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New Food Cart Going To The Dogs, Literally

By Amy Zimmer | June 3, 2011 3:20pm | Updated on June 4, 2011 10:06am

By Amy Zimmer

DNAinfo News Editor

MANHATTAN — Yet another food cart is coming to Manhattan parks this summer, selling all-natural organic cupcakes and other freshly baked goodies.

But these treats are aimed at a whole new audience — dogs.

"We're going to be the only dog cart in the parks this summer" — and perhaps the only one in the city, said Andrea Tovar, 31, who left a job in fashion to start her company.

The sugar-, salt-, and wheat-free "pup-cakes" cost $3, or 4 for $10. They are edible for humans, but designed for canines, using oat flour since many dogs can't tolerate wheat.

Tovar's year-old company, Bocce's Bakery, will debut Bocce's Biscuit Bike on Saturday in Washington Square Park. She has a prime spot staked out, next to the dog run, of course.

Doggie owners can follow Bocce's on Twitter @BoccesBakery to find out whether it will be in Washington Square, Central Park, Union Square or Riverside Park every Friday through Sunday through the end of October.

"We're just excited to get in the parks," she said. "That's where I spend time in the summer with my dog."

Because she knows how thirsty dogs get running around in the summer she will also sell $2 bottles of Poland Spring with compostable cups for the dogs.

Tovar's company grew from a practical place: her four-year-old mutt, Bocce, was "carrying a few extra pounds." When she scrutinized his diet, she realized it was full of chemicals and preservatives.

So, she decided to start making his food using the same organic and local ingredients she eats.

Bocce's grew from her West Village apartment's oven to a commercial kitchen in Long Island City. She now sells her fancy treats in boutique pet stores nationwide, in Whole Foods stores and is making custom designed biscuits for Shake Shack.

Instead of using chicken broth for flavoring, as many biscuit companies do, Bocce's chicken Cordon Bleu biscuits, for instance, use whole fresh-roasted antibiotic/hormone free, all-white meat chicken, with shredded organic mozzarella, and bits of crispy, nitrate-free turkey bacon from Applegate Farms in New Jersey.

Her pup-cakes use real peanut butter and blueberries with cream cheese or yogurt frosting. And she makes "beefy brownies," instead of chocolate, since chocolate is toxic to four-legged friends.

"We taste every single batch," Tovar said. "We try to get dog owners to taste them, too."

At a test run last weekend in Washington Square, Bocce's Biscuit Bike was surrounded by doggies, Tovar said.

"We had dogs just sitting by the bike, some sitting on the bike," she said. "Some who tried the biscuits wouldn't leave."