Franchisee Frequently Asked Questions

Fetch! Pet Care provides a turnkey, professional pet care franchise system developed specifically for full-time, serious business operators in the rewarding world of pet care.

Our program gives our franchisees the professional edge to outpace the competition in any territory. Training and materials cover virtually all aspects of operation including operations, sales, marketing, accounting, legal and human resources. Our proven franchise business opportunity can be operated from your home, requires little capital investment, and can provide you with a sound income, fun and healthy lifestyle, with repeat business year after year.

We provide a comprehensive variety of pet care services to meet pet owner's varied needs, including private and group dog walks at $15-22 per outing, daily pet visits at $15-22 per visit, in-home overnight sitting at $35-60 per night, private boarding at $30-55 per night, day care at $30-50 per day, yard poop scoop and home care at $15-$22 per visit and pet taxi services at $15-22 plus additional mileage. Prices will vary by geographic location. Some of our franchisees offer additional services, such as pet grooming, pet photography, and obedience training.

Ideal franchisees are enthusiastic, energetic, organized, proactive planners who love pets, and have the desire to provide a friendly, professional pet care service that is superior to all others. Ideally, you will have business ownership, operations or management experience. You should have a willingness, patience and financial wherewithal to devote full-time efforts to build a sustainable business, although it is possible to work part-time provided you hire staff. You should possess a working knowledge of sales, customer service, marketing and accounting basics. You should have the desire to embrace our system of high operating standards.

We require that you have a strong credit history and a minimum liquid financial net worth of $15,000.

Required investment in your business will vary based on what assets you already own and how aggressive your business and operations strategy is. However, following are some anticipated ranges:

We accept check, money order, virtual checking or, if you prefer, you can pay by credit card and use the added mileage points to help cover your airfare if you choose to fly to our headquarters in Berkeley, California for a complimentary initial training.

Yes, we require a 5% ongoing royalty on your gross sales, or a very small minimum monthly payment until you generate sales, to help cover the cost of our ongoing support in helping you grow your business. In addition, we require a 1.5% ongoing royalty on your gross sales which goes directly toward our national cooperative advertising fund which directly benefits you.

We do not currently offer financing. However, many of our franchisees were able to riase capital to purchase their franchise through friends, family, a home equity line, credit card or by submitting a professional business plan to get a microloan from a local bank or through the Small Business Administration. A contact list for participating small business microloan lenders in your state can be found at http://www.sba.gov/financing/microparticipants.html.

No. We go through a very thorough selection process. We need to ensure that both Fetch! Pet Care and the franchisee are right for each other and can enjoy a mutually rewarding, fun, and harmonious long-term relationship.

First, you must genuinely love and care about pets! Next, you must have a minimum financial net worth to comfortably support your franchise's initial and ongoing investment. Lastly, you must have a strong desire to succeed in your own business.

The company offers hands-on training at our corporate headquarters in Berkeley, California. During the training process Franchisees receive easy-to-follow operations manuals, training DVDs and CD-ROMs that contain everything you need to start and operate your business. Some of the topics include Basic and Advanced Pet Care Techniques, Marketing, Customer Service, Operations, Human Resources and Financial Management. You'll also join us in the field, literally, with our expert pet sitters and dog walkers! In addition, you'll have ongoing access and support from us through our toll-free support line, our private intranet and our online discussion group, knowledge base, regular roundtable sessions and quarterly regional franchise strategy sessions. Your initial training and ongoing support will be tailored to suit your individual needs in setting up, maintaining and expanding your business.

Franchising helps you avoid many of the pitfalls involved in starting up and running a business on your own. You will be part of a nationally recognized franchise brand with a tried and tested business strategy. You will receive an initial education and ongoing training from skilled professionals with years of business and pet care experience. You will gain access to systems, programs and materials that will accelerate your time to market and help you provide a higher level of service than competing pet care businesses in your territory. You'll enjoy the benefits of a growing nationwide network of franchisees who share ideas and experiences.

Pet care can be a seasonal business to smaller, independent operations. However, the fact remains that almost every street in America now has pets in the home, resulting in thousands of pet owners in your area needing pet care on a daily basis. Using the Fetch! Pet Care system, you will have a greater potential to gain the lion's share of new business to be had and build a client base that consistently uses you on a daily basis, thus generating steady and regular income.

Consider that last year pet owners spent over $52 billion on the positive welfare of their furry friends, which is double of just a decade ago! The pet products and services industry is the 7th largest retail sector in America - ahead of the retail toy, candy, jewelry and hardware retail industries! Last year Americans spent more on their pets than movies, video games and listening to recorded music combined. The demand for specialized pet care services is far greater than the supply of professionally trained and qualified operators, and this gap widens every year as the country's kennels struggle to keep up with the number of new pets. Also, there is a fast-moving trend of pet lovers moving away from kennels and looking for a service that combines at-home pet care with the added advantage of additional home security. Lastly, pet lovers in general are spending more on the positive welfare of their pets while they are away at work or on vacation.

The amount of gross sales you can generate will vary from franchisee to franchisee, and is directly dependent on the population of pet owners and economic climate in your territory, your ability to follow our proven Fetch! Pet Care blueprint for success, and your general desire to work hard and succeed in your business.

The current initial franchise fee is $15,000 for a protected territory of approximately 50,000 targeted households for a value of $0.30 per household. Additional targeted households may be purchased, on a per household basis, at the time of the purchase of the initial 50,000 households at 20% off the $0.30 per household price. If you choose to purchase an additional territory during the term of your Franchise Agreement, and we grant your request, you must pay us a per household fee for each additional household in the expanded area that is calculated at 20% off our then-current per household price, based on our then-current initial franchise fee.

We do not offer Area Development Agreements at this time as we prefer to have a new franchisee open a single or double territory, prove their capabilities, and then expand as they are ready.

Of course! To help you analyze whether you would like to work in the great outdoors with a variety of pets, as available, you are welcome to spend some time with our franchisees in the field, meet some of their pet sitters, and speak to their clients to see if the business suits your needs.

We will disclose our FDD after you have attended our online webinar and virtual open house meeting. We do not make our FDD available to the general public.

a. This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for information purposes only. There are approximately 14 countries and 15 US states that regulate the offer and sale of franchises. The countries are Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Canada (provinces of Alberta and Ontario), China, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and the United States of America. The US states are California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. If you are a resident of one of these states or countries, are receiving this message in one of these states or countries, or intend to operate a franchise in any of these states or countries, we will not offer you a franchise unless and until we have complied with any applicable pre-sale registration and/or disclosure requirements in the applicable jurisdiction.

b. This offering is not an offering of a franchise. In New York (USA), an offering of a franchise can only be made by a prospectus that has been previously filed and registered with the Department of Law of the State of New York. The application for registration of an offering prospectus or the acceptance and filing thereof by the Department of Law as required by the New York law does not constitute approval of the offering or the sale of such franchise by the Department of Law or the attorney general of New York.

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The detailed steps of The Franchise Process can be found on our web site.

Our franchise process is designed to ensure that both of us have evaluated one another to make an informed business decision before entering into a franchisee relationship. Therefore the process can take between 2 weeks and 3 months, and can vary from franchisee to franchisee.

The initial franchise fee is $15,000 for a protected territory of 50,000 households.