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On a Monday afternoon in the fall, an event space in Somerville was staged for an elegant meal, complete with white tablecloths, seasonal bouquets, and flickering tea lights. Chairs and silverware weren鈥檛 necessary, because the diners, in this case, were a trio of dogs. As smiling restaurant owners approached with dishes of beef, duck liver, and sweet potato, pumpkin cupcakes, and salmon mini bagels,聽the canine customers took turns sniffing, scarfing, and in some cases, turning up their snouts. Three judges noted their reactions.聽

Nearby, Edward Armstrong 鈥�13, director of strategy and marketing at the veterinary clinic聽, watched his vision come to life. His team had put the "Battle of the Bites鈥� event together in just three weeks, to celebrate the opening of their Somerville location. The following week, they were hosting the city鈥檚 first 鈥渃at parade,鈥� inviting feline enthusiasts on a walking tour to meet the 鈥渘eighborhood kitties.鈥� More than 150 people had signed up.聽

鈥淲e鈥檙e a scrappy start-up, so we鈥檙e not working with big marketing budgets, we鈥檙e doing a lot of this stuff on our own,鈥� said Armstrong, who has worked in strategy at CVS and Panera Bread. 鈥淥ur approach is to do more with less, but not just default to the traditional marketing playbook of discounts, discounts, discounts.鈥澛�

Four local restaurants entered the canine competition, which drew a small crowd of onlookers and in the local newspaper. Proceeds went to Last Hope K9 Rescue, a nonprofit that finds foster homes in Boston for dogs at high-kill shelters in Central Arkansas.聽And Tandem got plenty of adorable content to share with its followers on social media.

鈥淲e were viewing it as kind of an experiment, wondering whether we could keep three dogs well behaved enough to even do it,鈥� said Armstrong. 鈥淏ut everyone loved it and there鈥檚 a lot of excitement to make it a fun recurring series.鈥澛犅�

Armstrong has an undergraduate degree in marketing and operations as well as an MBA from the Carroll School of Management, where he was supported by faculty to pursue projects that interested him, including an independent study where he interviewed coffee shop owners about their business strategies during COVID. At Tandem, Armstrong leads marketing and strategy efforts, but at start-ups, everyone pitches in. Recently, he鈥檚 been helping to develop processes and create new business for the company鈥檚 mobile clinic, where customers can schedule vaccinations, wellness visits, and lab tests at locations in and around Boston.聽

鈥淲e park in a lot of vet deserts where there鈥檚 an underserved need, and I had to figure out how do you build that, how do you schedule it, how do you market it?鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty broad mandate as far as figuring out how to add value to a start-up, while being a good steward of resources, but I love that part of it.鈥