Yorktown Beach’s dog-friendly atmosphere attracted a Kentucky-based business selling handcrafted dog biscuits that are becoming popular with customers across the region.

Gangsta Dog opened at 319 Water St. at Riverwalk Landing in April selling hard cookies with tasty flavors like apple cinnamon, bacon cheeseburger, peanut butter, pumpkin and toasted coconut in addition to soft treats, dog food and dog food sprinkles. The retailer offers specialty products for food allergies and senior dogs along with CBD oil products. The store also sells dog apparel, dental chews, toys and gift items.

Negotiations are underway to open a store in Norfolk, owner Gary Hughes said, largely because a number of customers come from that city to buy supplies.

Business success is leading Gary Hughes and wife, Laura, toward releasing the product line nationally and franchising. The business model is built around the idea of finding a need and filling it and developing brand loyalty and preference. The Retail Alliance in Hampton Roads recognized Gangsta Dog as the Peninsula’s pet shop Retailer of the Year, and the business earned similar retail recognition for its location in Louisville, Kentucky.

Gary Hughes said he bakes 1,000 biscuits daily, taking pride in providing authentic, flavor-filled all natural foods.

“It’s an eight-hour day,” he said, “mixing and rolling ingredients and cutting by hand, using our own oat flour, with zero chemicals or artificial ingredients.”

He said nothing is mass produced and everything is fresh and bagged per order, which differentiates it from other pet stores.

The ball got rolling on the business when folks kept asking Gary Hughes what kind of dog his mixed-breed terrier Bruiser was. And he would say, a “gangsta dog.”

One night during dinner with his wife, the project manager for Louisville Downs in Kentucky checked online to see if the name was available or registered.

“It wasn’t,” he said. “So on the spot, I bought it and all the domains. Then I went to the Secretary of State website and registered it as an LLC. I spent $500 right during dinner on my phone. So, we had a company.”

But at that point, he said he had no product or thought about what to do with it.

Things serendipitously began to take shape when his daughter had to drop out of a Christmas cookie-decorating class. Gary Hughes took her place and quickly realized he enjoyed the cooking and decorating process — and was good at it.

Laura Hughes suggested making dog biscuits might be the idea and set the ball in motion. Her husband, not wanting them to be just any biscuit, started a yearlong research of ingredients and all natural, gourmet-type products.

While their logo was being designed, they tried different combinations of ingredients and, embracing technology and social media, started contacting people with Facebook entries for their dogs and sent them free samples, asking for feedback. He said that if any dog didn’t like one sample, he’d go back and tweak the recipe. If two or more dogs didn’t bite, it was scratched.

Gangsta Dog opened its first store in Louisville just before the pandemic started in late November 2019 and quickly grew. Expansion hasn’t disrupted quality control, nor will it, the owner said. The Hughes team trains new employees and will continue to do so as growth continues.

“We’ve created a cookbook with all the ingredients, baking processes, pictures of all the cooking tools and utensils — among them an antique cookie cutter from Switzerland,” he said.

They also spend time at each location working hands-on with new employees, building skills for baking and selling, with the end-goal being creating the best products possible and an environment wherein customers love to come in the store.

“When you have a dream,” Gary Hughes said, “you need to pursue it.”

For more information, visit gangstadog.com.