Meet Kat Levitt of Treats De Cuisine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Levitt.

Hi Kat, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started my business in the spring of 2021. Treats De Cuisine has been a longtime dream of mine and I finally brought it to fruition during Covid as a lot of the farms we use today were struggling to distribute the product. I have both dogs and cats at home and continued to struggle to find treats for my animals that didn’t contain ingredients I wasn’t able to pronounce or that caused digestive issues.

I have been involved with farms and restaurants for many years and wanted to do my best to help. We not only use some amazing farm-to-table products but developed our “zero waste” program to further assist the farmers by utilizing parts of the animal they could not sell to create amazing dog and cat treats. I started selling my pet treats at well-known Chicago farmer’s markets and developed a very large following.

In late 2021I opened my brick-and-mortar location in the heart of Wicker Park, Chicago after continued support and success with the markets that summer. Recently I teamed up with a long-time marketing guru and friend, Tamara, who grew up in and currently resides in the Phoenix area to expand Treats De Cuisine to Arizona. I am excited to branch out and work with farms in the Arizona area and look forward to developing those long-standing relationships I carry with our farms here in the Midwest.

Treats De Cuisine is participating as a vendor for “The Barking Bodega” at the Uptown Farmers Market in February, March, and April. There will be many more pop-ups and collaborations with restaurants as well as animal rescues in the Phoenix area so stay tuned!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No road to success is ever a smooth one. During COVID we struggled to find staffing for both the markets and the storefront. While we were remodeling our storefront we ran into quite a few sourcing issues with some of the items we needed for the buildout (i.e. countertops and prep sink).

I became a first-time mom this past May. As a small business owner, I couldn’t take maternity leave. The work and mom life balance is a struggle and the “mom guilt” but I am very lucky to be able to take my son to the shop while I work. As a working mom, I have learned to let go and that not everything will get done and that’s OK!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Treats de Cuisine is a cat and dog treat company sourcing from our friends at local farms and helping with zero farm waste to deliver sustainable, natural, and healthy tail-wagging treats for our four-legged friends. We believe in human-grade, single-ingredient and all-natural pet treats due to digestive issues, and allergies and to accommodate certain diseases. We never add any seasoning, preservatives, or fillers!

All our chews are not SMOKED. Typically you will find pig ears and tracheas smoked which is a carcinogen and a seasoning. And yes, we have CAT TREATS! It is rare to find sustainably sourced single-ingredient cat treats! We are so excited to expand to the Phoenix area. Currently, all our treats are made in-house at our butcher shop & deli in Chicago, where the company started with an open kitchen and production concept. We are looking to open up a butcher shop & deli in 2023 in the Phoenix area.

Treats de Cuisine believes in giving back to the community so we work with local animal rescues, and donate treats and tasting tables to their charity events! We also host a “day out” of the shelter for the animals. It’s so fun to see them taste test our treats and we send them with a bag or two of treats back to the shelter!

What does success mean to you?
Seeing tails wag and making the pups drool as they jump or go crazy for our treats! If our treats can help train dogs to be on their best behavior, overcome fear and anxiety, or learn a new trick that to us is a success. As the saying goes, happy dog, happy life. We can’t forget about the cats.

Some cats are very picky so if they love our kitty krackle or rainbow trout it makes us purr! Sourcing our “zero waste” items is also a huge success as it helps mitigate farm waste and keeps our farmers happy. However, seeing the same happy puppies day in and day out come to our shop, tails wagging, is very rewarding and is the ultimate success!!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.treatsdecuisine.com
• Instagram: @treatsdecuisine
• Facebook: Facebook.com/treatsdecuisine