FuzzyButz Pet Bakery
By: Sue Burkhard
Today’s pet owner often considers their pets to be an important member of the family and there is a store in beautiful St. Joseph, Michigan that caters to those special family members. FuzzyButz Pet Bakery is located in downtown St. Joseph within walking distance of Lake Michigan. Downtown St. Joseph has the small town quaint feeling with a thriving retail district full of specialty shops.
When Mary and Rick Schaut, owners of FuzzyButz Pet Bakery, were looking for a location for their store they fell in love with the charm of St. Joseph and appreciated the organized business support and tourism promotion already in place in the community.
When the Schauts opened the doors to FuzzyButz Pet Bakery in February of 2003 they had done their research and knew that they would offer good quality items and fresh homemade treats using only human grade ingredients. Today they strive to find unique pet items that are not found in the large pet warehouse stores, with a focus on finding items made in the United States.
FuzzyButz bakes all of their counter treats and many of their bagged treats in house. Mary Schaut believes this allows her to ensure that the treats they sell not only taste good for your pet but are good for your pet. Living in the heart of Michigan’s fruit belt has allowed FuzzyButz to take advantage of the wide variety of local fresh produce. Local fruit is used in their all-natural treats including blueberries, cranberries, apples, and cherries. FuzzyButz also uses pumpkin, zucchini and carrots in their veggie treats!
The Schauts firmly believe that for their business to thrive they must help the local community prosper. Supporting the local farmer is one way of doing that. Another local commodity that is used in their store to bake their cat treats is fish! With Lake Michigan on their door step they decided to take advantage of the local fresh fish season for their cat treats. Salmon is a huge favorite for the feline FuzzyButz friends and they have a hard time keeping these cat treats in stock since they have become such a hit!
Mary and Rick Schaut both agree that one of the great joys of owning and operating their own Pet Bakery is the variety they can offer and the changes they make seasonally. Holidays are a BIG deal at FuzzyButz Pet Bakery and everyone enjoys the changes. Rick works hard to change his storefront window displays to represent these special seasons. On the Bakery side, Mary researches and experiments with new and fun treats for the pets.
Spring treats range from beautiful heart shaped valentine cookies, to Easter Baskets and pretty pastel munchies. Halloween brings everything from creepy spider treats to ghosts on a stick and Christmas has a life of its own with everything and anything imaginable for this special holiday.
FuzzyButz Pet Bakery is not only home made treats though! Store visitors will find a nice selection of quality pet and gift items also. They stock a wide variety of well made pet clothing, including coats and boots for winter weather protection, rain coats, and just fun “dress up” clothes for your pet. On the more practical side they carry several lines of pet collars, leashes, harnesses, and ID tags.
Visitors to FuzzyButz will find a wall full of fun and sometimes hard to find pet toys. Mary and Rick themselves own dogs who are tough on toys and have strived to find and offer an excellent selection of “tough toys” for those dogs who can destroy a tennis ball in 15 seconds. They also recognize that customers’ pets will come in all sizes and ages, and they work hard to meet those needs by stocking a wide variety of sizes and styles so that every pet owner can find the perfect toy for their pet!
Although almost all of the pets that come to visit the store are dogs, cats are not forgotten at FuzzyButz. Along with their line of homemade cat treats, FuzzyButz also stocks a good selection of cat toys, collars, climbing/scratching trees and more for the fuzzy kitties left at home.
When Mary and Rick Schaut first envisioned opening their store, they knew they would need to offer a well rounded selection of good quality items and healthy exciting treats to stay in business. It wasn’t until after the first year or so that they realized that wholesaling their pet treats to other stores would become important also. FuzzyButz Pet Bakery treats are wholesaled for resale to over a dozen other retailers across the country and have rounded out the store nicely.
FuzzyButz Pet Bakery also has a presence on the internet with their website www.fuzzybutzpetbakery.com . Since many of their customers are tourists visiting from other locations, they use the website as a reorder tool for those folks who’s pets fall in love with their treats. Web customers also find it easy to use the website to order fun and unique treat packages to be sent as gifts to other pet owners.
FuzzyButz Pet Bakery is proud of the fact that they have sold over 15 tons of treats since they opened their doors in 2003. Their pride is apparent in the beautifully hand decorated treats in their display counters and the variety of treats and pet items they offer their customers. On any day of the week a trip into FuzzyButz will provide you with the scent of fresh baked goodness flowing from the kitchen area that will have not only your pampered pet salivating but you as well!
Blueberry Biscotti
5 cups flour
1/4 cups chopped raw peanuts
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1/4 cup cannola oil
2 1/2 cups chopped fresh blueberry's
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup of water
Preheat oven to 325F. Place dry ingredients in large bowl. Mix a well in center. Blend egg, oil, and blueberries together. Add into the dry ingredients in well. Start combining together. Add water one teaspoon at a time as needed. Knead by hand on table until mixed thoroughly. Form into logs approximately 2"-2 1/2" high. Flatten so that log is 6"-7" wide by 1" high. Place on non-stick baking sheets or lightly greased ones. Bake 30-40 minutes. Remove and cool for 10 minutes. Slice into 1/2 to 3//4 slices, then place back on baking sheet and bake for another 20 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a cooling rack and let air dry over night then place treats in an air tight container.