Pawlee’s is an all natural dog treat bakery and pet market. All of our treats are handmade with love by pet parents just like you in our downtown Kernersville, NC location. We produce baked every day treats, jerky, pawstry treats, and BarkDay cakes.
Pawlee’s is an all natural dog treat bakery and pet market owned by Jennifer McKay and Maloy Frye. All of our treats are handmade with love by pet parents just like you in our downtown Kernersville, NC location. We produce baked every day treats, jerky, decorated pawstry treats, and BarkDay cakes. In addition to our bakery, we offer top of the line pet food, other brand treats and chews, collars, grooming supplies, toys, and health supplements. Although Pawlee’s is geared more for dogs, we love our feline friends too. We have a section for cat supplies and planning to expand that very soon! Pawlee’s also supports animal rescue. We are proud give back a portion of our profits to animal rescue organizations and support local organizations through store events.
A little history about Pawlee’s…
It all started with a little brown Dachshund/Boykin Spaniel mix from Staley, NC named, Jeremy. I (Jennifer), adopted him from Happy Hills Animal Rescue located in Staley, NC. Jeremy had severe lacerations on his back when brought in to HHAF by a Sheriff’s deputy whose first name was “Jeremy”. This sweet dog was named after his hero and we kept it that way. It took a long time for him to heal from his injuries but he was so thankful to all that saved his life.
So, Deputy Jeremy, I never knew your last name but if you ever read this… THANK YOU.
Before all of the issues with chicken jerky from China came about I fed Jeremy and my other dog, Jasmine, chicken jerky strips which was a very well-known brand. This would be the very one that ended up making headlines later on. I noticed that both started throwing up a foamy substance after eating these treats. It happened a few times before I actually made the connection to those treats because after all it was just dehydrated chicken, right? I also didn’t realize it was made in China which would have immediately been a turn off for me. Who knew? Many of us didn’t realize at the time. I stopped giving the treats because I knew something wasn’t right and started making our own. It wasn’t long after that I started hearing dogs are being killed or became critically ill from chicken jerky produced in China. I then started making treats for family pets. Since our treats were so loved I came up with the idea to start a business to sell our treats and help rescues out as well. This is when Pawlee’s was born.
Many people ask where did we come up with that name? Is it a family name? I wanted to come up with a name to characterize the dog in the logo that had a dog related ring to it. The name “Paulie” came to mind because of the “Paw” sound. I had a few others in mind but this one just felt right. This has to be because I am a huge “Rocky” movie fan. So with a little modified spelling, the name Pawlee’s was inspired by the character “Paulie Pennino” (Adrian’s brother) in “Rocky”.
The Pawlee’s logo has a special significance to us. The dog in the logo is actually a cartoon version of Jeremy. Unfortunately he passed away in January 2011 due to age related health complications. He was believed to be between 17 and 18 years old. So we honor Jeremy by representing him sitting on top of a baked bone surrounded by stars.
So with a name, logo, and website we were in business. We started selling our treats online while donating the profits to rescue groups. We were able to move out of our kitchen to a private commercial location in Winston-Salem until one day a double space became vacant in downtown Kernersville. There was no doubt we had to jump on it because we could finally open our bakery to the public and have a small pet market as well to compliment the bakery. So here we are with our bakery and store located at 116 N Main St, Kernersville, NC.
This all started with that sweet little brown dog and a dream. However, Pawlee’s would not be here or at least as successful without the major support of my business partner, Maloy Frye. He has helped cut through the red tape of starting a business, managed to get us into other pet stores, and operates our store while I work in the background with marketing, website, graphics, product development, and so forth. I had the dream and he helped make it happen.
Jennifer McKay, Co-Owner
Pawlee’s LLC
We produce all natural and healthy pet treats that give back to the animal rescue community.
Healthy baked treats and jerky for pets
