Tucker's Doggie Delights

All Natural Food and Treats for Dogs and Cats! We are Located in New Lenox, IL

Before there was a store there was us and Tucker.

The Story begins before Nick Janowski and Stacy Richardson met at college in Normal, IL...

I (Nick) got my first job at Pet Supplies Plus and my interest in the pet food industry quickly developed. At home I had a cat (named Oscar) and I loved the dogs that visited the store. I found that I had a passion for helping customers pick the right diet—or what I thought was the right diet at the time—for their pet . When college arrived, my experience in the industry had seemingly come to an end. However, as fate would have it, we would meet again.

Stacy developed her love for dogs when she was seven. Copper, a Golden Retriever, was her first love. Stacy spent a number of her college breaks working at Elmhurst Animal Hospital and took a temporary position with Midwest Animal Hospital after college. Stacy gained a lot of knowledge about animal care working these jobs. It was one day at Midwest Animal Hospital that the owner's brother came in with a litter of puppies that were left on a doorstep. The receptionist's job was to care for them until they found homes, and Stacy grew especially attached to the only male puppy whom she later adopted and named Tucker. One of Tucker's litter mates, Midnight, still visits him at the store to this date.

Stacy and I met while attending college in Normal, IL. After graduation, job hunting was rough for the both of us. It was during this search that Tucker became a part of our family and Stacy's dad, Terry, wanted us to start a business. Months of research led us right to the industry that held a special place in all of our hearts.

How this all led to a Pet Food Store in New Lenox

After toying with various business ideas, we opened a Pet Sitting Service out of our home and named it Tucker's Doggie Retreat—an insured, bonded , and first aid-certified business. As we attempted to grow this business two things happened that changed our direction and led to our store. The first was the nationwide pet food recall of 2007, and the second was Tucker's decision to stop eating his food.

The recall of 2007 made consumers think, maybe for the first time, about what their pets were eating. It seemed all of the popular name brand foods were part of the recall; leaving us to desperately search for answers about proper pet nutrition.

During the summer of 2007 Tucker decided eating was overrated. Since there's not a dog in this world (especially a puppy) that can go without food, we knew there had to be something wrong. We initially attributed his loss of appetite to the hot weather but after the recall we started researching pet foods. Our research led us to change his diet. Tucker was being fed Science Diet and not interested in eating . Once we switched his food ( our initial choice was Solid Gold Mmillennia) Tucker resumed eating at a normal schedule. Maybe it was fate, but Tucker's decision to boycott his food acted as a spark that ignited our interest in the natural pet food market.

That fall we needed to help everybody find foods that were not part of the recall and that would allow their cats and dogs to live their lives in the healthiest, fullest way possible. The concept for our store was born! It would focus on all-natural food and treats for dogs and cats and be named Tucker's Doggie Delights. All we needed was a location…

Once we found a spot in Calistoga Plaza we knew it was the start of something special.