One Hot Cookie Founders Launch Mable & Bren Dog Products

CANFIELD, Ohio — The mother-daughter entrepreneur team who launched One Hot Cookie and its Oh Donut Co. spinoff have officially gone to the dogs.

And they’re pretty pleased with themselves about it.

The new venture, Mabel & Bren, grew out of research by Bergen Giordani and her daughter, Morgen Chretien, into a potential ice cream for dogs, “the rabbit hole that led us” to this, Giordani said. The online business, which they have been working since January to launch, sells treats, toys and even clothing for dogs. They launched its online store last week.

Chretien said they began switching the labeling on their dog treats to Mabel & Bren about two months ago. The brand is named for a pair of sibling pugs that she and her mother adopted a year ago. Bren is one of two dogs Giordani owns and Mabel is one of Chretien’s four.

Pet food and treat sales totaled $42 billion in 2020, a 9.7% increase from the before, the American Pet Products Association reported. The organization projects pet food sales will grow another 5% this year.

Dogs have been part of Giordani’s and Chretien’s business since they started One Hot Cookie in 2013.

“We had an adopted pug, Fredo, at the time,” Giordani recalled. “He was our unofficial mascot at One Hot Cookie because we didn’t have any advertising funds or anything like that, so he became the face of One Hot Cookie for years.” They’ve also hosted costume contests and pool parties for dogs at their stores.

One Hot Cookie started making dog treats to accompany the line of cookies it makes for human consumption about four years ago, followed by donuts made for dogs by OH Donut when it opened in 2019, Giordani said. A “create-your-own dog treat bar” at One Hot Cookie in Boardman was removed when the store was closed during the pandemic last year.

The treats have become so popular that customers ask for them when Giordani and Chretien take the “cookie camper” out for events, she continued. “They have grown a following,” she remarked.

The new brand and online store offer an opportunity to reintroduce the dog treats without sacrificing retail space.

“This was a way, as we were starting to grow and those brands were growing, we could bring everything under one label,” she said.

The 20 items now on the Mabel & Bren site include dog treats – mainly made from honey, oat and peanut butter – made at the One Hot Cookie/OH Donut kitchen in Boardman. Selections include the Paw-Paw Platter, a charcuterie-type board filled with treats for dogs to snack on.

“It looks really cool. It has dried bananas, apple chips, green beans, all kinds of fun things for your dog,” Chretien said. It also has yogurt and peanut butter bones, a peanut butter cookie and a fortune cookie for the human.

“This is something that you can take if you’re doing some sort of dog play date or visiting someone with dogs and you don’t know what to bring,’ Giordani added. “And they’re just good to have around, like it’s a built-in treat jar.”

In addition, the online store features a selection of items like toys and party hats. It includes the “Remy Collection,” named for Giordani’s Golden Labrador, for larger dogs, that are “a little more durable,” she said. All of the items are sourced from women-owned companies, something that is “extremely important” to the two entrepreneurs. They plan to add more items in the coming weeks as the holiday season approaches.

Items can be shipped for home delivery or picked up at One Hot Cookie in Boardman. While there are no plans yet for a physical Mabel & Bren storefront, they are considering a mobile dog unit in the future, Chretien said.

“Nothing’s ever out of the question for us,” she added.

Pictured: Morgan Chretien and Bergen Giordani with Mabel and Bren.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.