As President of Virohana LLC, Reshma Poudel is scaling fast in a category that leaves no room for shortcuts — natural dog chews. While many brands talk trends, she builds products grounded in sourcing discipline, safety standards, and market demand. Her work reflects a clear understanding of how today’s pet owners evaluate chew quality, ingredient transparency, and functional value.
In this PETBIZS Founders’ Interview Series, Reshma pulls back the curtain on her entrepreneurial journey — from identifying gaps others missed to navigating the brutal realities of scaling quality products in a crowded market.
Whether you’re building your own pet brand, evaluating which products deserve your investment, or simply want to understand how exceptional pet businesses get built, Reshma’s insights on product development, customer trust, and strategic growth will give you a serious competitive edge.
Let’s dive in.
Reshma, every founder has that “origin story”— the moment that changes everything. What was yours? What pulled you from wherever you were into the pet industry, and how did that journey shape you as an entrepreneur?
My entry into the pet industry wasn’t a single dramatic moment. It evolved through years of traveling across the Himalayan region and working closely with local communities. Being in those high-altitude areas gave me a deep respect for the traditions, purity, and craftsmanship behind their natural products. I began to see both their global potential and how easily their authenticity could be lost at scale.
That realization pushed me to get deeply involved in building Himalayan supply chains. Besides, this also gave me an opportunity to work directly with producers and seeing firsthand how quickly quality can erode once products scale.
When I studied the Himalayan dog chew market, I noticed a clear gap. Many products labeled “traditional” lacked transparent sourcing, consistent quality, and proper testing. I saw an opportunity to bring something genuinely rooted in Himalayan tradition, and adding science for safety, consistency, and trust.
Through Virohana, I focus on bridging remote Himalayan producers with global consumers while maintaining traceability, ethical sourcing, and quality control. For me, entrepreneurship isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about protecting authenticity as demand grows. The pet industry became the most immediate place to apply that philosophy.
When you were building Virohana from the ground up, what market gap hit you so hard that you couldn’t ignore it? What made you think, “I’m going to build a business around solving this”?
What stood out immediately was the gap between how pet products were marketed and how they were actually made. Many chews were positioned as premium, traditional, or Himalayan, but there was very little transparency around sourcing, processing, or testing. Pet parents were paying for a story, not verifiable quality.
I felt strongly that this gap couldn’t be solved with better branding alone. It requires better systems. That’s when I decided to build a business around traceable sourcing, consistent production standards, and science-backed validation. The goal wasn’t to compete on price or trends, but to raise the baseline for what a natural dog chew should stand for.
You’re running a company across multiple product lines, but natural dog chews became your core focus. As an entrepreneur, what made you bet on this category? What did you see that others might have missed?
I’ve always felt naturally connected to dogs, which made me look closely at what we give them. Natural dog chews sit at the intersection of nutrition, enrichment, and safety, so shortcuts in this category can be risky.
What others missed was how quickly pet parents were becoming more informed. They were demanding transparency, while dogs still needed something they genuinely engaged with. Traditional Himalayan preparation creates a dense, hard, cheese-like chew that dogs naturally enjoy and remain engaged with for extended periods. I saw an opportunity to build around that natural appeal while strengthening it with testing, traceability, and consistency.
For me, this wasn’t just a bet on a product, but on trust: delivering something dogs value, and pet parents can stand behind.
The pet parent is more educated than ever about the natural dog chews — they’re reading ingredients, asking hard questions, and demanding transparency. As a business owner, how has this fundamental shift in consumer behavior changed your entire approach to product development?
Today’s pet parents expect transparency, so we build products with traceable sourcing, consistent production, and real testing from the start. Instead of designing for shelf appeal alone, we design for trust. If we can clearly explain the origin, process, and safety behind our natural dog chews, it has the foundation to last long term.
“Natural” has become the most overused word in pet products (especially natural dog chews) marketing. From an entrepreneur’s standpoint, how do you cut through that noise and make “natural” mean something real and defensible for your brand?
At Virohana, “natural” isn’t a label. It’s something we prove. Our chews are traditionally prepared using yak and cow milk, lime and salt. Then we carefully hand-craft, cut to size, and process using time-tested methods. We combine traceable sourcing and minimal processing with real testing to back up safety and consistency.
There’s a myth that traditional products aren’t hygienic. This isn’t true. We pair traditional preparation with science. This includes using nutritional analysis and advanced third-party screening to validate purity, consistency, and safety. In this way, “natural” becomes measurable, not just a marketing claim.
