 And welcome to Adventures in Small Business. This program is a collaborative effort by between the US Small Business Administration, the Hawaii Small Business Development Centers, the MINK Center for Business and Leadership and Veterans Business Outreach Center of the Pacific. The idea for the program is to showcase the stories of local entrepreneurs and small businesses and to be sure that the audience understands and recognizes the resources available to assist small businesses in Hawaii. I'm Kathy Wiltsi, the State Director for the Hawaii Small Business Development Center. And today I have invited Laurie Hiramatsu and one of our Oahu clients to share their journey to success. Laurie Hiramatsu is a senior business advisor in the Oahu SBDC Center. And Gary Novicell is joining us to talk a little bit about his business, Raw Dog Hawaii, and he also has brought his colleague, Dakota Tatum, to share some of their story with us today. So welcome everyone. Very nice to see you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to just turn it over to Laurie right now because she's prepared some questions. I'll jump in if I have another question in addition to what she may have. Okay, Laurie. Thank you, Kathy. Hello, everyone. In 2016, I met Gary. He's a veteran entrepreneur, founder and owner of Raw Dog Hawaii, and we were brought in to assist with his expansion plans. Joining us today, as Kathy mentioned, is Dakota Tatum, who is the Director of Client Experience. So welcome, Gary. Thank you. Thank you. Gary, could you share with us in a brief overview of how you side your business and the products that you sell? Sure. We started sort of out of necessity. We, by the way, when I moved here in 2012, and I'd already been feeding raw food to our dog who had extreme allergies. And when we moved here, there wasn't a local source of raw food, and when I started looking at the resources that were available, the grass-fed, grass-finished cattle, all the organic vegetables that were here, and how rich the soil was, I thought, well, at least I have the ingredients to make it on my own for my dog. And that kind of started it, because friends were like, hey, what are you doing to your dog? How come your dog looks like a puppy? How old is he? And I said, well, he's 15. I said, oh, when he gets older, he's really going to be beautiful. I said, well, he's 15 years old. So that started people wanting the product, and you know how it goes when friends and family and then everybody else goes. So you become kind of this unwitting business owner, and that starts the process. And it was just an avalanche. It came out of nowhere. Could you share with us your product that you sell, or to go to some of the stores? Sure. Yes. So we make a chicken blend. It comes in patties. We also make beef and venison as well. We also do a nugget version, so that's great for smaller dogs. And then we have four different types of treats, beef heart treats, beef tendons, ahi treats, and liver treats. We have a few other products as well, but these are our top sellers. So Gary, as you started your business, what are some of the greatest challenges that you faced as an entrepreneur? I think any entrepreneur when they start a business, there's just a bevy of challenges. First was, where do I make it? Because my wife told me after a couple days, our kitchen was out. And so I started looking around for places, and we happened upon the Pacific Gateway Kitchen Incubator, which is a facility for human food. And I approached them and I said, well, I make dog food. And they said, well, you can't work in a human-grade kitchen unless you have a food permit. So I went down and approached the Department of Health and Safety, our sanitation, and they said, oh, sure you can't. We have a form letter for that. And I thought, well, how many times have you used this form letter? They said, never, you're the first one. OK, so I've got this form letter and I went back and started there. And there's always a hurdle. And first was, where do I get my products? And I reached out to farmers and ranchers, and I was new here. So I had a bit of a learning curve of how to work with local business people, and it's a lot different than the mainland. And they taught me very quickly. And as I started to scale in the Pacific Gateway Center, freezer space was next. And we were stacking coolers of venison and whole cows. We outgrew the space pretty quickly. So the next hurdle was finding space. Pacific Gateway Center, it was a manageable expense for us. And then going out into the real world, it's rent, the cost of power, all the things that go along with running a business, that was a real commitment. And I think we met somewhere a little bit after that to kind of help with that. Do you believe there's a winning formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur? And what is it? The secret sauce. As bad as it gets sometimes, talk to another entrepreneur. And then you're going to take every single one of your problems back because they're not as bad as somebody else's. And there are going to be times when you think, this is hard. I just, I can't do it. I can't find the solution for this. Every single entrepreneur goes through that. And the answer is don't quit as much as you want to sometimes. As hard as it is, as difficult as that speed bump is to cross, you're going to get up in the morning and you're going to want to quit and you need to get out of bed, take a shower, have a cup of coffee, that of course was grown here. And go to work and find a way around the problem. Because that's what it