Some anniversaries make you want to bring out the cake. For us, after 20 years of baking food for dogs and cats, let’s just say the oven is already busy. In 2026, Oven-Baked Tradition celebrates its 20th anniversary. Twenty years of developing recipes, evolving our expertise, building relationships with retailers here at home and abroad and above all, feeding generations of dogs and cats.
But the Oven-Baked Tradition story didn’t begin in 2006 with a perfectly mapped-out plan. It grew from an idea, a family of Canadians entrepreneurs and the belief that there had to be a different way of doing things.
To understand how a brand born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec found its way, two decades later into pet bowls across Canada and around the world, we need to go back a little. Like many good stories at Bio Biscuit, this one begins with someone returning from a trip with an idea in mind.
Before Oven-Baked Tradition, there was Bio Biscuit
The story begins in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec in 1996, when the Lemieux family founded Bio Biscuit. From the very beginning, the company specialized in making oven-baked food and treats for dogs and cats. The early years went by quickly. By 1999, Bio Biscuit was already exporting to the United States. But for nearly a decade, one important piece of the puzzle was still missing: a brand the company could truly call its own, one that could bring its vision to life.
Then came 2005. It all started with a trip and an idea. Pierre Lemieux travelled to Germany to attend a pet food industry trade show. He took in the market, the products and the trends. When he returned, something had changed. Royal, Pierre’s father, still remembers that moment: Pierre came back with a very clear conviction that Bio Biscuit needed a brand of its own. An entrepreneur himself, Royal also played an important role in the development of Bio Biscuit. Both shared the same drive to build and grow the company, each bringing his own perspective and experience. That decision would lead to the creation of Oven-Baked Tradition the following year.
2006: Making room when there was none
Creating a brand is one thing. Finding room for it on store shelves is another. In 2006, Oven-Baked Tradition took its first steps into a market where retailers already had their suppliers, their brands and their established ways of doing things.
As Pierre recalls: “I remember when we launched Oven-Baked Tradition, there was no room for us. We had to create our own space.”
And that’s exactly what the team did. Not overnight. Not without challenges and certainly not knowing that the journey would become what it is today. The brand started small, with its first products, its first retailers and its first customers. One store at a time. One bowl at a time. From the very beginning, Oven-Baked Tradition set itself apart through something that would become inseparable from its identity: oven baking.
Oven Baking: More than just a process
At Bio Biscuit, oven baking didn’t begin with Oven-Baked Tradition. The company had already been developing this expertise since it was founded. When the brand was created in 2006, this know-how naturally became a core part of its identity.
Most dog and cat owners probably don’t think about how their pet’s food is made when they pour kibble into a bowl in the morning. Yet behind every recipe is a series of choices: the ingredients, how they are prepared, the temperature, the baking time and how every step of the process is controlled.
Bio Biscuit chose to build its expertise around slow oven baking at a lower temperature. This process makes it possible, among other things, to use a significant proportion of fresh meat in its recipes.
Pierre likes to explain it with a simple comparison: the idea is to bake the food much like you would in your own oven at home except that here, the ovens, the recipes and the quantities are a little more impressive. Over the years, this method has become much more than a manufacturing process. It has shaped the way the company develops its products, selects its ingredients and approaches innovation. It has allowed Bio Biscuit to develop a very distinctive expertise right here in Canada.
It has also driven the company to continue investing in its facilities, equipment, quality control and research and development team. Because after 20 years, keeping a tradition alive also means knowing how to evolve with the times.
Diane Ringuette, Quality Control Operator
From our first retailers to dog and cat bowls across Canada
A brand never grows within the walls of a facility alone. For Oven-Baked Tradition, much of the story was written on the road and in specialized pet nutrition stores, alongside distributors, sales teams and retailers who were willing to give a still relatively unknown brand a chance. One store became a few. One region opened the door to another. Then consumers began to recognize the packaging.
First in Quebec, then across the rest of Canada, Oven-Baked Tradition gradually built its network. The recipes evolved as well. After launching its first dog products in 2006, the brand expanded its offering to cats in 2008.
Then came new proteins, new formats, grain-free recipes, treats and different solutions developed to meet the evolving needs of pets and the expectations of their pet parents. The principle, however, has remained the same: to develop and manufacture the products here in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. To this day, Oven-Baked Tradition dry food is produced and packaged under one roof at our Bio Biscuit bakery. It’s something we are particularly proud of. From an idea developed by our research and development team to a bag leaving our facility, the different areas of expertise all come together under one roof. This proximity makes collaboration easier and helps turn ideas into reality more quickly.
A Canadian brand that has come a long way
As Oven-Baked Tradition grew across Canada, something else began to happen. The brand started to travel and not just as far as Toronto. Bio Biscuit’s international experience goes back many years. As early as 1999, the company was exporting to the United States. Over the years, its expertise opened doors to various international markets.
