Scenthound CEO Tim Vogel talked to us about how his enterprise advanced from a typical grooming salon
right into a membership-based wellness studio for canine—after which right into a quickly-expanding franchise, hitting
No. 127 on our High New & Rising Franchises checklist.
How did Scenthound get began?
In 2005, my spouse Jessica and I began a cell grooming enterprise, and later transitioned to retail
areas. After studying what canine’ and canine mother and father’ wants have been, we pivoted right into a wellness mannequin. If
you take a look at the highest 10 breeds within the U.S., solely a kind of 10 wants a haircut—however all canine want care. It
was round 2015 that we launched what’s right this moment known as Scenthound—”scent” being an acronym for
“pores and skin, coat, ears, nails, tooth,” the 5 core areas that each one canine want routine take care of.
Why did you resolve to franchise?
There have been a handful of causes. First, we needed to amplify our affect, to assist folks care for his or her
canine in a proactive approach to assist them reside happier, more healthy, longer lives. Second, I’ve all the time been
concerned within the entrepreneurial neighborhood, and I cherished the concept of serving to different folks take the
entrepreneurial journey. Third, we had created this completely new class, and we needed to be the
leaders in that class, and franchising provided a solution to scale quickly. Lastly, a part of our worth
proposition is that we accumulate every canine’s well being profile, and the extra information we accumulate, the higher
suggestions we are able to make on what canine mother and father can do to maintain their pets blissful and wholesome. So
the extra areas we’ve got, the extra information we’ve got to personalize and curate options.
How do you get pet mother and father to grasp the necessity on your companies?
Many canine mother and father come to us initially simply because they do not need to wash their canine or clip its nails
themselves. However each time they arrive in we give them what we name a Scent Examine—a report card the place
we overview their canine’s well being and inform them the place there are alternatives for enchancment and the way
they’ll remedy or stop issues. So buyer by buyer, we’re educating them about canine well being,
after which out of the blue they are a wellness buyer, not a grooming buyer.
Like lots of human wellness franchises, you have adopted a month-to-month membership mannequin, proper?
Yeah, and that is one of many actually highly effective issues on either side of the fence. The primary purpose
our clients say they love us is as a result of the routine upkeep and accountability is about up for
them. And on the opposite facet, it is actually good for the enterprise proprietor, since you’ve stabilized income.
You even have a canine that is in fine condition as a result of they’re coming in commonly, and you’ve got a
relationship with that canine so that they have an incredible expertise and are simpler to work on.
What forms of franchisees are you searching for?
One of many basic advantages of our system is that we’re a multi-unit franchise. We’ve an inside
system to coach trimmers, and after a 12 months of working one middle, you are going to have too many trimmers, so you must open your second middle to offer them a continued profession path into
administration. So we’re actually searching for searching for multi-unit operators, and operators who’ve been
there and achieved that and have expertise within the service trade—somebody who is aware of methods to construct a
high-performing crew.
What are your targets for the 12 months forward?
The pet trade is forecasted to be a $277 billion trade by 2030, so the tailwinds we’ve got proper now
are super and the chance for progress is de facto limitless. We’re mainly opening one location
every week for the remainder of the 12 months, so we’ll be at 100 by the top of 12 months, which is de facto thrilling, as a result of as
we scale, we’re altering the psychology of the general inhabitants about canine care and serving to folks be
one of the best canine mother and father they are often. We’re additionally creating our personal private-label product line. In order that’s one other large a part of our mission, to construct this multi-channel ecosystem to not solely to carry canine in and provides them routine care, however to offer canine mother and father options at dwelling to assist them make certain their canine stays on the trail to wellness.