comes down to for any small business owner is, how far are you willing to take your passion? Do you love it enough to do it? That's why you started in the first place. So get off your butt and get past the problem. And there's always going to be a problem. And you know that in every small business, whether it's funding or whether it's finding a diversity of suppliers, whether it's dealing with the weather. So I think that's the secret sauce is you just have to believe in yourself, believe that and know that what you're doing works. So if you've got the product and you have the people, it's going to work out. That's good. Perseverance becomes important. So passion is important. Passion is important. You have to remember why you're doing it. You can't just be in the forest and just stare at trees. You have to remember that you have a bigger mission. So how do you define success? What is your definition of it? I'll show you the answer to that. Success is, well, I used to be a chief technology officer. And at the end of the day, the measure of success was nobody knowing who you were. Because everything had to be 100% perfect. So how do you do better than that? So for us, success, for me, seeing a dog healed that has been through the ringer, things that an owner has spent a lot of money trying to fix. And we do. And we get to see the happiness in the pet. And we get to see the happiness in the owner. I think helping hunters who struggle on Molokai to find a job, employing them, and giving them something that they love to do. And they now have an outlet for helping a farmer or a rancher who is struggling to stay in business to give them another outlet where they can sell at full price. And people think I'm nuts sometimes for buying vegetables with bug holes in it and paying them full price like a grocery store. But bugs are smarter than me. They know which one's the most nutritious. So why not give the farmer an outlet to sell those products that otherwise might not be sold? Could you share with us a little bit more about that? I think you had talked about the vegetables and bugs and how your company's also supporting some of the Molokai hunters. Right. So this would be a lot easier and cheaper for us if we brought in everything from the mainland and had a single source there. Hawaii already does that with 90% of what we consume. And it doesn't make sense. We have people here who excel at what they do. They love what they do. And we need to continue to support them as consumers of those products. Just like the stores that we sell into, they're mom and pop stores. They're not big box stores. We're helping them stay in business. They're helping us stay in business. But the ranchers on Molokai and the hunters on Molokai, it's difficult for them to find an outlet for what they do because venison is a perishable product. It's an invasive species here. We need to find a use for it. And it's not easy to ship frozen product from Hawaii to the mainland. So finding restaurants, finding grocery stores, finding pet food companies that can turn it into treats or some other consumer product helps people stay employed here. And we do that with all of our products across the board. Thank you. Who has been your greatest supporter in the challenges that you have faced in your business? Dakota, my wife, my customers. When you can completely and utterly screw up a customer's order, no other industry does the customer call you and say, oh, that's OK. Thank you for fixing it. Don't worry about it. That happens. The first time that happened, I'm like, I just met the nicest customer in the world. And sometimes we'll mess up an order when we ship. We'll ship the wrong thing. Oh, don't worry about it. Just fix it on the next order. Who does that? I mean, we have some of the coolest customers on the planet. In retail, that interaction would never happen. So customers, they're amazing. They're loyal, almost fanatical sometimes. Dakota has been with me and worked with me since the beginning. And I stole her. I did everything I could to steal her because I saw something in her that I rarely see. And that is the willingness to learn the outgoing personality and the willingness to do what it takes to provide a customer that service. And if it wasn't for Dakota and I'm not exaggerating, I would not be in business today because people like Dakota are so rare to find. And when you find them, keep them. Do whatever it takes. It's about halfway through our program. So we're going to take a little break for about a minute. And we'll come back and keep asking some more interesting questions for you to share your story. Thank you. When I was growing up, I was among the one in six American kids who struggled with hunger. And hungry mornings make tired days. Grumpy days. Kind of days. But with the power of breakfast, the kids in your neighborhood can think big and be more. When we're not hungry for breakfast, we're hungry for more. More ideas. More dreams. More fun. When kids aren't hungry for breakfast, they can be hungry for more. Go to hungarees.org and lend your time or your voice to make breakfast happen for kids in your neighborhood. My name is Stephanie Mock. And I'm one of three hosts of Think Tech Hawaii's Hawaii Food and Farmer series. Our other hosts are Matt Johnson and Pomei Weigert. And we talk to those who are in the fields and behind the scenes of our local food system. We talk to farmers, chefs, restaurateurs, and more to learn more about what goes into sustainable agriculture here in Hawaii. We are on a Thursdays at 4 PM. And we hope we'll see you next