At Virohana, tradition gives the product its soul, and science protects it.
Sourcing is where so many pet product businesses fail or succeed. Walk me through your philosophy here — how do you build supplier relationships and systems that protect both quality and your business reputation?
For me, sourcing starts with relationships before transactions.
We work with producers, visit facilities, and build partnerships so expectations around quality, safety, and ethics are clear from the beginning. I focus on creating systems like clear specifications, consistent batches, and third-party testing. This helps ensure quality doesn’t depend on chance or scale.
Safety and liability are massive concerns for pet products like natural dog chews. How have you structured your quality control and risk management systems? What keeps you up at night, and how do you mitigate those risks?
For us, safety is built into the process from the start. We use strict sourcing standards, clear production specifications, and batch-level traceability so every chew can be verified from origin to shelf. Each batch undergoes lab testing to confirm nutritional composition, is screened to be mold-free with no detectable pesticide residues and is further analyzed using advanced GC-MS to screen for cross-contamination or adulteration.
Because the product goes directly to a dog, we take that responsibility seriously. It is managed through disciplined supplier controls, repeated testing, and full transparency. This allows us to respond quickly and confidently if anything is ever questioned.
Product development in natural dog chews space is complicated — you’re balancing what dogs want, what pet parents demand, and what’s actually safe and profitable to produce. How do you make those trade-offs as a business leader?
One thing I know for sure is that pet parents love their dogs like family. So I see it as my responsibility to give them the safest and the best line of natural dog chews.
I always start with safety and digestibility. Next comes the balance that dogs enjoy, and pet parents expect in terms of transparency. That means setting clear specs, removing excess fat and applying maximum moisture control for stability, and testing each batch so the chew performs the same every time.
In the end, I choose discipline over shortcuts, because long-term trust always builds a stronger business.
Many successful natural dog chews brands collaborate with veterinarians and nutrition experts during development. How have you leveraged professional expertise to strengthen both your products and your market positioning?
We work with veterinarians, nutrition professionals, and independent labs to review our formulations, testing standards, and safety benchmarks so our natural dog chews meet both traditional and modern expectations. Their input helps us validate nutritional profiles, chewing safety, and quality controls, while also strengthening how we communicate with retailers and pet parents. It ensures the product isn’t just authentic in origin but also supported by professional insight and data.
Pet parents buy dog chews for dental health and mental stimulation — these are clear value propositions. How do you engineer your products to deliver on these benefits while maintaining healthy margins?
We design our Himaliyan dog chews to support dental health and long-lasting engagement by carefully controlling density, texture, and moisture so they remain durable without additives. We also remove excess fat to support better digestion and keep the product clean and stable. At the same time, we maintain healthy margins by working directly with producers, standardizing sizes and specs, and minimizing waste across production and packaging.
Regulatory compliance can make or break a pet product company. What have been your biggest compliance challenges in this category, and how have they affected your business strategy?
The biggest challenge has been aligning traditional products with modern regulatory expectations across sourcing, labeling, and import requirements. Compliance adds time, cost, and complexity, especially when working with remote producers.
Rather than treating compliance as a hurdle, we built it into our strategy early. That meant slower growth at times, but it allowed us to create documentation, testing systems, and traceability that protect the business long term. It shaped our approach to scale deliberately and expanded only when we could maintain full compliance and transparency.
Sustainability is a growing purchasing factor, but it also impacts your cost structure. How do you balance responsible sourcing and production practices with building a profitable, scalable business?
At Virohana, sustainability starts with responsibility to the people behind the product. Our dog chews are made from yak milk sourced in high-altitude Himalayan regions, where life is physically demanding and infrastructure is limited. In many areas, there is no formal transportation, and milk is still carried using traditional methods across difficult terrain. These realities shaped our approach from the beginning.
We work directly with indigenous Himalayan communities to create sustainable economic opportunities through consistent, fair employment. Beyond direct jobs, we reinvest locally by supporting education, basic healthcare initiatives, and access to clean drinking water, including help for local schools and water pumps.
For us, it’s about partnership and shared responsibility. When pet parents choose our dog chews, they’re not only choosing a pure, traditional, and carefully tested product for their dogs, but also supporting the communities and livelihoods that make it possible.
Consumer education is part of the job when you’re selling natural products. What misconceptions do you constantly have to overcome, and how does that affect your marketing and sales strategy?
