By Dathan Kazsuk
I write a lot about food, and I’ve been in many kitchens around the Triangle, but this was a first: I showed up to help make dog treats and ended up eating one myself.
And you know what? With peanut butter, oats, applesauce, and carrots in the mix, I can see why the dogs are lining up. They might actually be eating better than some of us.
But the best part of my visit to Ella & Bella Pet Company in Raleigh wasn’t what came out of the oven. It was meeting the people behind the biscuits and learning why founder Kristine and Ella Flora built a nonprofit around them.
A Girl, Her Dog and a Big Idea
Kristine’s daughter, Eleanor—Ella to just about everyone—was approaching the end of high school. Like many families of young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the Floras faced a difficult question: What happens next?
Kristine called it “the cliff,” when the structure of school ends and meaningful work can be hard to find.
“So I said, we’re gonna make something for her,” she told me.
The idea arrived during a visit to her sister in Connecticut. Kristine walked into a business where a man in a wheelchair with a communication device asked whether she wanted to buy dog treats. For Kristine, the answer was bigger than a bag of biscuits.
“This is it,” she remembered thinking. “This is what we’re gonna do.”
Back in Raleigh, Kristine and her son Will spent nearly a year experimenting with a recipe. Too wet. Too crumbly. Finally, they found a dough that came together like Play-Doh. Ella & Bella Pet Company was established in March 2026 and began welcoming team members that summer.
And Bella? She’s Ella’s rescued Golden, adopted from the Wake County Animal Shelter, and the other half of the company’s name.
More Than Mixing Ingredients
My visit took me to American Legion Post 1 on Sawmill Road, where the nonprofit rents kitchen space. Kristine introduced me to Ella, Allison, Deanna, and Saif, who helped walk me through their routine. Rather than just watch from the sidelines, I got to pitch in as the team turned simple ingredients into dog biscuits.
The process begins with a team huddle, then moves to measuring ingredients and using the stand mixer. Once the mixture reaches the right consistency, the team adds flour, rolls out the dough, cuts biscuits, arranges baking sheets, and moves the finished treats through baking, dehydration, and packaging.
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There’s plenty of laughter, too. While waiting for the mixer, Kristine said, the crew sometimes breaks into a two-minute dance party. That beats standing around staring at a bowl.
What impressed me was the attention paid to the less glamorous side of baking. Every ingredient lot number is recorded and tied to a batch. It’s quality control, yes, but also training in recordkeeping, measuring, teamwork, and following a production process.
The biscuits themselves are peanut butter, apple and carrot treats made with ingredients you can recognize, including whole wheat and oat flour, eggs and natural preservatives. I sampled one. Let’s just say some dogs in Raleigh are very fortunate.
Baking Toward Something Bigger
Kristine told me 19 people had joined the program, with a waiting list already forming. For now, the team participates on a volunteer basis. Her goal is to grow sales enough to create sustainable paid positions and add more production days beyond Mondays and Tuesdays.
She’s already thinking beyond biscuits. Team members have been practicing braiding, a skill they could eventually use to make dog tug toys. New treat varieties—and maybe even something for cats—are on her wish list. I know my Waffles and TiaMisu are patiently waiting for those to arrive.
For now, you can find Ella & Bella treats through local retailers, community events, and directly at the American Legion kitchen. Every purchase helps a young nonprofit move closer to its goal.
I went in curious about dog treats and came away thinking about opportunity. It turns out peanut butter and applesauce can be the start of something much bigger.