time. Speaking with Gary Novusel and Dakota Tatum from Raw Dog Hawaii and Laurie Hiramatsu, who is a consultant or business advisor in our Oahu office. Laurie, do you have some more questions? Yes, I do. Thank you. So Dakota, Gary thinks very highly of you. And you want to hear what your role and what do you mean by customer experience? What kind of customer experience are you going to create for Raw Dog clients? I would say my role in the company is making sure our customers have a seamless experience. So from the time they purchase their first bag of food or they place their first order on our website until they start their dog on the food and the dog has transitioned and the allergy symptoms are clearing up. So we want to be there every step of the way, switching to a new diet, a raw food diet can be intimidating for some of our customers. There's a lot of different options and you don't always know where to start. So being there for all of our customers, I can say I know almost all of our customers on a first name basis. I've been lucky enough to interact with them over the years, phone calls in person. So when I finally meet someone that I've been emailing back and forth for a few years, it's like so exciting to put a face to their name. So just to be support for them and help answer any questions they may have and make them feel comfortable. Oh, that's nice. It's good to have Dakota to field because as you mentioned, you can do other things. What is so amazing is if I step in and do a farmer's market, the question I get throughout the four hour farmer's market is where's Dakota? It's not, hi Gary, how are you doing? Thanks, where's Dakota? Why is she not here today? It's like, oh my God, I don't need to do these anymore. So, you know, but yeah, that's how awesome she is. Could you share with us, where are you now as far as your business, your expansions and what is the future hold for you? The, right now we are moving into, or hoping to move into a new facility in Kailua. We found the space in February. We actually talked with a big box retailer, not a pet company, it's a grocery store chain that has been in Hawaii as long as I've been alive. So it's integrated into the state. And our plans, of course, are to grow. Right now we are completely at capacity in our kitchen and I apologize to our customers and to our retailers who think that somehow we're holding food back. I assure you, when it comes in, the door, it's gone within 24 hours out to our customers and retailers. Growth in Hawaii is a challenge. It always is for any company. But, you know, with high tech development corporations, help with the help of the SBA and everything you guys have done, you have made my life so much easier growing up the business. I think after this, we have a lot of customers and when they've left Hawaii and go to the mainland, tell us we can't find a product like yours. When are you coming here? Why aren't you shipping to California? Why aren't you shipping? So, you know, our long-term plan was always to kind of replicate what we built here on the mainland. I don't know that we can because there are so many things unique about our products. They don't have volcanic soil in the mainland, so their steaks, the venison, the products we produce, aren't going to have the nutritional quality there that we have here. And I'd love to pack up all my farmers and ranchers and take them with me, but that is really the next step. The other is to start adding more probiotics to the product and hopefully consuming more vegetables and working with goat and cattle milk producers to add some lactifermented products to our foods. And then we were filmed for a documentary film called PetFood II. PetFood, the first version, highlighted some of the things that are wrong in the pet food industry and questionable processes that go on. And the consumer doesn't see that. And PetFood opened up those floodgates and let people know. And we've acquired a lot of customers because of that. We've been filmed for PetFood II. There is a small handful of companies that are gonna be in that group and we'll be meeting on 4th of July in New York with those other small companies. So I'm hoping we can find and create a joint venture with those companies and expand what we're doing to a broader audience. So you've gone to the next stage. You had your startup, you grew through an expansion mode. So two different stages. Your first stage, you started out, could you share some sage advice to people who hold art in that stage that you could pass on to them? My biggest advice is be humble. You have a lot of people around you with a lot of experience and do not be afraid. Get past yourself, get past your ego. Do not be afraid to ask for help because there are so many people who've gone what you've gone through and they want to pass on that knowledge to somebody else just like the economic development, the easy economic development program that's here. It provides subsidies for companies who are in economically depressed or underserved areas. I didn't know about that until they approached me. So ask. And then as you're getting bigger, don't forget you're in Hawaii and everybody knows what you're doing. Super Zoo is going on right now in Las Vegas and I saw a product that was advertised and I won't name the company but they were having a Hawaiian party there and they were giving away lays and they had this pet treat with a cute character wearing the lay. I don't think any of that company's ever been to Hawaii. They don't understand the culture. So cultural appropriation is a