DOGGONE GOOD
By Chris Wadsworth
It sounds like something you’d see in a TikTok video. A row of dogs lined up and a hibachi chef cooking food and then tossing tender morsels through the air into the eager canines’ gaping maws.
But it’s a real event, one that has taken place numerous times around Northern Virginia – and it’s all a promotion for the fresh dog food brand Bogey’s Mix.
“The dogs are catching it in mid-air and it’s just a fun time,” said Zach Feldman, founder and co-owner of Bogey’s Mix. “Once the chef is done cooking all the ingredients – turkey, egg, sweet potato, broccoli and quinoa – he mixes it all together and all the dogs get a bowl to take home.”
Feldman lives near Bles Park on Ashburn’s north side with his wife, Caroline, and his boxer named – yep, you guessed it – Bogey. Feldman’s business partner is Adam Totter of Long Island, N.Y. The men are best friends from their college days at Penn State University. Together, they are trying to create fresh, thoughtfully produced dog food that will keep your pooch happy and healthier longer – maybe years longer – than cheaper, mass-produced products.
“Data shows dogs on a fresh diet live an average of three years longer,” Feldman said. “For some dogs, that’s 30% of their life.”
[Editor’s Note: We checked – and indeed a 2003 study by Belgian scientists showed dogs fed fresh food lived – on average – 32 months longer.]
‘DUKE’
The idea for Bogey’s Mix started years ago and came from one of Feldman’s lowest points. His first dog was a German Shorthaired Pointer named Duke. He was an active dog that never tired of playing catch with a Frisbee.
“You could throw it 100 times, and he would never run out of gas,” Feldman recalled. “In 2018, when he was 8 years old, I was throwing the Frisbee to him at Wolf Trap Park and he just started to walk back really slowly. I took him to the vet.”
What followed was heart-wrenching – a tumor on Duke’s spleen had burst. He was gone in a matter of days. Feldman started to research dogs and illnesses and food and was horrified to discover the low-quality ingredients used in some cheaper dog foods and also a growing concern about the possible presence of carcinogens in some kibbles.
In a sad coincidence, Caroline Feldman also had a beloved dog die from cancer, so when the couple got a new puppy – Bogey – in 2022, they took a different approach.
“We were like, ‘OK, let’s change things up. Let’s try to do something different to extend his life,’” Feldman said.
The couple knew they wanted to switch to fresh food and for a while, Bogey was fed The Farmer’s Dog, a national brand of fresh dog food that customers order online and have shipped to them. But Feldman said it broke the bank – costing between $500 and $600 a month.
“It was very frustrating,” Feldman said. “And then Caroline said ‘Hey, Zach, why don’t we make his food?’”
A COMPANY IS BORN
And that’s what they did. Bogey was soon eating home-cooked meals each day as Feldman learned more and more about the pet food industry. He consulted with canine nutritionists, experimented with ingredients, and then started brainstorming with his pal, Totter.
“We’re very entrepreneurial,” Totter said. “Zach and I have had many different businesses over the past 10-plus years or so.”
It’s true. Since both men graduated from Penn State in 2015, Totter has worked in the corporate security industry developing personal protection products.
After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, Feldman worked in the tech and health industries. But his love of animals has been ever present. In 2021, he and Caroline developed and launched an app called Pals, where dog owners could connect to set up play dates and find dog-friendly venues near them. That experience was the seed that ultimately led to Bogey’s Mix.
The duo officially launched Bogey’s Mix in the summer of 2024. They spent the rest of the year testing various recipes, getting the proper licenses and fine-tuning their business plan.
They set themselves up at the ChefScape commercial kitchen facility in Leesburg and started producing batches of fresh dog food. They launched a website to market and sell their products and started holding doggy hibachi demonstrations and speaking to would-be customers at farmer’s markets around the area.
“It’s been freaking awesome,” Totter said. “We do great at in-person events where people can talk to us directly. People really get a sense that we have put a lot of work into this, and we really care about having the highest quality product available.”
The current recipe has the cheeky name “Bogey’s Mix Turkey Feast Mode.” Feldman says it costs customers from $1 to $15 a day, depending on the size of the dog and the meal plan chosen. A new beef-based recipe is in the works.
Since sales started in January, new customers have signed on each week, and the company currently has more than 60 subscribers for either their full meal plans – where the dog is fed entirely Bogey’s Mix meals – or a Topper plan – where Bogey’s Mix is used in conjunction with other foods.
‘PENNY’
Erica Parker is one of those new customers. She lives in the Courts and Ridges neighborhood in Ashburn with her husband, two daughters, and Penny. Penny is a 2-year-old Standard Goldendoodle who may be on the small side but makes up for it with boundless energy.
“She is a very friendly puppy,” Parker says with a laugh. “She loves people. She loves to play ball.”
Originally, Penny was fed standard pet food – “kibble and canned stuff that looks like mush,” according to Parker. But the family soon noticed that Penny had a bit of a sensitive stomach. They switched her diet around, even experimenting with making their own pet food for her. But that was time consuming and expensive.
Then they bumped into the Bogey’s Mix team at a farmer’s market in Ashburn. Parker hoped their recipe would be a solution for Penny’s dinner-time woes – and she also liked supporting a local business.
Bogey’s Mix delivers its fresh-made food to Parker’s home each Saturday. It comes frozen, and she thaws it before serving it up to an eager Penny.
“She will wait for us to put it in her bowl and, boy, it’s gone in a sitting,” Parker said. “She definitely likes the food.”
Penny and Parker appear to be right on trend. According to a study released by the financial institution CoBank, sales of fresh dog food have increased by 86% since 2021.
THE PLAN
Right now, the team at Bogey’s Mix is focused on growing its customer base here in the Washington area. Spreading beyond that is certainly a possibility down the road, but for the next three to five years, they feel like this area is a good fit for them.
Feldman says he has crunched the numbers and, based on stats and surveys, he estimates there are nearly 120,000 dog-owning households that make over $100,000 a year and – importantly – have expressed interest in fresh pet food.
“That’s important because these are people often more willing to spend money on nutritious food for their dogs,” he said.
One other goal: moving out of the rented space and setting up their own Bogey’s Mix kitchen that will be 100% dedicated to their products – hibachi chef hats and all.
That facility will be overseen by Judson Smith – nicknamed the “Kitchen Boss” – another Northern Virginia native who is joining the company as a new partner. He’ll be handling all the production operations, making sure every batch of Bogey’s Mix is cooked perfectly.
“Our goal is to get as many dogs as we can on fresh food. We’re looking at 12,000 to 15,000 dogs in the next few years,” Feldman said. “And we don’t want to become a corporate type of company, where they start to slack on the quality of the food and ingredients. We aren’t going to take any shortcuts.”