Running a pet boarding kennel can be a very profitable business. The pet care business market has been exploding for the last five to ten years and recently was valued at over $8.4 BILLION dollars. You read that correct. Eight point four billion, with a B, dollars.
With Covid somewhat coming to an end, people are starting to head back to the office again and especially starting to go on vacations. What happens when you go on a vacation and cant bring your dog? You find a dog boarding business nearby and you give them a ring.
If youre contemplating open a boarding business, or if youre already the owner of one and youre just looking for a way to forecast future income, youre in the right place.
Important: If youre the owner or future owner of a dog daycare business (and not a kennel business), please use our dog daycare income forecasting spreadsheet. Its built specifically for dog daycare business forecasting.
If youre thinking about opening up a combined kennel boarding business that will also have a dog daycare aspect, youll want to use the Dog Daycare & Boarding Business Income Forecasting Spreadsheet. It includes sections for two different revenue streams, instead of just the single revenue stream on this spreadsheet.
If youre opening a pet grooming business, youll want to use the Pet Grooming Business Income Forecasting Spreadsheet. Its better suited to your needs.
Business revenue forecasting is a difficult thing to do. If it was easy, weather forecasts would be correct every week, and we all know thats far from true!
We here at DoggieDashboard have created the kennel business forecasting spreadsheet that you can download free of charge to help forecast your businesss estimated revenue, expenses and overall income.
Step 1: Guestimate your monthly rent or mortgage payment → This one is easy. If youre renting your facility, youll want to type in your monthly rent. If you bought your business, youll want to type in your kennels monthly mortgage price. If you built the facility and dont have any monthly fees associated with owning it, youll just enter those building costs in the Startup Cost field and leave the monthly field blank.
Step 2: Guestimate your monthly utilities payment → Every month youre going to be paying fees to your local utility companies. These are going to include water, electric, sewer and most likely natural gas. Try to guestimate how much money youll be paying for these services. You can use this estimator to get started.
Step 3: Guestimate your monthly insurance payment → If you dont plan on having insurance at your business, you better rethink that. Small business insurance is important to have, especially when youre dealing with peoples pets. You dont want to think about it, but if a pet escapes your business and gets hit by a car, you could be sued by the pet owner. Some types of business insurance can help you pay for issues like this.
Step 4: Guestimate your monthly business expenses → Business expenses include a wide variety of different expenses. This can be software fees that you pay for accounting software, website hosting fees, dog treats that you buy for your clients pets, pet food you have on hand if owners forget to include some, you name it. Try to guestimate how much youll be spending on supplies to keep the business running.
Step 5: Guestimate your average employee wage → If you intend to have employees, youre going to have to think about how much youll be paying them. Employee payroll is a huge expense for small businesses. Its possible that youll have a manager that you pay $25 per hour and a cleaner that you pay $12 per hour, so youll have to figure out the best estimate.
Step 6: Guestimate your average boarding fee → The average boarding fee is one of the hardest estimates that youll have to make. Pet boarding has hundreds of different pricing combinations. Sometimes youll have a pet owner that pays $20 for overnight boarding and then youll have another that pays $30 for the same thing. Maybe one has a larger dog, who knows. Then you have situations where more than one pet is boarded in the same kennel/run. As usual, youre going to have to guess. Lets say you charge $25 for a single pet and $40 for two pets in the same run. Your average is going to be (40 + 25)/2 for an average of $32.50 per overnight stay.
Step 7: Enter the total number of kennels at your facility → This one shouldnt be too hard. If you havent built your kennel boarding facility yet, youre going to have to guess how many slots, runs or kennels youre going to have. The name isnt important, its the amount that is important. If you already have a business, simply enter the quantity of runs that your business currently has.
Step 8: Fill in monthly employee hours and startup costs → Last but not least, youre going to need to fill in the employee hours and startup costs. Employee hours are quite simple. If you have a part-time employee, they work 80 hours per month. Thats 20 hours per week for four weeks. If you have two part-time employees, thats 160 monthly hours. Guestimate how many employees youll have working and youll be able to get a good idea of how many hours of wage youll be paying each month.
As for kennel startup costs, this is going to be a bit harder to figure out. If youre already in business, you really dont need to think about this value since its already in the past. A sunk cost so to speak. However, if youre starting a new business, there are going to be some significant costs before you get started. These could include legal fees, incorporation fees, website design fees, etc. Theres also the cost of construction or remodeling that you need to consider. Take your time and try to figure out to the best of your ability how much it will cost to build your pet boarding kennel business.
Heres a YouTube video showing how to use the overnight boarding kennel profit forecasting spreadsheet.
