Starting a Dog Daycare and Boarding
While many are aware that pet care is a billion-dollar industry, the steps required to successfully open one’s own boarding, grooming, daycare, or all-encompassing pet facility is less understood. Yes, having a love of animals is important, but that alone will not sustain a profitable business. You must be willing to take on areas such as industry research, marketing, financial planning, supply chain management or pull in someone with the capacity to do so.
Creating a business is no overnight task. If you are truly interested in this type career path, we encourage you to be fearless. You cannot let potential failure easily deter you. To get you started, The Dog Gurus has summarized what goes into starting a dog boarding or pet care service in these 5 Stages.
Stage 1: Research the need and feasibility of a new pet care business in your local market.
For more about this stage, read All About Dog Daycare: A Blueprint For Success by Robin K. Bennett, CPDT-KA
Stage 2: Develop a business plan outlining your services, licensing requirements, direct competitors, target customer, company brand, financial statement (start-up expenses and cash flow projections).
Stage 3: Establish a physical location and check to make sure all zoning laws and building code are met.
Stage 4: Prepare to open by finalizing your operational plan and policies, acquiring needed staff, implementing your marketing strategy, and performing a test run of services.
For more about dog specific services and safety considerations, read Off-Leash Dog Play: A Complete Guide to Safety & Fun by Robin Bennet, CPDT & Susan Briggs, CKO Daycare Operations Standards Summary by Robin Bennett
Stage 5: Opening day! A good first impression means focusing on personable customer service and high-quality pet care to establish customer retention and fine tune day-to-day operation and policies.
You now have a broad understanding of what goes into starting your own pet care business. Within each of these stages, comes a great deal more amount of information you need to address and educate yourself on. Learn more about each of the 5 Stages in Starting Your Pet Care Center.
We wish you nothing but success!
