09/04/2026
I have started writing this about 100 times and I still don't really know how to say it, so I'm just going to say it.
We are closing the Doug’s Kitchen kitchen.
Doug’s Kitchen was actually a dream of mine for years before any of this happened. I had a folder on my desk where I would collect ideas, resources, recipes and all the little pieces of what I thought it could maybe look like one day.
This was back when I could still hold my boy in my arms and we were adventuring through life together, just him and I. Before Parker, before my girls, before I had any idea what my life was going to look like. Doug was my family.
And life is funny because only a few months before actually starting Doug’s Kitchen, I threw that folder away. I had quietly decided I probably wasn't going to do it.
Then one random Wednesday afternoon, I was sitting there with a little baby in my arms and decided to make a page.
That's literally how Doug’s Kitchen started lol.
And then somehow you guys showed up. And kept showing up.
Suddenly Parker and I were cooking an absolutely ridiculous amount of dog food and trying to figure out how to run a business that grew much faster than we were prepared for.
You were SO patient with us. We experienced pretty much every growing pain possible while accidentally starting a dog food company lol, and you just kept supporting us through it.
You ordered food, told your friends about us, sent us pictures of your dogs, encouraged us and trusted us with animals that I know mean as much to you as Doug meant to me.
I don't think you realize what you actually gave our family in return.
You gave us the last year together.
Parker and I got to work side by side. We were both home while our first baby became a big sister and we welcomed our second. There were babies in the kitchen, breakfasts together, long days, late nights, lots of chaos and probably far too many conversations about dog food.
It was incredibly hard at times, but we were together.
And somewhere in the middle of all of this, we realized just how much that's worth.
We got something money can't buy.
We also learned that money isn't worth everything. Success isn't worth everything either.
The dream I had all those years ago when it was just me and Doug isn't exactly the dream I have now that Parker and our girls are here. I don't want to build something bigger and bigger if the cost of doing that is missing the people I'm supposedly building it for.
Our girls are only this little once.
More than anything, we want to be famous in our home and in the hearts of our girls.
And we've realized that preparing food for dougs kitchen doesn't align with that anymore.
So we're choosing differently.
There is definitely sadness in closing this chapter, but there is also a lot of peace in it. Maybe because Doug taught me something about that too.
When Doug was getting ready to leave this world, as badly as I wanted more time with him, I knew he deserved the peace. Finally.
That boy went through everything with me. He knew me before Parker knew me, before I was a mom, before this family existed. He was there through so many versions of me while I was figuring out who I was and what I wanted my life to look like.
Losing him has made my passion and my mission around all of this even clearer.
And I want to thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow through Doug’s Kitchen, personally and professionally.
I don't think I realized when we started how much I needed this too.
After losing Doug, I had so much love and grief sitting in my heart. Doug’s Kitchen gave me somewhere to put it.
I got to take some of the love and nurturing I couldn't give to my boy anymore and pour it back into you and your dogs.
I got to learn about them, care about them, worry about them lol, celebrate their wins with you, see their empty bowls and hear their stories.
You gave me the opportunity to turn a lot of grief back into love.
I don't think I'll ever be able to properly explain how much that has meant to me.
This has been an incredible and challenging journey in every single way. I've learned about business, dogs, food, people, Parker, motherhood and myself. I've made mistakes. We've figured things out as we went. We've grown personally and professionally, and our actual family grew right in the middle of all of it.
And now I think this version of Doug’s Kitchen has done what it came here to do.
It gave me somewhere to put my grief. It gave our family time together. It taught us what we actually value. And it let this dream I had years ago, when it was just me and my boy adventuring through life together, actually become real.
But here's the really exciting part.
Doug’s Kitchen isn't going away.
The kitchen is closing, but the mission absolutely isn't.
Because we care more than you can imagine, and we understand. Times are hard right now. Groceries are expensive, vet bills are expensive, everything is expensive, and your dog still very much deserves the best you can give them.
We know how badly you want to do right by them, and we know how overwhelming and expensive figuring out what "the best" even means can feel.
I've realized that I don't need to spend my children's childhood in a commercial kitchen to keep helping you do that.
So the dream is evolving.
We're working on something that takes Doug’s Kitchen back to where this whole thing started in the first place — at home, in a kitchen, trying to do something better for a dog you love more than you can possibly explain.
And I am SO excited about it.
I'm not telling you exactly what it is yet lol. But I really hope you'll stick around because this next chapter fills my heart, and I genuinely think it's going to help a lot of people and a lot of dogs.
So for now, thank you.
Thank you for every order, every recommendation, every picture of an empty bowl, every message, every bit of encouragement and all of the love we've gotten from your dogs.
Thank you for the genuine patience you had with us while we experienced every possible growing pain of accidentally starting a huge dog food company lol.
Thank you for trusting us.
And thank you for giving our family the last year.
You gave me time with my husband. You gave us time with our babies. You gave me the chance to live out a dream I had while I could still hold my boy in my arms.
Now that dream gets to evolve around the family that came after him.
I used to think success meant making this as big as I possibly could. I don't think that anymore.
Of course we want to be successful. We want to build things and make money and give our girls an incredible life.
But more than anything, we want to be famous in our home and in the hearts of our girls.
So that's what we're going to do.
And Doug’s Kitchen is coming with us, just differently.
This is for you Dougie.
Thank you for everything. ❤️
Please , stick around.
I'm so excited.
Your dog is exited and,
You should probably be excited too ! 🧡
We will still be accepting ordering until the 12th, so stock up, test out the food if you’ve been wanting to and send us all of your questions🧡
