In 1989, David York and his two sisters opened a restaurant in their hometown of Sikeston, Mo., serving their mom’s famous apple dumplings.
Within five years, more than 30 Dumplin’s franchises had opened in eight states. After selling Dumplin’s in 1994, York settled in Atlanta just before the Olympics and began to buy and renovate Ansley Park homes.
When he discovered that his dog, Sophie, had no place to stay when he traveled, he opened Barking Hound Village on Cheshire Bridge Road to accommodate her.
A pioneer in the upscale doggie day care and boarding business, Barking Hound Village LLC now has five locations in Atlanta and two in Texas.
In 2008, York established the nonprofit Barking Hound Village Foundation to manage the Fulton County Animal Services.
Overwhelmed with requests from pet charities, he recently decided he needed a separate business to help with fundraising.
So late last year, he opened Sophie’s Uptown, a bakery and lunch spot named for his beloved cocker-springer rescue, who died in 2008 after a lavish 20th birthday party at Buckhead’s historic Swan House.
The pet-friendly Pharr Road cafe donates 25 percent of profits to animal-rescue causes.
“I just thought, ‘Fundraising has got to be reinvented,’” the 51-year-old entrepreneur said. “I can’t go to one more party or ask one more person for a silent-auction item or a sponsorship. I wanted to open a business that could generate income and help with fundraising rather then begging people all the time.”
Q: What's your background?
A: My family has farmed cotton forever. I grew up just north of Memphis. I went to Mississippi State and moved to New York after that and had a great career with Macy's. That's when they were just starting all the private labels.
Q: What did you do at Macy's?
A: I started in the management-training program. Joe Cicico [then head of Macy's] had started The Cellar. That was the first big label. I started my training program with Andy Traub, whose father was Marvin, president of Bloomingdale's, and Bill Lauder, Estee Lauder's grandson. I was the oddball. I ended up moving around to different places, and for three years I did all the imports from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Q: How did Dumplin's get started?
A: My mother is a great cook, and she used to bake these incredible apple dumplings. I'd take them back and serve them for dinner parties. Friends would call and say: "I hear you are going home. Bring some back." One year I went home for Thanksgiving, and my sisters picked me up at the airport. I could tell they were both bored. Their kids had started school, and they weren't working. I said: "Well, let's open a little bakery. We'll call it Dumplin's." That's when Cinnabon and T.J. Cinnamons and all that was crazy in New York. I thought we'd start up with something like that. I put it together. They ran it. And it just exploded. They called me and they were like: "We have people lined up out the door. We have got to get a bigger building." ... When we had about three open, I realized it was going to do well. So I quit my job in New York and moved the headquarters to Nashville. After we sold them, I moved to Atlanta.
Q: And did what?
A: When they built the Four Seasons, it was the Occidental Grand, and I bought a condo there and hung out with Sophie. Every day we would go through Ansley Park and walk through there. I have always loved real estate. So that year, I bought 23 houses in Ansley Park and just started renovating houses. I wanted to travel some and couldn't find anyplace to leave my dog. So I opened Barking Hound Village so Sophie had some place to stay. ... Then we took over Fulton County Animal Shelter after that.
Q: Do you think Barking Hound was a pioneer in the field?
A: I think we were one of the first. There were a few around the country. There were a couple in New York. They were all a little different. We did more communal play and more time outside. Our big thing is, we'll do anything. We had one customer whose dog only slept on this one love seat, and every time she would come, we'd go to their house and pick up their love seat and put it in her suite. ... It's more of a comfort to the customers than the dogs, honestly. ... We could write a book just on the customers. Everybody's so particular. They will come in with this thick of a book [he gestures with thumb and index finger] with instructions. Then the phone will ring all day long: "How is Fifi? Has she been to the bathroom? Does she seem sad?"
Q: Do you think Barking Hound is being imitated?
A: Oh, yeah. It's amazing. We have so many competitors now, in Atlanta and Austin and Dallas, where we have other Barking Hound Villages. But it's like we really got established in the beginning. Those families and their kids brought their dogs and their friends. It's really a word-of-mouth business. The tough part is, it's a 24-hour business. We never close.
Q: What is your vision for Sophie's?
A: I'm not one to sit still, obviously. I'd love to get this up and really profitable and have a good stream of cash going to the animals of Atlanta and hopefully open a few more locations in Atlanta. And then, if I get the model perfected, I'd like to open them in every city that has an animal shelter.
Q: Do you have a dog now?
A: I have a crazy Weimaraner. I understand why she's been in six homes. I am probably the only person who can tolerate Daisy. I love her dearly, but she is one of the wildest dogs I have ever seen. When she goes to day care, the staff is really tired at the end of the day.
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