After spending 25 years in the food business, first as a supermarket manager and later as a store owner, Angelo Spagnolo, the President and Founder of Jurassic Dog Products L.L.C., one day found himself in a dilemma. The third-generation retailer’s very successful supermarket found itself in direct competition with a supercenter.

Since Spagnolo always prided himself on having the best food selections available, he urged his department managers to further seek out innovative concepts or market niches that the mega store didn’t handle to help create a point of difference in the marketplace.

One day his meat department manager came to him with a suggestion that the store add a smokehouse so that it could sell smoked meats. This led to a planning meeting where one of the meat cutters also suggested that the store sell smoked dog bones. Spagnolo’s initial reaction was, “Dog bones? I never heard of it… But why not?”

As the meeting went on the decision was ultimately made to purchase the smokehouse operation. A few months later, the smokehouse was pumping out quantities of kielbasa, turkey breast, pork hocks and bacon. One day Angelo was paged to the meat department. When he walked through the door little did he know what life-altering event awaited him.

Stacked high on a rack were dog bones, huge, beef femurs that were a dark chocolate-brown color. Their aroma was intoxicating. He was so overwhelmed at the sight of these “Megasaurus Bones” that he proclaimed, “Holy mackerel, those aren’t dog bones, they’re more like dinosaur bones. We’ll have to call them “Jurassic Dog Bones”!!!

After experimenting with various products in his store, a year later, Spagnolo made a monumental decision: He would sell his supermarket and devote all of his efforts to the concept of the Jurassic Dog Bone. Several years of very hard work and a very large learning curve followed before the company eventually evolved into its’ present form. “If it was easy, everybody could launch a brand. But it’s anything but easy. It’s not for the faint of heart”, he said.
Today Jurassic Dog Bones® are a registered trademarked product that are sold by distributors in hundred of stores around the county. Angelo’s son, David is Vice-President of Operations and a key part of the business. “My goal is to make Jurassic Dog Bones® the Heinz Ketchup® of the dog bone category. I someday want to be a national brand and then sit back and enjoy watching my son run the show.”

The product line of Jurassic Dog Bones® consists of nine time-proven commodities that serve all sizes of dogs. The most popular item is the “Baby Mega Bone”, actually a pork femur bone. “The first time I saw this bone it reminded me of the “Megasaurus”, “Spagnolo said, “But only on a smaller scale. So being an amateur paleontologist, it was only natural that I would christen it with the name “Baby Mega Bone”. The “Baby Mega Bone” is one of the fastest growing products in the pet category today, but Angelo still has his favorite. “The Megasaurus Bone” is the most impressive bone you’ll ever see. Heck, they got me to start a whole company!”