Ten Things We’re Loving about Dela’s Doggy Desserts, Pet Boutique & Event Space
From Dela’s custom birthday cakes and specialized cupcakes to seasonal cookies and raw bar offerings, a boutique with so much puppy and kitty swag your heart will melt like you’ve just got puppy eyes from a St. Bernard. Amanda Stookey, owner of Dela’s, ensures there’s always something new, unique, and special for your furry friend. In fact, it was hard for us to narrow it down to a Top Ten! But check out our list below to learn about some of our faves from this small business filling a super cool niche in the market.
- Delectable Desserts: How could we not start here?! How cute are the specialty desserts?!? We could not help ourselves – we had to pick up customized cupcakes for our furry friends. Owner Amanda Stookey walked us through the various flavor options for the cake base, topped it with a frosting that we had to keep reminding ourselves was FOR THE DOGS, (NOT US!) and then shuzzed it up with sprinkles. Needless to say, we earned extra brownie points when we delivered the goods across the street to the black labs’ kiddie corner from our home. They enthusiastically scarfed the confectionaries – and we built some serious good karma with their humans.
- What’s In a Name? Like us, you may have wondered how if the owner’s name is Amanda, where Dela’s namesake came from? “It was a dog I had as a kid,” Stookey shares, noting that Dela’s new logo was changed to a fluffy white dog to look more like their namesake. In the immortal words of Agnes from Despicable Me: “It’s so fluffy, I’m gonna die!”
- Owner Amanda Stookey is a BALLER! Quick tangential: when we say ‘baller’ we can’t help but think about the giant tennis balls, front and center at Dela’s boutique. We had to pick one up for our favorite golden retriever (Shoutout to Fergus! IFYKYK). Stookey is a business owner who is first and foremost, an animal lover. She spent a decade as a vegetarian and spent much of her youth dedicated to writing to corporations about the importance of cruelty-free products. She’s passionate about the work she does, and it’s evident in the shop. She’s a woman who has always found a way to make things work. Which leads us to…
- The Origin Story: Like many a famed business success story, Dela’s started out of the owner’s home: we’re looking at you Qualtrics’ Ryan Smith, and Google’s garage band of techies. Dela’s began with Stookey making all these delectable doggy desserts (think custom cakes and cupcakes) out of her own house. “I made deliveries,” she told us. “I had a place that would let me meet up with customers.” She did that for about a year before opening a storefront in Murray, Utah. And then ultimately transitioned to the place in West Jordan, Utah where Dela’s currently resides. She said growth for Dela’s has always been organic and she’s found a way to get financing. But this latest expansion is by far the biggest they’ve ever undertaken.
- How We Got to This Place! When Stookey needed financing to support the biggest growth and expansion since Delal’s inception, her bank of 20 years was unable to provide the financing needed. But Stookey is scrappy – and just like she had done in years prior, she found what she needed. Enter Mountain West Foundation: the charitable arm of Mountain West Small Business Finance, focused on community empowerment and economic development with a unique focus tailored to supporting underserved and emerging small businesses. With an injection from MWF, Dela’s was able to make a host of upgrades, improvements, and have working capital to market and support the expansion they envisioned become a reality.
- Shop Local Vibes + Crafty Consignment = Winning Boutique: “One of the things we wanted to lean into heavily was consignment for a few reasons,” she says. “Business-wise it makes sense – less risk.” But Stookey says it’s bigger than that. “There’s a lot of really clever people out there making really cool things. And by bringing in consignment, we get to really diversify our products. We’re big supporters of shopping local. We’re a local business. We appreciate people who shop and support local, and this is another way for us to help with that.”
- That’s Punny: Speaking of the boutique, it’s impossible not to smile walking through Dela’s. From the “Wipe Your Paws” signage to a silhouetted Dachund doormat that reads “Are you looking at my wiener?” or the treat jars inscribed with “Ain’t too Proud to Beg: Forever Hungry * Always Fed”, it’s obvious Dela’s doesn’t take itself too seriously. But it is serious about animals.
- Pay-It-Forward Friendly: Another way that Dela’s will be able to support local is by offering low-to-no-cost access to Dela’s event space for local shelters to use for fundraising and special events. “We’ve already got inquiries about a low-cost vaccine clinic and different kinds of events and fundraisers,” Stookey says. And it’s not new territory for Dela’s. They’ve already had a Frenchie Rescue do a paint day at the shop. “We want to lean into that,” she says. “We’re just animal people.”
- The Great Outdoors: While the indoor event space has hardwood floors, tons of light, and ample room for hosting a fete for your furry friends, the outdoor event space is where the magic all comes together. Not only is there plenty of space to run, jump, dig, and splash, but the venue also includes a covered patio so pets and their humans have a safe and comfortable place to unwind and socialize.
- The Sanctity of Life: Dela’s is all about about enjoying the everyday magic that comes from a special bond with a four-legged friend, but also celebrating the big moments and touchpoints in animals’ lives – however long that journey lasts. “People do celebrations of life for their pets,” she says, her voice getting reverent and a bit somber. “They come in wanting ‘last treats’ for their pets. It’s not something I expected, but something that I’m proud to be a part of. Yes, it’s sad, but also there is something so beautiful about being able to participate in celebrating what that animal meant to the family.”
Dela’s Doggy Desserts, Pet Boutique and Event Space can be found at
1538 W 7800 S in West Jordan, UT. And it is doggone fantastic.
XOXO Besties,
Your MWS(BFF)