Below youll find a screenshot of the kennel profit forecasting spreadsheet. Click on the screenshot to be taken to the Google Docs page where you can download it. Just a reminder, you cannot edit the spreadsheet on the Google Docs page, since its write-protected. Youll have to click on FILE and the DOWNLOAD and then you can save a version to your computer or Google Docs drive and then you can play around with it as much as you want.
Do you love animals and have an interest in owning your own business? Learn why K9 Resorts is perfect for you:
Figuring out how much does a dog boarding business make depends on a few variables. First, the territory in which the doggy daycare is located dictates the amount you can charge for services. The popularity of your location or the density of pet owners within the area is directly related to the number of dogs that you’ll have in-house each day. Of course, there are busier times based on the season, as well. As an example, any time of year that people are more prone to travel could provide an uptick in business. To calculate estimated dog daycare profitability, you’ll need to average the number of dogs being serviced each day multiplied by the cost for a full day of daycare for each then subtract operating costs. Generally speaking, dog daycare franchises, like K9 Resorts, are more profitable than other options. A franchise open for at least 24 months can average over $1.2 million in sales and nearly $400K in EBIDTA.
Doggy daycare costs can range anywhere from $29 to $46 for a full day of doggy daycare with a franchise like K9 Resorts. If you’re being very conservative in the number of dogs you service each day, assuming 30 dogs show up on any given day, you’d be set to bring in $870 on the low end and $1,380 on the high end each day. This works out to a minimum of just over $6K a week if your location is open seven days a week, putting you at more than $316K a year in daycare alone. These numbers don’t account for overnight stays or any additional services that you may offer. While the profitability of a dog daycare location is variable, there are things you can do to set yourself up for success. Instead of going the independent route, opening a trusted franchise could provide a better guarantee in your overall revenue.
Franchising is nothing new. Fast food joints and grocery stores have been doing it for decades. But recently, more industries are catching on to the convenience and security of franchising, specifically the booming pet care industry. Spending in the pet care industry only continues to rise and many see it as a recession-proof market where they can find solid footing in franchising – and they’re right. While franchising in the pet care industry isn’t easy, it is rewarding. Specifically opening a dog daycare franchise is a smart move because the market is underserved and growing. Because pet owners work long hours, they feel guilty leaving their furry family members home alone all day. As a result, they look to dog daycares to fill that void and provide a safe, community space for their dogs to thrive during the week when they’re at work. Most responsible doggy daycares put a limit on the number of dogs that can come to daycare on a given day, depending on the staff they have to handle the load. With the service in high demand, many are left without an option when the nearest dog daycare location fills up.
Investing in a dog daycare franchise gives you the opportunity to fill a growing need as well as run a business that is recession proof and profitable. More and more, pet owners are seeing pet care services and products as necessities instead of frivolous spending. Just as a working parent would need childcare during the day, the dedicated pet owner seeks out quality pet care, too. People respect quality franchises across any industry but specifically when it comes to the care of important members of the family. Knowing exactly what kind of care their pets will receive eases owners worries which creates repeat business. Investing in the right dog daycare franchise is crucial to any savvy entrepreneur’s success.
The pet industry is big business
Most pet owners spend a good portion of their paychecks on their furry companions.
This 30% increase shows that pet parents are buying more toys and accessories, while focusing on products and services related to pet health and well-being. Common purchases often include:
It’s also common for dogs to visit a groomer or dog spa regularly. This type of service, combined with a doggy daycare, has the potential to draw in additional business.
In many households, a pet is an integral part of the family. As a result, there‘s a solid opportunity for business owners to offer quality care for pets when owners can’t be around to take care of them.
People who spend all day at work feel guilty leaving their pets alone and are happy to pay for the care, attention and exercise that a pet daycare provides.
Step 2: Guestimate your monthly utilities payment → Every month youre going to be paying fees to your local utility companies. These are going to include water, electric, sewer and most likely natural gas. Try to guestimate how much money youll be paying for these services. You can use this estimator to get started.
If youre contemplating open a boarding business, or if youre already the owner of one and youre just looking for a way to forecast future income, youre in the right place.
Important: If youre the owner or future owner of a dog daycare business (and not a kennel business), please use our dog daycare income forecasting spreadsheet. Its built specifically for dog daycare business forecasting.
Below youll find a screenshot of the kennel profit forecasting spreadsheet. Click on the screenshot to be taken to the Google Docs page where you can download it. Just a reminder, you cannot edit the spreadsheet on the Google Docs page, since its write-protected. Youll have to click on FILE and the DOWNLOAD and then you can save a version to your computer or Google Docs drive and then you can play around with it as much as you want.
Heres a YouTube video showing how to use the overnight boarding kennel profit forecasting spreadsheet.
FAQ
How profitable is a dog kennel?
How much do dogtopia owners make?
In 2017, the average gross sales for Dogtopia franchise units open for a year or more was $695,097 with the highest gross sales being $1,404,337 and the lowest $297,187.