Oven-Baked Tradition followed that path. There is something pretty special about seeing a brand born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, on the shelves of pet stores thousands of kilometer’s away from where it is made.
Languages change. Markets change. Consumer habits do too. Dogs and cats, on the other hand, seem to have much more universal concerns, such as: Is it time to eat yet? 😉
Behind that little touch of humor, however, lies a very real business challenge. Expanding internationally means understanding new markets, meeting different regulatory requirements and building strong relationships with local partners. This growth didn’t happen all at once. It was built market by market, partner by partner. Just like it was in Canada.
A story of products, but above all, the people behind the brand
When telling a 20-year story, it’s tempting to focus only on the products launched, the expansions or the markets reached. But that’s only part of the story. Ask Pierre Lemieux what has shaped the company’s journey, and he quickly comes back to the team.
“I think our team values are what makes Oven-Baked Tradition successful today. People are dedicated not only to the organization, but also to one another and it’s by working together that we succeed.” That sense of family extends well beyond the Lemieux family itself.
And the family story continues to be written. With the arrival of Véronique Lemieux, Pierre’s daughter, a third generation is now taking part in the Bio Biscuit journey. A new generation bringing its own ideas and vision while growing within a legacy of expertise built over the years. It’s a meaningful way to prepare for what comes next without losing sight of the company’s roots.
Over the years, employees have grown alongside the company, new areas of expertise have been added and a new generation has taken on greater responsibilities. David Gaucher, Vice-President and General Manager, describes Pierre as the visionary of the duo, while he sees himself more as the one who turns projects into reality. Their complementary strengths are part of how Bio Biscuit continues to move forward.
When David reflects on how far the company has come, he too quickly comes back to the people. For him, one of Bio Biscuit’s greatest achievements is the team that has been built year after year, a mix of generations, experience and new ideas that has helped Oven-Baked Tradition reach different milestones throughout its development.
Innovating without forgetting what brought us here
Twenty years after the launch of Oven-Baked Tradition, the pet food industry has changed tremendously. Pet parents are paying closer attention to ingredients, manufacturing processes and their pets’ specific needs. Retailers are looking for new solutions. Our understanding of nutrition continues to evolve. And so does the brand.
Over the years, Oven-Baked Tradition has expanded its offering while continuing to build on its oven-baking expertise. In 2025, this drive to go even further took shape with the launch of the CARE line, developed around specific needs and a preventive approach to nutrition.
Behind these new products is everything Bio Biscuit has learned over the past decades: formulation, ingredient selection, testing, manufacturing, quality control and above all, listening to the market. Innovation, then, is not a departure from the past 20 years. It is the natural next step.
Recipes change. Knowledge advances. Equipment evolves. But some things remain remarkably consistent: our commitment to making our products here, the importance we place on our team and the belief that there is always a way to do things just a little better.
20 years, 20 winners, and so many thank-you’s
A 20th anniversary certainly deserves to be celebrated. So, in 2026, Oven-Baked Tradition is marking this milestone with its “20 Years, 20 Winners” campaign, giving 20 dog or cat pet parents the chance to each win up to one year’s worth of food for their companion. Yes, a whole year. There will probably be a few dogs very excited about the idea. The cats, of course, will pretend they couldn’t care less.
But beyond the contest, this anniversary is above all an opportunity to say thank you. Thank you to the pet parents who have chosen Oven-Baked Tradition to fill their pets’ bowls over the years. Thank you to the retailers who made room for the brand, especially those who did so back when, as Pierre put it, there wasn’t much room for us at all. Thank you to the distributors and partners who helped a Canadian brand travel far beyond Saint-Hyacinthe. And thank you to the people at Bio Biscuit who, year after year, imagine, develop, make, package, sell and continue to evolve Oven-Baked Tradition.
And what about the next 20 years?
That may be the most interesting question of all. In 2006, no one could have known exactly how far Oven-Baked Tradition would go. The company had expertise, an idea and a lot of work ahead of it. Twenty years later, the brand has grown, but that way of moving forward remains the same.
Keep observing. Keep learning. Keep developing new ideas without losing sight of what earned people’s trust in the brand in the first place. It’s a philosophy summed up in words that, after 20 years, carry even more meaning: believe in your dreams, work to make them happen, surround yourself with the right people and stay true to what you believe in.
That’s how the Oven-Baked Tradition story began. With a family of entrepreneurs, a bakery in Saint-Hyacinthe Quebec, a distinctive expertise and the belief that it was possible to create a place of our own. Today, after 20 years, we could take a moment to look back at everything that has come out of our ovens since 2006. But at Oven-Baked Tradition, we’re already thinking about what we’ll put in them next. Because after all, 20 years isn’t the end of the story. It’s a very good reason to start writing the next chapter.
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