By Heather Lusk
Changes are coming to Main Street with a new Three Dog Bakery franchise expected to open by June.
Christy Zeller, an avid pet lover and coincidentally an owner of three dogs, has been a longtime customer of the natural ingredient bakery for pets.
“I was on the website one day and saw, ‘Do you want to own your own franchise?,’ and I thought, I sure do,” she said. There are other Three Dog Bakery franchises in the area, but they have different owners.
“It’s a definite learning curve, but it’s also a lot of fun and really exciting to go through the process,” said Zeller, who is opening the franchise with her husband, Brett, who grew up in Zionsville.
Their dogs are also big fans of the Three Dog Bakery products.
“We might break even just on what our dogs consume alone,” she said. “Everything that our dogs consume, wear and have is from that store.”
All of the pastries and cakes are baked fresh on site.
“Part of the Three Dog Bakery brand is having the kitchen exposed and baking in the open for customers to see just how fresh the product really is,” Zeller said.
She feels there’s demand in Zionsville for pet products, as she’s spotted many dogs being walked along Main Street even in colder weather, and she said people continue to spend more money on their pets. The American Pet Products Association estimated that Americans would spend more than $60 billion on their pets in 2015.
“Everyone that we tell about it is so excited,” she said. “There is brand recognition, and if there’s not they still want to bring their dogs into the store.”
The store will occupy the 120 S. Main St. entrance of its building and is taking over a portion of the Corner Vise next door.
