Help from dog owners reqd please

stephenmcc_2

I am self employed and earn a reasonable income, although on my own now have run several companies so am familiar with the most issues surrounding business ownership.

I have been looking for some time for a business opportunity to run alongside my existing work, something which is

A cash business
Something which generates repeat custom
Can run without full time involvement
If successful, is scaleable and capable of being reproduced in other areas.

I live in a seaside town of approx 80,000 people,and have been looking at a dog grooming salon as a possible option.

There are only 3 in town, which all seem to do reasonable well, though on a small scale ( 1 is run from a garage, 1 industrial estate, 1 from a home ).

Initial calculations have been based on a small retail unit in town centre ( quite a few available at reasonable rents ), one initial member of staff ( and one trainee/apprentice taken on soon after ) . Eqpt costs are around £3500, and also allowing a few thousand for tiling/plumbing to the unit.

Overall allowing for rates/NI/insurance/power/wages etc overall costs would be around £2200.

My question to any dog owners out there is how often/how much would you spend on grooming your pets.

I appreciate that it varies wildly depending on size/breed but any info would be helpful to me.

My gut feeling is that many who get into this business do it as something to run from home, not because it is not scaleable,but because they don't have the will/passion/experience to progress and expand, something I am very keen on.

If I could establish abrand ID and successful format I could then look at moving the template to other areas ( 280,000 in a 15 mile radius )

Thanks for taking the time to read, and please feel free to post any comments.

paulwf

If you want to build a brand from this so that you can create a chain of shops then quite frankly your costings are in cloud cuckoo land. If you think I'm harsh I'm ready to be proved wrong and will readily apologise if I am...please post your costings below.

£2,200 will just about cover your staff wages. If however you mean an apprentice on an £80 p/w training scheme remember they are the sole member of staff under the manager so they'll be running the shop during the managers 5.6 weeks annual holiday and will cover their sickness and breaks. Good luck rolling out your brand from that foundation.

Again, if you think my costings are wrong let's see a 1 year financial plan.

FWIW your business could be viable. I just think your costings are way off if you want to build a brand from this not just run it from home/garage like your competition that don't have the "will/passion/experience" to expand.

hethmar

Move your question over to the pet board for more responses.

Personally I take one of my dogs twice a year to a groomer (who does it from home and is well experienced and qualified). She charges £20 for clipping or £30 for hand stripping a small terrier.

Kimitatsu

Being honest, people either have one or two dogs that they take a couple of times a year, or those who have kennels or large amounts of dogs tend to do it themselves. I know I do because its not worth having someone do it for me.

Have you looked at mobile grooming? There is a mobile groomer near us that has a trailer which has all the stuff to wash the dog in and then clip it.

Many vets also offer a grooming service for clipping claws etc for a nominal cost. I think you need to look at how many breeds need clipping, how often and how much you could reasonably charge.

ali-t

Neither of my dogs go to the groomers (rott and staff). Have you looked around your local area at what sort of dogs live near you? If there are lots of hairy dogs you may have a business but if there are loads of boxers, staffys, ridgebacks etc you won't get much business.

You may get a lot of business if you get yourself a reputtion as a groomer who grooms to the breedstandard rather than a 'sheepshearer' who clippers the dogs off.

TBH I would think, as with most businesses,you would need a unique selling point to make yourself a success. This may be specialising in aggressive dogs, those with skin conditions, dogs for the show circuit etc etc

You willalso get a better response if you post on the pet thread

jexygirl

I was going to suggest mobile too, at least initially.

I have a boxer, and despite having a friend who successfully runs dog grooming buisness (she also shows her own great danes, so started off with alot of contacts, as well as her mother owning kennels) I have never had my dog professionally groomed.
We bath him about 3 times a year, other than that he swims almost daily in the loch.

My friend also runs a collection service, for a small additional charge, she collects the dogs / animals (sometimes she does all manner of creatures for shows!) and grooms them, then drops them off.

As a side line, she also deals with branded dog foods as well, supplying a variety of customers.

She is very busy, you have to book well in advance, she works from 8am till 6pm 6 days a week, however, she has no assistant as she says there is too much work for one, but not enough for 2. She has also been established about 10+ years now, and has never advertised, its alot of word of mouth and contacts. Im not even sure if she has a website!

Good luck with it.
Jex

stephenmcc_2

paulwf wrote: »

If you want to build a brand from this so that you can create a chain of shops then quite frankly your costings are in cloud cuckoo land. If you think I'm harsh I'm ready to be proved wrong and will readily apologise if I am...please post your costings below.

£2,200 will just about cover your staff wages. If however you mean an apprentice on an £80 p/w training scheme remember they are the sole member of staff under the manager so they'll be running the shop during the managers 5.6 weeks annual holiday and will cover their sickness and breaks. Good luck rolling out your brand from that foundation.

Again, if you think my costings are wrong let's see a 1 year financial plan.

FWIW your business could be viable. I just think your costings are way off if you want to build a brand from this not just run it from home/garage like your competition that don't have the "will/passion/experience" to expand.

Thanks.... had taken wrong figure and that should have read 2500pm.

The figures exclude the fact that I would be putting around £1500 towards marketing and also putting in around 15 hours a week in store + additional time out around vets/kennels etc

The rents are VERY low in the units I am looking at, yet are very central to main area and easily accessible, have priced insurance/rates/heat & light etc and allowing for intial f/t wage for groomer of 18k pa.

Being close to the sea the town is full of dog walkers every day and I think there could be a good enough market in the area

peachyprice

Once or twice a year for a full groom is the average for hairy dogs, you will get the odd owner who is too lazy to bath their own dog and will bring it just for that, but I think that is the exception rather than the rule.

I think this is why you will find that most groomers work at home, are mobile or offer the service alongside being a pet shop. There just isn't the constant demand.

I pay £20 for a full groom, 2 girls work there, they will do 3 dogs in the morning and 3 in the afternoon max, less if they have particularly long haired dogs in, so you're not going to make much profit after your £2500 running costs.

paulwf

Thanks Stephen...would you mind posting your costings? Obviously they are just theoretical until you are actually trading but we'll be able to check what you've missed or over/under-estimated.

Have you got anything to back up your startup costs?

How are you going to fund this? Your previous posts suggest you don't have much capital to put into this and securing loans may be difficult...have you looked into this?

Again, I think your idea may be viable but there seem to be a few gaps in your business plan that need to be sorted before you go too much further.

hethmar

My initial thought is though, why have you chosen this as a possible business? Do you have a love/experience of dogs?

Errata

My lad goes every 6 weeks at £17 a go. There are approx 6 groomers in my district with a population of 300k, only 2 have premises the other 4 work at home.