The army veteran behind the first-ever Black-owned toothpaste and mouthwash

Get to know Philip Garner. He is the founder of Garner’s Garden, a natural skin care products business. The military veteran and former Department of Defense contract specialist started that brand in 2015. In addition, he is also a franchise owner of JDog Junk Removal. 

As a child, Garner said he had always been thinking of new and fun ways to make money and wanted to fulfill that dream by launching his own business when he transitioned into adulthood. This led him to launch Garner’s Garden and also become a JDog franchise owner.

Garner’s Garden is a natural skin, hair and oral care manufacturing business that he started from his basement a decade ago while living in Fort Washington. His oral care products make him the first African-American entrepreneur to manufacture and produce his own line of toothpaste and antibacterial mouthwash, according to Black Business. His oral products are fluoride-free, and use only all-natural ingredients such as organic neem, tea tree oil, and peppermint oil, the platform added. 

Garner used the first two years to sell his products at the farmers market before starting his own website and e-commerce store in 2015. The first few years, he admitted, were tough for him. He made $3,000 in his first year and by the end of 2016, he achieved $65,000 in revenue. By 2017, his company brought in $225,000 in revenue, all from direct marketing via social media and production out of his basement.

In 2018, he moved his company from his basement to his first warehouse, which allowed him to revamp production in an effort to attract retail buyers. He moved his production capacity from 200 bottles of mouthwash a day to 1,200 bottles.

The success of his oral products, in addition to other natural skin and hair care products, helped Garner purchase the JDog franchise. “Both companies are doing well, and I love each one the same,” he told bizjournals.com.

Explaining why he decided to become a JDog franchise owner, he noted, “I liked the fact that it feels like a band of brothers or a fraternity, all throughout the country — I feel like I am a part of something that does good in the community. Everything about JDog and what they stand for really set this franchise apart from the competition and is what ultimately attracted me to it.”

Through JDog, Garner has given employment to several veterans and also seeks out veterans who may need household items by donating to them usable items in good condition like fur jackets from the 1940s, pinball, arcade machines, comic books and a lot of cool stuff.