Dog lover finds robust business

OLIVER TAN President DOGGIE DAY CARE PET SUPPLY, INC.

Filipinos are dog loving people, but there are responsibilities that come with pet ownership. That is why pet ownership can be a bit challenging at times.

OLIVER TAN, owner of the country’s largest day care center Pooch Park, said pet ownership is a joy and need not be expensive. In fact, his love for animals, especially dogs, has given him a lucrative business.

POOCH PARK

The idea of putting up a day care facility for dogs started when Oliver and his girlfriend were walking their dog but had difficulty entering a restaurant because dogs were not yet allowed then to be with their masters in a restaurant.

That gave them the idea to put up a day care for dogs. Oliver was serious in the business that he trained for dog grooming in Singapore and Thailand prior to putting up the business.

He learned right handling, skin condition, and hair styles because there are different hair styles now for dogs.

This gives him the distinction of being the lone dog day care center operator who studied about dog care and grooming.

Pooch Park Doggie Day Care started with a noble mission: To improve the quality of pet-owner relationship and educate pet owners on responsible and proper pet care.

Pooch Park believes that pets should be treated with respect and as a part of the family.

With this in mind, Pooch Park Doggie Day Care opened its doors on June 18, 2006 in the former Ortigas Home Depot. From then on, Pooch Park started its exciting journey in providing day care and boarding facility, professional grooming, and basic obedience training.

More outlets were opened after that. Now, Pooch Park has 11 day care centers for doggies.

SERVICES

Pooch Park is a place where masters and owners can leave their dogs while doing their thing inside the area or in a mall.

“Our day care and boarding facility ensures a clean, comfortable, and secure place for pets,” says Oliver. There is hourly monitoring of the day care and boarding facility to keep the surroundings very sanitary. Provision of food and water, proper ventilation and housing, walks and exercises ensure a happy and healthy dog or cat boarder.

So, while the dog is with them, Pooch Park offers grooming, and basic obedience training. Owners can also get their supply of dog food, clothes, beds, and pet diapers from Pooch Park.

Each store has 4 to 5 staff, who are all trained on how to take care of dogs.

Pooch Park also offers grooming services by professional groomers with years of grooming experience. Heated water for baths, high quality beauty products and grooming tools, highly skilled hair styling, and cologne to top it off would make the dog or cat clean, beautiful and revitalized.

“Asians would love their dogs to look cute, but Westerners prefer the standard or natural look of their dogs,” he adds.

All these come at reasonable prices. “We believe that properly taking care of pets need not be expensive,” he adds.

They have also expanded their services to include cremation. Pooch Park has partnered with a crematorium to pick up the dog from the pet owners or owners can bring it to designated Pooch Park.

Dog owners treat their dogs as part of the family. For instance, Oliver said some pet owners hold wake for their dearly departed pets complete with a coffin.

BUSINESS

What started as a mere hobby has grown to become a good business.

“Our business is doing good,” says Oliver.

Pooch Park has 30 to 80 square meter space that can fit in 6 to 10 dogs in one store. They accept boarding for one or 2 days, but if the owner would be away for long, dogs are transferred to two stores outside the malls.

This business is also seasonal in nature. The peak season is during Christmas, New Year and Holy Week as owners normally go on long vacation.

The day care rate is 150 an hour and 1400 for an overnight stay. For full grooming including bath, brushing of teeth, ear cleaning and renal suction would cost 1500.

In one day, they could do 10 hairstyles. It will take one and a half hours to cut a dog’s hair, including bathing.

Unlike before when those who would go to doggie’s day care were really well-off people, Oliver said there is now a good mix of middle-class and ordinary dog owners who avail of Pooch Park’s services.

“Our Pooch Park in Ali Mall Cubao caters to ordinary dog owners because our cost is quite affordable,” says Oliver, a former sales manager of Oilink International Corporation.

The pet industry is growing as shown by the sprouting of startup pets and supplies stores.

“There is a good market for pets, their supplies and services,” says Oliver. Because the industry is still new, pet care services would thrive largely in Metro Manila and other big cities. In fact, of the 11 Pooch Park, only two are located outside of the metro in Antipolo and Cavite.

“Though still new, but this is a growing business,” says Oliver citing growing awareness on animal rights and love for dogs are boosting the business.

“We are also a dog-loving people so we take good care of our dogs,” he adds.

Aside from dogs, cat ownership is increasing because dogs are not allowed in condominiums. “Unlike dogs, cats are not also noisy, even in Japan they have more cats than dogs,” he adds.

Pooch Park also accepts other animals such has hamster, guinea pig, rabbit, fish and bird. One time, someone tried to leave a snake for their care but which they declined.

FRANCHISING

As Pooch Park continues to thrive, Oliver saw the need to expand the business through franchising. The franchising system for Pooch Park has been completed by Francorp, the franchising authority in the Philippines.

Francorp, which is responsible for mostly food franchises, was just too relieved to come up with a franchising system for the country’s first day care for dogs.

“I notice, there are lots of pet owners who ventured into similar businesses as ours but their business failed because they lack the proper guidance,” says Oliver. To ensure success, he decided to offer franchising opportunities to these entrepreneurs.

“I’ve experienced hardships when I started so with the lessons learned, I can lessen their chances of failure and ensure higher success rate,” adds Oliver, who also dabbles as an oil gas station franchisee.

Pooch Park has already received inquiries and started initial interviews with potential franchisees.

The entire turnkey franchise package is 12.7 million, including the 1400,000 franchise fee, initial inventory, construction and equipment, and signages. The ROI is also expected in less than two years or earlier.

