How Tamara Coleman turned her kitchen experiments into a multimillion-dollar pet-treat brand
In an industry long dominated by legacy brands and male-led supplier networks, Tamara Coleman built something rare: a fast-growing pet-treat company born from grit and experimentation in her own kitchen.
Coleman founded Bark Bistro in 2018 with a simple idea to make dog treats as clean and thoughtfully sourced as the foods people expect for themselves. What began as homemade peanut-butter blends crafted in her townhouse kitchen quickly evolved into Buddy Budder, the company’s breakout hit that became an Amazon bestseller just weeks after its July 2019 debut.
“As I wanted to create something that was natural, I realized pet peanut butter is actually one of the most searched terms for dogs, and no one had marketed peanut butter for dogs at that time,” Coleman said. “So that's where I saw a gap in the market.”
Breaking into Georgia’s tight-knit peanut supplier network wasn’t easy, but persistence, relationship-building and uncompromising quality turned Bark Bistro from a bootstrapped experiment into a multimillion-dollar brand carried by Amazon, Chewy, Thrive, iHerb and more than 15,000 retailers nationwide.
Bizwomen spoke with Coleman about building Bark Bistro from scratch, what sets the company apart and what’s ahead for 2026.
What first inspired you to launch a pet food business?
I actually started in my townhouse kitchen back in 2017. I was just making peanut butter for my own dogs and realized so many legacy brands contained hydrogenated oils, palm oil, artificial sugars and salts. Even the sugar-free varieties often had xylitol, which is extremely toxic for dogs.
Pet parents were becoming more aware and were actively searching for natural alternatives. “Peanut butter for dogs” was one of the top search terms, but no one had actually marketed peanut butter specifically for dogs. I saw a gap — and I wanted something clean and trustworthy for my own dogs. That’s how Buddy Budder was born.
What started in my kitchen has grown into our own 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and a brand in more than 15,000 stores.
The peanut industry is historically male-dominated. What challenges did you run into as you tried to break in?
The biggest challenge was finding a supplier. When I was still living in South Florida, I found a distributor selling 30-pound boxes of peanuts, but I knew that wasn’t scalable. So I called the supplier directly, and the CEO — a Georgia native — picked up. I said, “Hi, I’m Tamara, and I make peanut butter for dogs.” He laughed. He had never heard of such a thing.
I asked to buy a pallet of peanuts. He said, “We don’t do that. We sell by the truckload.” And I told him, “Well, I’ll be buying truckloads from you one day.”
By the end of the call, he agreed to sell me the pallet. Today, we buy two to three truckloads a month. We’ll spend a million dollars on peanuts this year alone. He and his partners still laugh about that first call, but they also tell me I was right.
What might surprise people about your background?
Before starting Bark Bistro, I was doing food blogging and cooking shows. So, people who knew me were like, “You went from cooking for people to making peanut butter for dogs?” And I’m like, “Yes I did!”
I’ve always loved food and the kitchen, and I’ve always loved my dogs. This business brought those passions together. But I had zero experience in the pet industry. I just dove in and learned everything along the way.
How did you come up with the name Buddy Budder?
Originally, Bark Bistro launched with gently cooked meals for dogs, and peanut butter came second. I wanted the name to still reflect our “BB” branding. Bark Butter seemed obvious until I learned someone had trademarked it because he smeared peanut butter on tree bark for birds.
I still wanted “BB,” and one day the word “buddy” came to me. We all call our dogs our little buddies, and it also happens to be my father’s name. It felt perfect. To match the spelling, we turned “butter” into “budder.” And Buddy Budder was born.
What other types of products do you offer?
We now have a wide assortment of flavors. We started with 17-ounce jars -
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