Business Opportunities Weblog

March 27, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Unusual Business Ideas That Work:

One sunny afternoon Carlotta Lennox rolled by a park on a pair of rollerblades, and noticed that the dogs looked tired and hungry, and realized how she could give the day back to the dogs.

Seven years later, the first Hey Buddy pet vending machine was established in Bark Park Central, an off-leash dog park in Dallas. Lennox stocked the machine with dog treats, tennis balls, dog shirts, dog glasses–basically everything a dog might need for a walk in the park. And with its shingled roof and slated facade, the doghouse-inspired vending machine was hard to miss–which meant pets and their owners weren’t the only ones begging Lennox for more.

Hey Buddy is already in negotiations with major corporations interested in branding the machines for dog parks throughout the U.S., and sales are expected to reach $100,000 this year. But Lennox sees the business reaching far beyond the day-in-the-park demographic.

Photo by Hey Buddy.

In Niche, Startup, Success | 1 Comment