Statement for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship — Rob Van Sickle, Co-Founder- CEO Polkadog

Summary

A written statement for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship by Rob Van Sickle, co-founder and CEO of Polkadog, a Boston-based dog and cat treat manufacturer and retailer, dated March 11, 2026 in the page record. The statement describes the company's founding in 2002 and its current operations, including a 14,000sqft commissary in Boston, two warehouses in Canton Massachusetts, 11 retail locations and a team of about 100 people. It lists the pressures the owner says small businesses face, including competition, wages, utility costs, health insurance premiums and access to fair and flexible capital. It says what small businesses need most is stability and predictability to plan investments and hire workers, and closes by inviting the committee's questions.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

Statement for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Rob Van Sickle
Co-Founder- CEO
Polkadog


Chairwoman, Ranking Member, and members of the Senate Small Business Committee,
thank you for the opportunity to be here today and tell you a little more about my journey as
an entrepreneur and small business owner in the pet industry.

My name is Robert Van Sickle, and I am the co-founder of Polkadog, a Boston-based dog
and cat treat manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, e-commerce and brick and mortar
retailer.

Like most American small businesses, Polkadog started humbly, with an idea, and not
enough common sense to think it couldn’t possibly succeed. Our vision seemed simple,
make the best dog and cat treats we could and use our neighborhood shop to create a
place where the people of the South End could come meet one another and form a
community. Easy, right? We had absolutely no idea what we were doing. That was 2002.

Fast forward to today, Polkadog is celebrating our 24th year in business, we operate a
14,000sqft commissary on the Boston fish Pier where we manufacture and distribute our
branded products to independent pet retailers, gift shops, and grocery stores around the
world. We have two warehouses in Canton Massachusetts that house and support our
direct to consumer e-commerce business, polkadog.com, and own and operate 11 retail
locations in the Boston area and beyond. We have a team of about 100 people.

By all accounts an undeniable success. And I would agree. But one thing it has not been is
easy. In fact, despite our longevity and growth, and how our company might look to
someone from the outside, within the walls we still operate very much as the small
business we were on day one: constantly looking for ways to optimize and streamline
operations, innovate and be creative problem solvers to minimize costs and mitigate risk,
and the age old question of how to obtain access to fair and flexible capital. As most small
businesses owners can attest, the line between success and failure is never far away, and
so we are hard wired to always look for ways to do more, with less.

But what before might have been a worry if George would show up for work this time ? Or,
that we needed to call a plumber for the clogged toilet, now looks more like: how do we
compete to keep our brand relevant in the increasingly competitive, and much more
significantly funded, multi billion dollar pet industry. How are we going to balance wage
considerations with rising utility costs and health insurance premium increases? Can we
finally afford to match our employee’s 401K plans this year? How do we attract talent and
continue to innovate when many days it feels like we’re swimming just to keep our heads
above water.

None of these are questions easily answered, particularly when the answers themselves,
like increasing prices to our customers, create other problems altogether. After all, there
comes a point when we simply can’t run any leaner or ask our customers to pay any more.
There is a floor, and a ceiling.

At Polkadog, we’ve always believed in the power of American small business to not only be
successful but also do good. It’s the foundation of how we started and how we think about
the world and operate every day. We believe in building a company that manufactures
itself, and does so thoughtfully with sustainable and responsible sourcing of our raw
materials, one that creates jobs and pays employees fair and livable wages, one that builds
relationships in our communities, supports local economies, and gives back to the
neighborhoods that support us. We believe in doing things the right way, which more often
than than not, is also not the easy way.

What small businesses like ours need most is stability — predictability and peace of mind
to plan investments, hire workers, grow methodically, to know and be able to say we can
support our teams and their families, to know we can support our own families, to know
that our hard work will pay off, that we can make a difference, for our team, for our local
neighborhood, and far beyond. More than anything, I believe we have done just that, now
here, on day 8500.

I’m proud of what Polkadog has become — a company that grew from one store on one
street corner in one city in America to a global manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer
serving dogs and cats and people around the world. Apart from being a husband and father,
being an entrepreneur has been the most challenging, interesting, humbling,
heartbreaking, thrilling and magically curious journey I could have imagined for my life. I am
grateful every day for the opportunities and lessons it has afforded and for my team and
customers and all those that have supported us along the way. We would not have made it
a week without that help. But here we are, on day 8500.

What an amazing gift, to be able to build a house out of thin air, and have complete
strangers help you raise the roof. I don’t know any other place in the world where that kind
of thing is possible.

We are the American small business story. Tomorrow is day 8501. And I can’t wait to get
back to work.

Thank you for the opportunity to share what I’ve learned. I look forward to your questions.


File and source

File

Van_Sickle_Testimony.pdf

Size

53,646 bytes

SHA-256

558739bf0ae665ddad8982107a0407125bcbb909215928be529f920fff2dac4f

Our copy

Van_Sickle_Testimony.pdf

Original

No public link identified.