At five o’clock when many workers are on their way home, the business day gets under way for Rudolph Gravesande. On the pavement outside his home at the corner of Russell and Broad Streets, he puts out a table. A lady from behind the fence hands him several bags of food which he places on it. As persons stop to buy, they indicate the amount they want – $100 or $200. Gravesande is selling “dog food.”
In his yard several pots of food can be seen; some are cooling while others are in the process of preparation. The lady who has a work table which runs alongside the fence is Gravesande’s wife. Her job is bagging off the food while another worker stirs the pot with a wooden paddle.
The selling of cooked dog food is big business. Customers are not in short supply, arriving on foot by car or on a bicycle. “Lemme get a $200,” one says, and Gravesande picks up one of the parcels and hands it to the customer.
He was once a mechanic but after business slowed he knew that he had to find something else to do. It was his wife who nudged him in the direction of making dog food. He related that she once worked in a Chinese restaurant and would see the huge volume of persons who would come by to buy ‘dog food.’ Although a bit sceptical, he decided to give it a try, and he has now been in the business for a year.
Before they began their operations, the couple advertised their service via flyers in the area. For the first few days, they only cooked one pot of food. “It was stiff,” Gravesande said, but soon the idea caught on and his customers increased in number and so did the number of his pots.
Each day, Gravesande, his wife and their staff of four begin to cook seven pots of food at 1 pm. By 3 pm, they have finished, and the food begins the cooling off process. Next comes the bagging off, and then they are ready for the first customers.
Every day they prepare a diet of meat and rice: two bags of rice together with 350 lbs of meat. Each pot contains fifty pounds of meat.
Why is his business so popular? Gravesande believes that many people simply do not have the time to cook food for their pets since they are tired after work. “They come here and get food then go home and relax,” he said. He says that his business is indeed a great convenience.
“Every day it’s not that pleasant, but majority of times it is,” he added. By 8 pm, all or most of his food is sold. “We have built a clientele and that has stood up,” he said.
Gravesande’s future plans include the expansion of his business. He does not worry about his competitors, since he believes the food he prepares can compete with any other available. (Candace Phillips)
