Pawfectly Delicious Employs Young Adults with Developmental and Physical Disabilities

Pawfectly Delicious employs a racially diverse group of young adults aged 18 to 30 with developmental and physical disabilities and takes pride in providing meaningful work while celebrating each person’s unique gifts, talents, and abilities. They are a team-focused business that brings together employees and volunteers to support daily operations of producing dog treats.

Being a part of the Pawfectly Delicious team empowers employees to be successful in their work and in turn, promotes a greater sense of purpose both on the job and within their community.

The Story

Anne Tuccillo and her son, Bryan, started Pawfectly Delicious in October 2017. Bryan has Mitochondrial Disease, a degenerative neurological condition. They began to bake dog treats out of their home soon after Bryan aged-out of special education services within his school district and struggled to find meaningful employment. Eight job coaches were unable to assist Bryan in securing a job that paid when Anne, with the encouragement of friends, started baking dog treats in their home kitchen with Bryan’s assistance. That is how Pawfectly Delicious was created.

While the underemployment rate for people with disabilities is almost 80%, Pawfectly Delicious fills a much-needed gap for Bryan and others like him to find job training and meaningful work.

What we do is make all-natural treats for dogs, but WHY we do it is to provide job training, meaningful work and inclusion in the lives of differently-abled young adults.” – Anne Tuccillo, Executive Director.

Milestone & Accomplishments

The milestones and accomplishments of Pawfectly Delicious are considerable for a nonprofit that started in a home kitchen only four years ago. They have developed a loyal following who purchase their dog treats for their loved pets.

“In 2019,our sales totaled $25,282.94 compared to 2018 when sales totaled $5,793.52, which is an almost fivefold increase! We are particularly proud to provide job training to our current community of 5 employees with different abilities who prepare and package our treats with care and enthusiasm.” says Anne.

They have partnered with Pulley Career Center, a vocational training program in Fairfax County to provide additional job training to students in the culinary arts program. The Culinary Arts students play a critical role in their operations as they prepare the dough for their bakers to roll out and bake. This partnership provided an additional 10 young adults with disabilities with job training and volunteer experience.

In 2019, they partnered with The Dogtopia Foundation to sell custom-made treats at Dogtopia franchises across the country.  During the midst of 2020, they developed a monthly subscription treat delivery program that provides fury friends with a delivery of our all-natural treats each month. The subscription service provided a small but predictable revenue stream during a time when their ability to operate as “usual” was greatly restricted.

The entire team at Pawfectly Delicious is very proud of the progress that they have together made in the last four years! They continue to grow this nonprofit and add value to the employees’ lives and the community as a whole.

Also Read

• Website development firm that employs only the deaf
• Inclusive hiring makes good business sense proves auticon, the IT consultancy with employees with autism