HOPKINS, Minnesota — A Hopkins-based pet treat manufacturer is known for its products, but it's also the people who work there who make its story unique.
Stashios was founded in 2019, and Michele Pennington, a former elementary school teacher, became president of the company.
"The pet industry is primarily male, so the fact that we're women-owned and women-run is fairly unique and we manufacture everything in-house. So, not only are we a women-owned pet company, but we're a women-owned manufacturing company, too, which is really rare," Pennington said.
Pennington then brought Amy Carruth on board — a longtime friend, dating back to elementary school. The pair first bonded over their love for dogs. Carruth is now the sales manager for Stashios.
"Many years later to be working together at a dog treat manufacturer is great. It's kind of a funny full circle," Carruth said.
Stashios has 14 employees, many of them women.
"Most of our production workers are female and a lot of them I found on, like, my Facebook moms group," Pennington said. "Just moms that... they were stay-at-home moms and now their kids are in elementary school and they're kind of looking for something super flexible during the the school day."
Stashios is focused on creating innovative products to help make pet parenting easier.
"It's fun to see the product from the beginning to the end and see the customers, how they think of the products," said Katie Iverson, vice president of operations and strategy.
Their products include Wrap-Ups that help pets take pills.
"You can actually wrap it all the way around the pill and then feed it to them as a treat," Carruth said.
Another popular product is their soothing Saucer, a patented design that promotes licking to help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. It can be used with their Soothing Sauce, which includes all-natural calming ingredients like ashwagandha, magnolia bark and lavender.
"We really wanted to focus on limited ingredients and healthy ingredients," Carruth said. "People these days treat their pets like family and children, and they want to give them the best that they can."
All of their products can be given to dogs and many of them also include cats. You can find Stashios through its store locator, as well as online.
Know a local business we should feature for our Behind the Business segment? Email Heidi Wigdahl at hwigdahl@kare11.com.
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