After spending the last two years perfecting the business model of the dog daycare franchise, Dogtopia is gearing up for record growth over the next year, as access to credit is easing and the pet industry shows no signs of slowing down. Dogtopia, a leading provider of quality dog daycare, is expected to add more than 20 new locations to the company by the end of 2012. But instead of actively pursuing new franchisees, Dogtopia’s main efforts over the past year have been to make sure each existing franchise is profitable, through visits to every store from California to New Jersey. As a result, system-wide sales for Dogtopia were 28 percent higher in 2010 than 2009.
The Franchise Hound spoke with Amber Sutton, owner of Dogtopia’s Woodbridge and Springfield, Virginia locations, about the advantages of having two locations in close proximity and the challenges she faced converting an existing daycare into a Dogtopia.
Franchise Hound: You previously worked for the government. How does that develop into franchise ownership within the dog daycare industry? Read full interview here.