Learning English in the News – Paopao Pet Bakery: A Bakery for Dogs!

We are huge animal lovers here at ABA English! A lot of us have dogs or cats but we agree none of us has taken their dog to the bakery!

Paopao is a very special kind of bakery because it is the first pet bakery in China: they make cakes and biscuits for our canine friends, not for humans!

Would you buy your dogs cakes from this shop?

Here is the text from the video below, so you can follow what is going on in this Beijing eatery:

“This baker in Beijing, China, is working hard to perfect his dough. But his fresh cakes and pastries are not for humans, Paopao Pet bakery caters to dogs. The pooch friendly patisserie is the first of its kind in China and its appeal is that all ingredients are fresh and natural. Biscuits contain sweet potato, carrot and pumpkin, combined with minced pork and chicken, and owner Song Yu believes she has a winning recipe.

–  Pet products and foods in terms of customer spending were about 3-6 billion US dollars in China last year. Predictions show that in 2012 it should reach 6.2 billion US dollars. If we can secure even just a small share of the market, we would already be extremely successful.

Even though a cakes’ 20 to 40 US dollar price tag could make most customers salivate with shock, discerning Chinese pet lovers are not deterred.

–  Dogs normally just have dog food but then I heard about this place from a friend who said that this store specializes in making cakes and biscuits for dogs.  So I thought that the products might be fresher and that the flavours are better, so that’s why I checked it out.

And what better way to spend a Spring day than a dog party in the park? Where owners can show off their dogs begging skills.”

Vocabulary

Bakery – (noun) a place where bread, cakes, cookies, and other baked foods are made or sold.

Eatery -(noun) a usually small and informal restaurant.

Caters – (verb) to provide what is wanted or needed by (someone or something).

Pooch – (noun) a dog.

Secure – (verb) to make (something) safe by guarding or protecting it.

Salivate – (verb) to have a lot of saliva produced in your mouth because you see or smell food that you want to eat.

Discerning – (adjective) able to see and understand people, things, or situations clearly and intelligently.

Deterred – (verb) to cause (someone) to decide not to do something.

Begging – (verb) of a dog : to sit up on the back legs with the front legs raised.