problem. Be respectful of the people around you and the culture here. It's important. You have to be Pono. You have to respect the land. You have to think about your packaging and the plastics that you use and the fact that we don't recycle like other states do. So that's what we try to do along the way is be responsible, be aware of the environment. But yeah, just be humble and don't be afraid to ask for help. As a business owner, as you scale up which is very challenging for many companies, what advice do you have for them on the business side of scaling up production? Well, we're in the manufacturing business so it's gonna be very different for other companies. Think creatively like us. One of the products that we are looking into developing is a coconut milk kefir. We have goat milk which is brought in from someplace else. We have cow milk which is brought in from someplace else. Nobody's making that here. So we're gonna make that product but then what do we do with the coconut husks? Think about the leftover products and try to be creative about revenue streams. It's easier to sell to an existing customer than to acquire new ones. So think about how you can provide a value edit service with something here that is a waste product. Palettes is a great example. Crush the pallets, shred the pallets. They're simple machines to do that. Sell wood chips. So yeah, be thinking outside the box. Look at things that are stacked up around the neighborhood or other businesses that are going unused and brainstorm. So there are many resources out there for you to use, right? So how did you reach out? What is your recommendation for small businesses to reach out to the resources? Sometimes they don't know where to start so what would you recommend? First, call you guys, the Small Business Development Corporation. Talk to the SBA. You have groups that service core retired executives. They helped me in providing counseling to do it. Call other large small business owners. I have customers that run businesses like Citi Mill. And they said, you know, why haven't you asked us for help when I talked to them? So don't be afraid of the size of the company. Usually the bigger they are, the more willing and helpful they can be to you. You just have to ask. At least you know. But there's a lot of resources here that are available. You, again, asking other people what they did, how they did it, will give you a lot more answers beyond what even I can. So how do you both stay ahead of the competition? Well, there's very limited competition here. We're the only provider of a locally sourced raw food in Hawaii. We know that there are treat companies that are starting to produce pet treats that are locally sourced. You stay ahead by just continuing to do what you say you're going to do. Be aware of the competition. But, you know, being 3,500 miles away from the mainland kind of helps a lot. It's expensive to ship heavy frozen product here. But just be aware of what they're doing and continue thinking about your customers' needs. Satisfy those needs. Create an excellent customer service experience. And competition, it's going to come. We know it. We know there's going to be a competitor coming to the market sometime. But we know what we do and we try to do it as best we can. So branding. Any advice on branding that you could share? How about branding your name, your product? I think I have, I know I have a very different opinion from my wife on branding. I kind of prescribe a little bit to the Howard Stern model of be a little shocking. But not to the point of being rude and obnoxious. So when we were looking at freeze-dried products on the mainland, we worked with a company to help us with branding and they said the pit bull's got to go. It has very negative connotations in the mainland. And I said, yeah, that's not happening. Because the people and like breeds are kind of the unofficial state dog of Hawaii. So things like that. We're going to keep it because that is our brand. We kind of live out there on the edge of a little bit. Be consistent. You can't afford to go out and spend $70,000 with a branding company that's going to help you. Find a company to help you design professional labels. There are people that will trade in kind. We've traded pet photography for pet food. So there's lots of ways that you can find that inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing all of your ideas and your thoughts with us. One thing that we're very happy to hear that you are a satisfied client of the Small Business Development Center. And I just wanted the audience to know that we actually have offices on all of the islands here in Hawaii. And there are also mainland compatriots of ours. So pretty much anywhere you are, you can get help from the Small Business Development Centers. So thank you again for sharing and your innovative ideas and your continuous moving forward and changing is very admirable. Well, pleasure with ours and thank you guys for all the help that you've provided along the way. You're welcome. I think, I don't know. Do we have a couple more minutes? One more? Okay. So the Hawaii Small Business Development Center is a readily accessible program. We have five service centers across the state. We have two on Hawaii Island, one in Hilo and one in Kona. On Maui, there is an office. One on Oahu, plus a couple of satellite locations that we operate from and one on Kauai. So again, thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas and we really appreciate it. Pleasure was absolutely nice. Thank you for having us. Thank you for coming.