Good Neighbor Podcast: South of the River

EP#117 Beyond Treats: Finding Connection With Our Pets

• Mark • Season 1 • Episode 117

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Nina Frazee from Pet Park Boulevard joins us to share her journey in the pet industry and her specialty pet bakery business. She creates custom dog treats focusing on birthdays and special occasions while maintaining a commitment to natural ingredients and pet health.

• Pet Park Boulevard is both an online boutique and bakery specializing in dog and cat toys, accessories, and custom treats
• Nina has been in the pet industry since 2015, starting at Nature's Variety before launching her own business in 2022
• Most products are sourced from small businesses and cannot be found in big box pet stores
• The bakery uses only natural ingredients with zero preservatives and plant-derived dyes
• Nina recommends single-ingredient dental chews like bully sticks over commercial products with preservatives
• Pet gut health is connected to issues like skin problems and dental concerns
• The business is a family affair with Nina's children helping to bake the treats
• Nina's background includes aspirations to be a marine biologist and work in real estate before finding her passion in the pet industry

Check out Pet Park Boulevard at petparkboulevard.com, on Etsy, or follow them on Facebook and Instagram @petparkboulevard.


Announcer:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mark Braaten.

Mark Braaten:

Well, welcome to podcast number 117, and today we have a treat Actually, it's a real treat for your pets. We have owner Nina Frazee from Pet Park Boulevard with us today to share a little bit about her business. Nina, how are you doing today?

Nina Frazee:

I'm doing great. How are you doing, Mark? Thanks for having me.

Mark Braaten:

Oh, it's been a blast. I'm excited to have you here. We've gone down each other's path here in the last month having a good time, so, yeah, I'm really excited for you to to share your business with everybody, and and then we just keep rocking and rolling. But uh, go ahead, tell us a little bit about peck park boulevard yeah, so, um, pet park boulevardvard is a boutique and bakery.

Nina Frazee:

I sell dog and cat toys and accessories and my specialty is the bakery aspect. I make custom dog treats. I'm also focusing on birthdays, so I make birthday cupcakes, birthday cookies, anything that you can pretty much think of. It's so much fun for me and it's been doing this since 2022 with Pet Park Boulevard and the bakery part I just launched a couple months ago and it has been amazing.

Mark Braaten:

Well, I have seen some of those things and I want to turn into a dog. I really do. Those things look yummy.

Nina Frazee:

He gets to sample everything. Yeah.

Mark Braaten:

Yeah, everybody, you got to go check out Pet Park Boulevard even before we get into the podcast deep, but that's awesome. So, hey, how did you get into it and maybe why you got into it?

Nina Frazee:

Yeah, so I've been in the pet industry since 2015. I started working at Nature's Variety when I was living in San Diego, california, and then, when I moved to Missouri, continued to be a BA for Nature's Variety, also, started picking up some shifts at a local boutique and I absolutely just fell in love with both fields and then eventually I was like, oh my gosh, it'd be great to have like my own storefront. But then COVID happened, unfortunately, so I started to. You know, we'll just do like an online shop for now, and ever since then it's been going great. I love to like support small businesses, and so most of the products that you find on the website are from other small businesses that you also can't find at your big box stores like Petco and PetSmart truly like one of a kind, unique pet accessories and toys.

Mark Braaten:

But you're still searching for that storefront, correct?

Nina Frazee:

Yeah, you know, some some days I think about it and then, but right now I'm actually very content with how things are going right now. But I think one day if, like the bakery, absolutely, you know, just blows up, I would love to do a storefront and, just, you know, throw in some toys, some accessories, just really like homey feeling.

Mark Braaten:

Yeah, I've got some ideas that we'll share a different time for your thoughts. I'm kind of a dreamer as well and I thought about your industry as a whole and bringing it to a storefront, Because lately I've seen a lot of training indoors when it's inclement weather and stuff, and here we are in winter. San Diego is a little different than here, but having a space where you can see some of your goodies all cooked is really cool. And then obviously we showed that at the last hour at the boathouse so we had some fun there. So in your business like all businesses probably more misconceptions and myths about dog treats and health and teeth and all that stuff. So what are some of those things that you hear in your industry? That's really a misconception.

Nina Frazee:

Ah, that's a good question. Well, for me, I really am a big advocate for pet health, so it's more than just like making the treats and making sure that they're yummy and whatnot. I definitely use like natural ingredients and zero preservatives. Therefore, I'm using dyes that have no sugar in it. It's all derived from plants and so it's going to be all natural. I guess that kind of veers off your question. I guess a misconception.

Nina Frazee:

Well, for one thing, for instance, like dental shoes, I really like to encourage people to use like a one ingredient for dental shoes. That is probably a really big one that people talk about a lot because they're constantly buying things like greenies, but there's so many preservatives and like unnatural ingredients in there that that just ends up being so unhealthy for your dog. You know everything comes from the gut. So when you have like skin issues, teeth issues, all that stuff you just really got to focus on you know like what are they ingesting? And so one ingredient freeze, dried, for instance, like bully sticks, even like chicken or duck feet. I know it sounds really gross, but those are going to be what you want for dental care well, that's it.

Mark Braaten:

That's a misconception and stuff. You just kind of spelled it out. Um, it sounds like I could eat that if it's healthy, but we want our animals. Our pets are part of our families. We need them to be healthy as well. I, I love that. Nina. That was awesome. Gave you a couple of thumbs up there, so that was perfect analogy. How about and I know you have some kids and things you do what do you do to stay balanced in your fun life, whatever it is sports, movies, theaters what do you?

Nina Frazee:

do so my kids are really active. They are four and six. They started soccer just two weeks ago, they are in gymnastics, ninja class, all those things. So we're constantly busy driving the kids around and if we're not doing that, we love going to the movie theaters. My husband loves movies and having popcorn and nachos, all those things, so that's definitely one of our favorite things that we like to do. But the kids also love to help me bake dog treats, so my daughter will get her like big old step stool. She'll, you know, get on top of there and start stirring the batter and they like to take the rolling pin and roll things out. So I feel like if we're doing things for me, for my husband or for the kids you know they love to be engaged.

Mark Braaten:

It's a family affair. I love it, I love it, I love it. Yeah, so you know all this stuff and again I've gotten to know you a little bit. You're full of energy and smiles, but is there anything in your past I know you've been in that industry, but maybe when you were growing up or something that's drawn you towards the pets and serving a family with their pets and their loved animals beloved animals Is there anything? That jumps at you, that made you go that route versus some other career.

Nina Frazee:

No, not necessarily. I mean, I've always had a passion for animals. I actually wanted to be a marine biologist when I was like 18 or 19. And in my early twenties I moved out to San Diego in the back of my mind thinking I am going to find a school that I can go to to become a marine biologist. And then, um, work got in the way staying busy, being social, all that stuff. I was in my early 20s so I just kind of drifted off that. But then when I picked up that BA job at Nature's Variety, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm finally back in my passion. I even had a moment where I was like maybe real estate was my thing too, because I was a project manager at a real estate company and I just I loved it. I worked really hard but didn't find like that true value and passion. Until I started working with animals.

Mark Braaten:

I was like this is absolutely fantastic, this is my calling well, we're super happy you're here in prior lake and and uh, working around us, because I uh, I get excited every time we see each other at different events and stuff and your name comes up quite often. So kudosudos to Pet Park Boulevard there. So well, we're going to kind of hopefully wrap up here a little bit, but I really want you to tell everybody if there's one thing that we leave today with that you want everybody to know and remember, what would that be?

Nina Frazee:

It doesn't take a lot to show your pets that you love them. It could just be giving an extra 20 minutes of the day, just petting them, brushing them, just giving them your undivided attention. I know that you know we all live a busy life and sometimes things, just you know, slip out of our hands. But at the end of the day you know your pets are waiting for you at home and they just want some love and affection from you and just giving that 15, 20 minutes really, really matters a lot. Obviously, do more than that if you can, but busy life, absolutely Just uninvited attention for 15, 20 minutes, that will make it their day minutes that will make it their day.

Mark Braaten:

Man that hits home so well, because there's nothing better than a hard day that I've had, when the pet comes up and just looks at you and wags his tail and all it's doing is giving you the love right back that you're going to give them in about 30 seconds. So that was awesome, awesome, awesome advice. Now the good thing is tell everybody how to get ahold of you. All the different ways besides ladies night at the chamber or whatever. Just tell everybody how to get ahold of Nina and Pet Park Boulevard.

Nina Frazee:

Yeah, so you can actually find the website. It's petparkboulevardcom where you can find the shop, all the treats, the bakeries, the accessories. I'm also on Etsy. I just opened up my shop on Etsy, which has been fantastic. So if you're a big Etsy shopper, small business shopper, etsy is the way to go. I also have Facebook and Instagram and that handle for that is Pet Park Boulevard.

Mark Braaten:

I absolutely love it and I've enjoyed our time so much, so I look forward to the next time. I thank you so much and go Pet Park Boulevard.

Nina Frazee:

Thank you, Mark.

Announcer:

Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast South of the River. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPSouthoftherivercom. That's GNPSouthoftherivercom. Southoftherivercom. That's GNPSouthoftherivercom, or call 952-592-3737.