Pawfectly Delicious Signs Alexandria Lease, Opening the Door to More Paid Work

ALEXANDRIA, VA — For years, the team at Pawfectly Delicious Dog Treats has rolled out ginger dough, cut it into shapes and packed bags for customers. Now the Alexandria nonprofit has signed a lease for its own office, giving it room to expand the kinds of paid work it can offer adults with disabilities.

The organization announced the lease Thursday, Nov. 5, on Instagram, where it shared a photo of its maroon sign hanging from a brick building. It plans to use the space for shipping, administrative work and a small retail operation, a goal it set for 2026.

The nonprofit thanked the community for helping make the lease possible and said the office would give its team “even more opportunities to earn a paycheck.” It said more details would follow in the coming weeks. The announcement gave neither a street address nor an opening date.

How a batch of ginger cookies became a source of paid work

Anne Tuccillo and her son Bryan founded Pawfectly Delicious after Bryan aged out of special education services at Falls Church High School and had trouble finding paid work.

The idea came from Anne’s colleague Holly Langer-Evans, whose homemade ginger cookies had already won over the Tuccillos’ dog, Friday. The family tested batches with friends and their dogs, and the organization received nonprofit status in October 2017, The Zebra reported in 2019.

Two community partners helped turn the recipe into a business. Culinary arts students at Fairfax County’s Pulley Career Center mixed the dough, and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Fort Hunt provided kitchen space.

The Pulley Center named Pawfectly Delicious its Employer of the Year in 2019. “We were so honored to be recognized,” Anne told The Zebra at the time.

By 2023, Pawfectly Delicious employed eight people with disabilities. Four worked in the kitchen rolling and cutting dough, while four others packed and fulfilled orders.

Bryan helped cut treats alongside a volunteer and talked up the business to people he met. The nonprofit’s team page describes him as a baker, salesman and marketer as well as co-founder.

Anne, the nonprofit’s executive director, has consistently stated that she wanted those jobs to give the people who held them, “a sense of meaning, purpose, and a job that pays.”

In a December 2025 year-end letter, Anne said the nonprofit’s second Paws & Pours fundraiser raised more than $20,000 and that the organization had added retail and community partners. The new space gives the team a place of its own to handle the orders and office work that come with that growth.

The treats are available through the Pawfectly Delicious online shop.