’s important to earn money. That makes us so proud," she said.
Their advice for kids around their age who may want to start a business is dream big because only the sky is the limit.
“There’s nothing a kid can’t do that an adult can do," said Vishal.
Vishal and Shruti will be selling their doggy treats at the Perry Hall Town Fair on Saturday.
For more information about their business, you can go to their website by clicking the link here
