IT started out life as a cottage industry when dog lover Dom Hogan couldn't find nutritional pet treats on the market.
Despite a devastating fire which ripped through her production unit, the founder and owner of Opie's Emporium natural pet foods turned the business around in lockdown and saw a boom in sales.
Now she is hoping to take business, named after her pet pooch Opie, even further after securing a £50,000 investment following a successful pitch on the BBC show Dragons' Den.
Opie's Emporium, based in Hillington Business Park, made a pitch on the BBC show and is the second Scottish firm to appear on the new series.
Read more: Watch: Glasgow pet treat business makes pitch for cash on BBC's Dragon's Den
Last Thursday craft lager brand Genius made an appearance in the den asking or a £120,000 investment, but sadly came away emptied handed.
Ms Hogan was nearly upstaged by her pooch Opie, who she named the firm after, as he appeared alongside but seemed a little disinterested and made his stage exit during the pitch.
Dom Hogan started the business in 2018
The natural pet food business founder asked for a £50,000 investment for 10% of the business to a panel of entrepreneurs - Dragons Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Tej Lalvani, Sara Davies and Touker Suleyman.
While explaining her background wasn't in business Davies and Jones pulled out for those reasons, while Jones said he had the same feeling and said he was out. Lalvani said he was out as it wasn't an area he was looking at.
It was down the final dragon still in, Suleyman who could make or break her dream of expanding the business.
Suleyman told her: "It was very brave to go straight into the manufacturing side but in some respects if you have a growing business, it is an asset."
He wondered who she had approached and where she was with retail. He said he would make her an offer of £50,000 but wanted a 35% stake in the business, however Ms Hogan held her nerve and said she couldn't give that much away and said would he accept 20%. Negotiations ended with Suleyman agreeing to lower his percentage to 20% after 18 months and a socially distanced air elbow bump sealed the deal.
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Ms Hogan started the business in 2018 and manufactures 100% natural, air dried treats, using British ingredients.
Their products are aimed at raw or natural fed dogs but are suitable for any diet.
It had started out as a cottage industry for Ms Hogan who couldn't find natural treats on the market for her dogs, including the firm's namesake French bulldog Opie, and began making them herself.
After a devastating fire in 2019 when she lost everything, she decided it was time to "go big or go home" and decided to open up premises in Hillington in 2020.
With a dragon on board, Ms Hogan is hoping to expand
She added: "I lost the production side of my business which was just devastating for me but thanks to the amazing and loyal customer base I was able to get back on my feet."
Ms Hogan said despite opening up a new base and what turned out to be the beginning of the pandemic, but she said lockdown had been good for them as people have become very focused on their pets and pets' nutrition.
"I got the keys the unit on Friday March 13, last year just days before lockdown," added Ms Hogan. "However, it worked out well for me as people were spending more time at home with their dogs and have become very conscious about what they feed them and as we were classed as an essential retailer we got to remain open. Now we are really looking to expand the business."
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