Vending machine business pushes buttons of hungry pooches
A Brisbane couple plans to roll out a network of natural doggy treat vending machines as they tap the $2.8bn pet food sector increasingly focused on top-end products.
Massimo and Samantha Guida launched their first Chewy Chews vending machine from their new 24-hour laundromat in Austin St, Newstead, this week offering 32 different snack varieties including sardine, roo jerky, green-lipped mussels and pork.
Samantha Guida said people were increasingly looking for quality natural food to feed their pets, who are increasingly considered members of the family.
“Our products are all sourced from fresh meat and seafood and are slowly air dried,” Ms Guida said.
The couple have installed one machine at their new Liquid Laundry business, which also includes a dog-wash, and one at Merthyr Village.
There are plans to roll out more across the country in the months ahead. “The reaction so far in this area has been great,” said Ms Guida.
“We have had to refill the machine at Merthyr Village every day this week.”
Massimo Guida, who runs an electrical firm along with a string of other businesses, said he got the idea for Chewy Chews when setting up the dog wash at the laundromat.
“The dogs can get nervous when getting their wash and what better way to reward them after their wash than with a natural treat,” said Mr Guida.
The couple’s business venture comes two years after Mr Guida purchased the Austin St property for $1.25m at an auction.
“I got it at a good price but it was an old upholstery factory full of asbestos and white ants,” he said.
Mr Guida initially planned to renovate the building and bring in tenants but when this failed to eventuate he looked to establish his own business on the site.
“One of the activities allowed in this area of Newstead are laundromats so I rang a mate who runs several of them to ask if it was a good business,” he said.
“It turned out they were really solid businesses, requiring minimal staff but earning good money.’
He said Liquid Laundry was not your traditional laundromat, catering instead to the cashed up professional class who live around Newstead, a suburb in Brisbane’s inner north.
As well as a laundromat, it also includes a laundry and clothes folding service, dog wash, bike wash and electric vehicle recharging station. Next week, Vietnamese cafe Bahn Mi Factory will open a takeaway outlet at the laundry. “People are time poor these days so we see them come in, drop their laundry and then have their dog washed,” he said.
Mr Guida, 42, is a self-confessed serial entrepreneur who started his working life as 12-year-old working for northside fresh produce business Farmer Joes. “He has a different idea every day,” Ms Guida said.
As well as Mr Guida’s main electrical business Mussi Electrical that employs 20 electricians, he also has a luxury car company, develops property and sells up-market shoes in the United States. He said there was already interest in expanding the Liquid Laundry concept to other outlets.
Author: Glen Norris, Courier Mail