He expects the first franchise store to open next year in Bulacan, which has plenty of dog lovers,

His advice to future franchisees is to never be complacent, but work hard, observe discipline and treat customers and employees with respect.

Through franchising, Pooch Park can continuously serve the growing numbers of pet owners and educate the public on proper and responsible pet ownership.

Opening for franchise is also one way to provide employment and business opportunities to individuals who love dogs and animals.

Pooch Park’s achievements have not been left unnoticed. Pooch Park has been awarded the National Quality Awards for Consumer Excellence as Most Outstanding Pet Care Center in Pasig City and by Top Brand Awards as the Most Outstanding Pet Care and Food Shop.

CHALLENGES

While taking care of dogs can be relaxing, there are also lots of things to consider. For one, dogs can be very unpredictable. So, they have to ensure safety not just for the dogs, but of employees and customers.

“As much as possible, we do not accept dogs for boarding and grooming if they have not been vaccinated,” he adds.

Groomers are also given anti-rabies shots for precaution as dogs do bite especially when they are in an unfamiliar place and meeting unfamiliar faces.

At Pooch Park, they don’t gag or brace the dogs because doing so would only make dogs irritable. Staff at Pooch Park are trained on how to calm down animals.

Oliver, however, corrected a common misconception that puppies are more rabid than the grown-up dogs. He said that dogs do not have rabies from the very start, but they get rabies when they go out of the house and meet with other dogs and fight.

TRUST

As a boss, Oliver operates based on trust. He accepts job applicants on the presumption that they are good people. No NBI clearance is required and as long as there is opportunity for new job, he does not discriminate. Pooch Park employs 60 people.

“If I hire, I don’t look at the resume. We do not even require an NBI clearance because even if I tell applicants to submit these clearances, if they really want to do something bad, they can do it even if they have all these security clearances,” says Oliver.

He had one employee with NBI clearance, but was the first to steal from the store, but his ex-convict employee has remained faithful. In fact, most of his workers have not really finished college, but Oliver offers opportunity for those who love dogs and want to earn a decent living.

“We have only one requirement, one who loves dogs with long patience because it is more difficult to style a dog’s hair than a child’s because a child can understand but a dog cannot,” he says.

“There is also that danger that a groomer gets bitten. But a dog is like a child of the owner so if the dog gets hurt, the owner will be hurt, too. That’s what we are trying to avoid,” says Oliver.

JOYS

For franchisees, Oliver’s number one qualification is that he or she should love animals.

“If it is just pure business, it would be a very tiring job because this job requires lots of patience. But those who love animals would find joy in this business. It is a simple joy to see cute dogs, it relaxes you. It also expands your network as you share experiences with other pet owners on how to take care of pets,” he adds.

The business cannot just prosper on mere walk-in clients. He encouraged franchise owners to build relationships or keep that “suki” system with clients so they will always come back and benefit from their referrals.

“Be friendly to your clients and cultivate that ‘suki’ system,” says Oliver.

He recalled, that when they started there was no customer in the first two months. Fortunately, one customer came to buy some supplies and inquired if they would allow her dog to board with them for six months while she was abroad. That sustained them for a while until he got some referrals.

With a growing network of Pooch Park, the more employees they have. This drives Oliver to work even harder because he has employees to pay.

“There is no business without our employees,” says Oliver noting that being able to continuously employ his people is one thing that keeps him moving. In return, some of his workers have been with the company for the past 10 years already.

“I am not strict, but goal-oriented. I will tell you what we want to achieve and I would like teamwork and discipline in the workplace,” he adds.

Pooch Park trainees receive minimum salary but the senior groomers with experience get higher rate. There are also pet owners who have “suki” hairdresser because they like the way they style their dog.

Poaching of groomers also happened in this business. One time, the entire crew of a store was pirated by a startup competitor, which Oliver found fowl and unethical.

The most favorite dog breed nowadays is the shi tzu followed by husky. Usually, once a movie features a particular dog that breed eventually becomes the most sought after.

Oliver owns a Schnauzer, a small dog that originates from Germany.

“I am an animal lover since I was a child. I have a dog, cat, pigeons, hamster, guinea pig, docks, chicken and even snake,” says Oliver.

But he never dreamed that his dog day care business would grow this big or become a franchise system in the future.

“No, not in my wildest dream, but opportunity beckoned,” adds Oliver, who also volunteers at PAWS and other animal welfare groups. They even have a mascot for events to create awareness about animal rights.

As a businessman, Oliver looks up to George Yang, who brought McDonald’s to the Philippines.

Yang is the lone McDonalds franchisee who while training as a franchisee really went through all the process from cleaning the toilet. “It is not because I am the owner, I cannot do a lowly task anymore, I will do what is needed to be done,” adds Oliver.

“I always advocate for humility to guard against overbearing behavior,” adds Oliver.

“We need that kind of attitude, easy to train and humble, no ego, no pride. You may have money, but are you willing to work for this kind of job?” asks the 40-year old businessman, who finished management and marketing from Bond University in Gold Coast Australia gold coast Australia.

Even as franchising fuels its expansion, Oliver would like to pace his expansion. He only wants to have a total of 30 franchisees in the next five year.

“If you open too many, it would be difficult to maintain the quality of your business,” he adds. “I have to take care of my brand also.”

‘If it is just pure business, it would be a very tiring job because this job requires lots of patience. But those who love animals would find joy in this business. It is a simple joy to see cute dogs, it relaxes you. It also expands your network as you share experiences with other pet owners on how to take care of pets.’