Three Dog Bakery’s newest location brings doggie cookies, birthday cakes to Bar K
August 23, 2021 | Channa Steinmetz
A partnership between a Kansas City-bred, all-natural dog treat brand and one of the metro’s hottest spots for four-legged meetups is a natural pairing, said David Hensley, noting both businesses are centered around the goal of bringing joy to people and their pets.
“We’ve been working with Three Dog Bakery for a while now to provide doggie cookies and dog birthday cakes for some of our events, so it made a lot of sense to have a Three Dog Bakery retail spot right here at Bar K,” said Hensley, who co-founded the popular dog bar with Leib Dodell in 2016. “Any time you can align with a company that shares a passion and has such a great reputation is going to be very exciting.”
Click here to see why Bar K was named one of Startland News’ Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2021.
Founded more than 30 years ago as a maker of high-quality dog treats, Three Dog Bakery is headquartered in Kansas City with 45 retail bakery franchises.
Three Dog Bakery’s Bar K location — which can be found in a 20-foot shipping container next to Petfinder Park — is completely one-of-a-kind, said Ally Homa, who serves as the marketing director for Three Dog Bakery.
“The biggest difference with this location is that Bar K allows us the opportunity to host birthday parties with their space,” Homa explained. “The way we partner with them is that we provide things like the birthday cake, the party hats, and then you can choose à la carte add ons such as bar kuterie boards, pupcakes and our lickety split treats.”
Click here to check out the birthday packages offered by Bar K and Three Dog Bakery.
Three Dog Bakery hosted a grand opening Aug. 1 to mark “Dogust” — the designated month to celebrate birthdays for rescue dogs since a majority of owners do not know their actual birth dates.
“North Shore Animal League started this tradition that [August] 1st is the universal birthday of dogs in shelters that don’t have an official birthday,” Homa noted. “So we thought it would be really fun to do a fundraiser for shelters in our communities — not just in Kansas City but in our entire chain of stores. Each of those stores also donated a large bone cake to a local rescue shelter, so that they could have a little party for all their rescue pups.”
Throughout the month, Three Dog Bakery locations are selling pet bandanas for $5 with the proceeds going to local rescue shelters. From sales at the Bar K location, donations will be sent to Melissa’s Second Chances in Shawnee and Lucky 13 Rescue in Kansas City.
Three Dog Bakery at Bar K is open 5 p.m. to 8 p.m Monday through Friday, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.
Outside of the bakery’s operating hours, dog treats and cakes are available for purchase at the Bar K restaurant, Hensley added.
“Most of our members were already big fans of Three Dog Bakery and the feedback has just been really positive,” Hensley said. “… We’re starting [the partnership] here in Kansas City, and as we expand, we are talking about the possibility of incorporating Three Dog into future locations.”
Click here to read more about Bar K’s expansion into St. Louis and other markets.
This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
Featured Business

2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
This hard swap plays easy: How one KC producer juggles community, breaking the club music cookie cutter
Tyler Jordan’s new spin on DJing: amplify fellow artists and unite people through music, he shared. Jordan — who produces electronic music and DJs under the name Oblivinatti (a mashup of his favorite video game growing up, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and his interest in conspiracy theories) — is evolving his sound production business Vibration…
Art and technology too often butt heads, festival planners say; River Market event paints a reality where they coexist
The River Market Art Festival is back after a 20-year hiatus — with a nod to the past and an eye toward the future, shared The AI Hub’s Taylor Burris and James Spikes, startup founders who are hosting the event in partnership with the River Market Community Association. The revival of the art festival —…
PayIt co-founder: No one-size-fits-all formula for scaling one of KC biggest startup ideas
Mike Plunkett’s journey with PayIt came to an early, but critical crossroads when a wealthy entrepreneur offered half-million dollars to support the Kansas City-built govtech venture, he recalled. The catch: this investor insisted on imposing control and veto power as they committed more funds. Despite being low on funds, the PayIt team — led by…




