Meet Twinleaf's New Mascot!

Meet Buddy! Twinleaf's new mascot – "Buddy," Buddy was created and designed by Brittany Bonaparte, Twinleaf's new Enterprise Marketing Specialist. As a marketing specialist, Bonaparte would create a marketing strategy for Twinleaf stores and diners, along with their Smokers Warehouse.

On her very first day, she jumped on the idea of creating a mascot and how Twinleaf could use the mascot in all their promotional materials and merchandising. Bonaparte did a bit of research beforehand, finding a Bucee gas station located in Texas and that was it!

Bonaparte said, "I loved their marketing and how they made use of him."

After consulting with Twinleaf's marketing team, they decided a dog would make the best fit.

Bonaparte said, "All of them mentioned a dog and I found that was probably the best fit because in the CAA Management building, we have two dogs that roam around our offices, greeting people, the dogs are named Bower and Nico. Chessie, our Marketing Director, also said that a lot of rez dogs will travel to Twinleaf Diner because they can smell the delicious food cooking."

Anyone who owns a dog and lives in the Racquette Point area can attest to this and how often they will find their dog at Twinleaf, hoping to get more than a whiff of their delicious food.

Bonaparte added, "The name for Buddy was just a placeholder, I was hoping we would come up with another more fitting name, but it ended up just sticking. The first draft of his design was very clean, more corporate logo like, the team liked it, but they suggested to make him look a little scruffy and a dog that roamed the streets. His color scheme are all Twinleaf brand colors. Chessie gave me full control over his design, but asking for feedback helped really shape who he is right now. Some people ask why he has a black eye, its just a spot or marking in his fur but we say it's because he's a tough rez dog who's cuddly!"

So essentially, the inspiration came from Twinleaf's own pups – and the dogs that stop in to visit. Twinleaf love their furry babies, and the design is a small homage to the employees who make it all possible. They also wanted something for the kids to get excited about when visiting Twinleaf.

"It's already brought joy to customers, with people taking photos near him and just overall being excited. It was such a pleasure to create him."