Charles Anderson serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Chuck & Don's Pet Food Outlet. Chuck graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1963 with a degree in Accounting. He worked for State Farm Insurance from 1963-1966 as an adjustor and then worked for Murphy Motor Freight Lines from 1966-1979 in various positions ranging from cost accountant, purchasing agent, office manager, operating shift manager, to terminal operations manager.

Chuck and his wife Sharon started officially training dogs in 1972 for the Animal Inn Boarding Kennel. They owned, trained, and showed German Shepherds (which is how Chuck and Don met and became friends), Golden Retrievers, Schipperkes, Border Collies, and mixed breeds. They had also bred Golden Retrievers for a time. They bought the Animal Inn business in 1978 and began running it full time in 1979. In 1986 Chuck and Sharon built a separate building for the Animal Inn Training School and then sold the Boarding Kennel to Don and Joan Tauer in 1988 to devote their time to training.

During the late 80’s many training and boarding customers started asking Chuck and Don to sell pet food. They gave it a try and started selling Iams and Eukanuba from the Boarding Kennel and Iams from the Training school. Chuck and Don observed the success of some of the small local pet supply stores, such as Pet Food Warehouse. They were selling truckloads of food through kennel and training school, which prompted their decision to explore the possibility of opening a retail store in 1989. Their first store opened at the Eagan Towne Centre in May of 1990.

Chuck and Sharon currently share their home with a Golden Retriever named Geno, a Border Collie named Dicey, and a mixed-breed named Tripper.

Robert Hartzell is now the President and C.E.O. of Chuck & Don's Pet Food Outlet. Bob Graduated from the University of Denver business school with a degree in Hotel/Restaurant Management in 1975. He worked for the Clock Tower Restaurant in Vail, Colorado until returning to Minnesota in 1978 to open his own restaurant, Bobbie’s of White Bear Lake. Bob joined the Board of Directors of Hartzell Corporation, a manufacturing company started by his father in the 1950’s, in 1979, serving until 1993. In 1980 Bob acquired The Pub Restaurant on Madeline Island and continues to be a major force in that community. Bob and his wife Susan have owned Yellow Labs since the early 1980’s and currently share their home with Lucy, a Yellow Lab and Hank, a Large Munsterlander.

Shortly after selling his interest in Hartzell Corporation in 1993, Bob was introduced to Chuck and Don by a mutual friend. Chuck and Don impressed Bob as being extremely knowledgeable in terms of pet care and training and he believed that they had the start of a great business concept. Bob worked with Chuck and Don for two years before becoming a partner in 1996 and has been a driving force behind the growth of Chuck & Don's Pet Food Outlet over the past eight years.

Don Tauer retired from the retail pet supply business in 2000 to devote more time to the Animal Inn Boarding Kennel and continues to lend his name to Chuck & Don's Pet Food Outlet.

Chuck and Bob have a vision to be the local destination home town pet supply store with excellent customer service, a wide and broad selection of products, and competitive pricing. Chuck & Don’s is locally owned and the income generated by our business stays in Minnesota. We look for growth opportunities upwards of twenty stores by 2015, and hope to see you in one of our stores sometime soon.

Chuck with Geno and Tripper


Bob with Lucy and Hank.