A common misconception is that traditional chews are overly fatty, inconsistent, or not properly hardened. We address that by combining tradition with science and remove excess fat to support better digestion and apply maximum moisture control during processing to create a firm, stable chew that supports dental wear and shelf safety.
We also emphasize how clean the product is at its core. It’s made from food-grade ingredients and produced using processes that reflect human food-safety principles.
Because of this, our marketing focuses on education and proof. We show the process, the testing, and the quality standards so customers understand that traditional can also mean safe, consistent, and healthy.
Your retail and distribution partners are critical to your growth. How do you enable them to sell your products effectively? What does your partner enablement strategy look like?
We provide clear product information, origin stories, testing details, and simple talking points so they can confidently explain quality, safety, and benefits to customers. We also support them with samples, training, and consistent packaging and sizing so the product is easy to merchandise and recommend. The goal is to make it simple for partners to trust the product, understand the value, and communicate clearly at the shelf.
Every founder faces that pivotal scaling moment — when growth threatens the very quality that made you successful. What was yours? How did you navigate that tension between expansion and maintaining standards?
Our pivotal moment came when demand began growing faster than our original production capacity. Instead of rushing to expand, we paused and strengthened our systems: tightening specifications, improving batch controls, and reinforcing supplier accountability.
That decision slowed growth in the short term, but it protected the quality that customers trusted. It reinforced my belief that scaling without governance is risk, not growth.
Customer feedback is gold for product companies. Can you share a specific example where direct customer input led to a pivotal business or product decision at Virohana?
Early feedback from trainers and large-breed dog owners highlighted the need for more consistent sizing and density. That input led us to refine size categories, tighten moisture and fat specifications, and improve communication around breed-appropriate use.
Those changes reduced returns, improved safety confidence, and strengthened trust with both customers and retail partners.
You’re watching this industry evolve in real-time. What trends are you tracking that will fundamentally reshape the natural dog chew market? Where are you placing your bets for the future?
I’m watching three major shifts.
- First, pet parents are demanding higher transparency and testing, so the market is moving from “natural claims” to proof-based products.
- Second, digestibility and functional benefits like dental support and long-lasting enrichment are becoming non-negotiable, not just nice extras.
- Third, supply chain credibility is becoming a differentiator, with brands needing direct sourcing and traceability rather than generic manufacturing.
I’m placing my bets on products that combine authentic origin with scientific validation. Chews that are clean, digestible, and consistently tested will win long term. As the category matures, the brands that can show real sourcing, real data, and real safety systems will stand out the most.
Brand trust translates directly to sales and customer lifetime value. How do you use labeling, packaging, and communication as competitive advantages to build that trust at scale?
Our packaging is intentionally information-forward. We clearly communicate protein content, sourcing, and testing standards because educated consumers reward honesty with loyalty. Instead of simplifying the story, we make the information accessible so customers and retailers can make confident decisions.
Vision drives entrepreneurship. Where are you taking Virohana in the next 3-5 years within the natural dog chew segment? What does success look like for you?
Over the next three to five years, my goal is to establish Virohana as a benchmark brand in the natural dog chew segment, recognized for consistency, safety, and transparent sourcing. Success isn’t about rapid expansion, but about scaling responsibly while maintaining the same quality standards, testing rigor, and supply chain discipline that define our products today.
To me, success looks like trust on a scale: long-term retail partnerships, repeat customers, and a resilient, ethical supply chain that holds up as the business grows. Success also means ensuring that the communities behind our supply chain grow stronger alongside the brand.
Finally, there are founders reading this right now who want to break into natural pet products. Based on everything you’ve learned building Virohana — the wins, the failures, the surprises — what’s the one piece of advice you’d give them before they take that leap?
Don’t build a product you can’t defend. Before you scale, make sure you can clearly explain your sourcing, your process, and your safety standards to a veterinarian, a regulator, or a highly informed pet parent. Trends will come and go, but trust is the only thing that compounds in this industry.
Let’s Wrap It!
Thank you, Reshma, for giving such a clear and compelling look into your journey with Virohana. Your commitment to transparent sourcing, rigorous testing, and scaling with integrity shows that growth and quality can go hand in hand.
From building trust with high-altitude producers to creating chews that dogs love and pet parents rely on, your approach proves that careful systems and thoughtful leadership shape a brand that can stand the test of time.
We wish you continued success as Virohana sets the benchmark for natural dog chews, scaling responsibly while protecting tradition, safety, and the communities that make it all possible.
