Diamond Kennel & Resort is a licensed dog boarding care center that will be located in the heart of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Our resort will be in a newly renovated and highly secured and ideal housing facility for pets. Our organization will offer a variety of services as it relates to dogs. We will provide pet care services, such as animal shelters, training services, pet boarding and animal grooming services. We also offer extra services such as on the go grooming, dog pick-up, and home walking services. Diamond Kennel & Resort is a business that believes in helping all breeds of dogs and dog owners. We would like to assist in taking care of their pets when they are out of town or just at work. We would also like to give pets the correct training and treatment they need in order to perform their roles as defined by the owner.
We at Diamond Kennel & Resort are your extended family and will ensure that any pet under our supervision are very well taken care of. As we strive to be excellent and obtain financial success with uncompromising services and integrity, we have decided to venture into dog boarding business. We are confident that our morals will help us drive the business to desirable heights and also help us attract the numbers of clients that are needed to grow our business. At Diamond Kennel & Resort, our customers’ overall best interest will always come first, and everything we do will be guided by our morals and professional ethics. We will ensure that we hire professional and highly qualified dog handlers, trainers, and veterinarians. These experts will be well experienced and very passionate in taking care and imparting training and skills to pets all over Sioux Falls.
Diamond Kennel & Resort will demonstrate at all times, our commitment to sustainability, both individually and as a doggie day care services business, by actively participating in and giving back to our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible. We will hold ourselves to the highest standards by affectively and completely meeting the needs of our customers. We will promote a working environment that provides a sustainable approach to earning a living, for our owners, employees as well as for our clients.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
o Strong relationship with PetSmart
o Ample time to dedicate to the care of the animals
o Ideal facility set up
o High customer loyalty
o Access to social media
Weaknesses
o Lack of visibility in the community.
o New to the industry
o New to the area
Opportunities
o Fast growing industry with a significant percentage of the market still not aware that Diamond Kennel & Resort exists.
o Fast growing Dog population
o Fixed costs that are reduced when spread over multiple animals (being able to buy in bulk)
Threats
o A slump in the economy that will reduce people's income, thereby reducing their opportunity to travel and place their pets in our resort.
o Existing as well as new competition
Company (Startup) Description
Diamond Kennel & Resort is a new company that will provide high-level animal care and customer service in the following categories:
• Overnight stay
• Dog day care
• In-home walking
• Pet grooming (on the go available)
• Animal behavior classes
• Dog pick-up
• Special requests
• Convenient “Jewel App”
• 24-hour service
What will set Diamond Kennel & Resort apart from the competition is our commitment to provide these services in one convenient location that is not limited to any breed of dog.
Total start-up requirements include accounting, licensing, renovation, and construction costs. Also included are logo design, office equipment and other related expenses. The start-up costs will be financed partially by the owners’ investment and loan financing. The details are included in the chart below:
Business Goals/Objectives
We have a vision of building a highly successful, competitive, and effective dog resort that will become the number one choice for both individuals and corporate organizations in Sioux Falls. Our overall business goal is to become the leading dog boarding services brand in South Dakota, and also to be amongst the top 10 pet boarding companies in the U.S. within the first 7 years. This goal may seem hard to reach but we are positive that this goal will surely be obtained; because we have done our market feasibility and research, and we are highly confident that Sioux Falls is the right city to launch our dog kennel and resort company.
Some objectives are:
1. Monthly sales growth steadily increasing throughout year
2. Gross margin higher than 49% on dog shampoos and other products
3. Full capacity by second year end
4. Expanding our services by the end of year 3
Core Competencies
Even though, this industry is a fairly new area of business and doesn’t have solid major competitors, competition still exist all the same. The rivalry usually exists from those within the same area. Any company looking to stay above competition, needs to improve and customize the variety of services they offer to pet owners; so that is what we plan to do.
All the same, local pet boarding organizations that are serious with the business, should be able to comfortably compete with other businesses that are located in the same region. Our team is quite aware that in order to be highly competitive and a leader in the pet industry means that we need to be able to deliver consistent quality service and exceed the expectations of our clients at all times.
Diamond Kennel & Resort may be a new start-up, but our core competencies lie in the power of our team and our workplace environment. We have a team made up of specialists in the dog boarding and grooming industry. This team possesses excellent qualifications and ample experience in pet walking and other dog related services including veterinary medicine. Our team will be more than willing to grow the business with us and help overcome our goals and achieve all of our business objectives. In addition to the team interaction that exist in our carefully selected staff, Diamond Kennel & Resort will be located in a community with the right demography. Sioux Falls is home to tons of dog owners. With that being said, we will attract a huge range of clients from the first day we open.
Industrial and Competition Analysis
About 80 million households in the U.S. own at least one pet. That’s about 65% of the homes in the country. Included in that number are man’s best friend, dogs. These dogs need to be groomed, exercised, walked, fed, and have a place to sleep. Dogs need to be cared for just as much as children, and with over 300 million pets in this country alone, that makes for a thunderous industry. However, the basic care that our 4-legged family members require, is not the only thing driving the development of the pet industry. Strong economic conditions, the demographics of the human population, and newly found research that has discovered the health benefits of pet ownership, are all factors that support the continued growth of the industry.
In addition, pet owners do not just take care of their pets, they spoil them. The pet industry isn’t just here to help with the spoiling of pets but to also provide products and services that keep these animals happy, healthy, and most importantly, alive. These products and services include daycare, grooming, toys, cages, medical attention, food, and much more. According to the American Pet Products Association, revenue in the pet industry is expected to be $69.36 billion in 2017, that is an increase of 2.6 billion since 2016. The average annual growth rate since 2002 is 5.4%, and revenue has been increasing steadily for over 20 years
Market Feasibility/Analysis
Throughout the years, the pet boarding and grooming industry is one of the very few industries to produce consistently strong profits over the past decade. As pet owners purchase a wider range of luxury services for their pets, the industry has almost doubled in size. The demand increased for a variety of new luxury pet services including dog boarding; because of the changing consumer attitudes. Moving forward, this trend is expected to gain further momentum as pet ownership rises faster than the population and owners use their increasing disposable income on services such as dog boarding for their pets.
One thing is for sure, the trend in this industry is such that if you want to be ahead of your competitors, you should be able to be highly creative, simplify your processes and you should be able to have tons of client referrals. If your clients noticed tremendous changes in their pets as a result of our training, then they will be compelled to help promote our organization. Lastly, in order to maximize profits and stay afloat in this industry, we will offer a variety of other related services. It is easier to find dog boarding companies also offering services such as pet grooming, pet shelters, obedience training, pet sitting, and general merchandize of pet related products. However, we will offer a customer relationship management app called the “Jewel App” that will be a personalized profile for each pet. As well as on the go grooming and dog pick up services.
Financial Plan
Our team has estimated the total startup cost we will require to begin our dog kennel and resort business. We will need a budget of $300,000. That estimate was produced by intense and thorough research of the industry. Our team will source this startup capital from some savings from the owners and majority from taking out loans from the bank.
Work Breakdown Structure