Restaurants serving dog food gain ground in the US – 04/24/2023 – Market

To celebrate the 10-month anniversary of Jagger’s successful spinal surgery, his goldendoodle dog, Cat Torrejon-Nisbet, didn’t buy him the traditional leather bone. Instead, he paid $15 for a pale pink, rose-shaped pasta made from the heart of an antelope at Dogue, a dog restaurant in San Francisco, California.

“They’re not going to love you any more for giving them the fancy treatment,” said Torrejon-Nisbet, 50, who lives in Santa Barbara with Jagger and her bernedoodle sister, Sierra. “It’s a testament to the love we have for our dogs.”

Dog owners like Torrejon-Nisbet are frequenting an increasing number of restaurants across the United States that offer separate menus for their four-legged family members. Dog menus have become the new version of children’s menus in some restaurants. Pet “parents” can now order a steak or Alaskan salmon over steamed rice for their dogs. The dog can wash this down with a non-alcoholic “beer” made from pork broth or a bowl of Dög Pawrignon made with wild salmon oil.

Other restaurants have taken it a step further, catering exclusively to dogs — from personalized doggie birthday cakes to food trucks serving chicken nuggets and burgers. At Dogue, dogs consume an exquisite tasting menu.

Kelly Lockett, 32, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, took Benji, her mini-schnauzer mix, to several New York restaurants with dog menus, including Judy Z’s in Greenwich Village.

“He is very happy, he likes to spend time with us and not be alone at home,” she said.

The pandemic has sparked a spike in pet ownership, according to a 2021-22 survey by the American Pet Products Association, which found dogs in about 65.1 million US households. Pet product sales have increased by $46 billion since 2018, according to the association, which predicts they will reach $143.6 billion this year.

In San Francisco, Jason Villacampa, 40, has treated his corgis, Tony and Captain, to a tasting menu at Dogue four times. It costs $75 per dog, with complimentary sparkling water or mimosa cocktails for the owner.

On a recent visit, Villacampa said, chef Rahmi Massarweh explained the dishes the dogs were about to eat, detailing which local farm supplied each ingredient and how each meal was prepared. He served bone broth at the table and put the finishing touches on dishes like Mosaic Chicken, strips of white meat wrapped in nori seaweed, layered and cooked in a bain-marie. Massarweh, a chef for 20 years, trained in French cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco.

Dog menus provide a new source of revenue for restaurants. The Wilson, in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, reckons it serves meals for most of the 30 to 40 dogs that come in every day. A dog dish with meat and vegetables costs US$24 (R$120).

Despite recent inflation, 54% of dog owners said they were willing to spend more to provide their pets with a more nutritious, complete diet that matched their family’s healthy choices, according to a small survey done a year ago by Rover, a pet sitting service. Rover also said that dogs have become a substitute for children in many households.

“Pets are members of our family, and we want to feed them that way, too,” said Ron Holloway, owner of Woofbowl, a Dumbo, Brooklyn-based food truck that caters to dogs.

Holloway and his wife, Solo Holloway, a former biochemical and electrical engineer, started the mobile restaurant after making more nutritious meals for their French bulldogs, Latto and Dino. Ron, a military veteran, and Solo, a Cambodian refugee, adopted the dogs as part of their treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Just as some people celebrate their birthdays or holidays at restaurants, many dog ​​owners do the same with their pets. Owners order custom cakes — like one shaped like a ramen bowl for a shih tzu named Ramen — from companies like Maison de Pawz in New York, a dog-friendly bakery and catering company where they can choose from flavors like peanut butter. , Funfetti, coconut, spiced apple or carob (chocolate is toxic to dogs). The dense cakes are made with buckwheat flour and coconut oil, and while humans can eat them, they probably wouldn’t enjoy the taste, said Mei-i Zien, who owns the bakery.

Ashley Marino, who lives on the Upper East Side, is planning to take Henry, her maltipoo, to Wilson’s for birthday brunch later this month. She’ll probably order him her favorite dish, chicken and veggies in a dog bowl, and later he’ll have a bacon- or banana-flavored cupcake. (She hasn’t decided which one yet.)

“I want to experience that with him,” said Marino, 37.

She and her boyfriend celebrate birthdays with brunch and would love to do the same for Henry.

“It sounds ridiculous to say that out loud,” Marino said. “It’s just nice to take him out and treat him to something. We’re all enjoying this together.”

To comply with Department of Health regulations, pet-friendly restaurants in New York City serve only dog-only items or prepare meals for pets and people separately. At Judy Z’s and Wilson, the dogs and their owners sit at tables outside, and the food is served in bowls that must be placed on the floor.

At Boris & Horton in the East Village, which serves treats from Zien’s, items for dogs and treats for humans are prepared by separate teams and served on disposable plates to avoid cross-contamination. Logan Mikhly, founder of the dog cafe, said the city’s health department “helped with what we had to do to make it work, with a strict list of things, which we followed to the letter.”

When Joey, a Yorkshire terrier, visits New York City, his owner, Rachel Choi, 25, usually takes him to socialize at a dog park on the Lower East Side. But Choi said he makes it clear with his whining at the entrance that she doesn’t want to be there. He wants to go to Boris & Horton, which has air conditioning, to enjoy a peanut butter cupcake and get affection from other people.

“He seems to have a brilliant sense of humor there, in a way he doesn’t have anywhere else,” she said.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves