For Eric and Breann Shook, founders and owners of Grandma Lucy’s, it all began with their English Cocker Spaniel named (of course!) Lucy. Lucy was a picky eater, which prompted Breann to consider all-natural approaches to creating dog food. More than twenty years later, Grandma Lucy’s remains at the forefront of top-quality pet food and treats.
Manufacturers
Ingredients matter.
From the beginning, all ingredients used in Grandma Lucy’s products have been “human-grade,” which means all raw ingredients are sourced from suppliers that also supply restaurants and markets. In fact, Grandma Lucy’s has been working with many of the same sourcing partners since the company started in 1999.
All of Grandma Lucy’s ingredient suppliers sign a contract stating that 100% of their products are GMO-free and human-quality. The contract also guarantees the ingredient’s country of origin, that it is free of chemicals and preservatives, and that it was tested for e-coli, salmonella, Coliform, lead, arsenic, mercury and melamine in accordance with human food safety standards prior to arriving at Grandma Lucy’s facility in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.
Freeze-dried for the win!
Starting out by hand-rolling meatballs themselves, Eric and Breann acquired an old freeze-drier and began creating their signature product. As one of the few pet food companies in the US that owns and operates their own freeze-driers in-house. Grandma Lucy’s is able to not only maintain high standards of quality control, but also fine tune the freeze-drying process to custom specifications.
Giving Back
Animal-lovers themselves, the folks at Grandma Lucy’s also know the importance of giving back to the community and helping strengthen the human-animal bond. To that end, they started Project Pet RAK (Random Acts of Kindness).
Through Project Pet RAK, they provide wholesome, nutritious meals to service dogs, therapy dogs and animals in need. As well, Project RAK is the official food sponsor for both Little Angels Service Dogs and Locks4Paws.
A Special Relationship with Mud Bay
Because of the strong relationship and common values aligned over the years, Grandma Lucy’s was a perfect partner when Mud Bay was looking to create freeze-dried chicken breast treats for cats and dogs.
The goal was to create a very specifically-targeted form and texture—one that would especially appeal to the palatability of cats, who are often more picky about texture. Because Grandma Lucy’s has such flexibility in the freeze-drying process, we were able to work together so this product would be soft enough to be crumbled as a food topper, while also not being too stringy or having too much dust in the bottom of the bag.
After testing palatability with Muddy cats and dogs, we realized that Grandma Lucy’s and Mud Bay had come up with a winner!
Visit Our Other Manufacturers