A Petpals franchisee is buying their third territory to satisfy an increased demand for their services in Derbyshire.
Husband and wife team Dave and Fiona Wallis, who bought their first franchise Petpals Amber Valley in 2007, expanded into Petpals Matlock Belper in 2017 and are now adding Petpals North Erewash to their books, opening in October 2018.
Petpals is the largest multi-service pet care franchise in the UK. Members of the bfa since 2001, they have over 50 franchisees offering a full range of pet care services from dog boarding and walking to cat visits and small pet sitting.
Commenting on the expansion, Dave, who also races a fully branded Petpals ‘Formula VEE’ racing car at weekends, said,
‘Since our launch in 2007 we have focussed on delivering the very best service to our clients and their pets; this expansion is testament to our team’s hard work and professionalism and the reputation they have worked so hard to achieve, something we are all very proud of.
He continued,
‘We found that we were getting enquiries from further and further afield from people wanting us to look after their pets while they were at work or on holiday; it didn’t take long until we realised we had to buy this new territory and expand the business.’
Fiona and Dave are hoping to take on more staff in due course, to cope with the increase in clients.
As with all Petpals franchisees, the couple and their son Jay, who also works in the family-run business, are genuine pet-lovers, owning two dogs, a horse and a handful of hens at their Alfreton home.
On the benefits of owning a franchise operation Fiona said,
‘We have no doubt that our business has expanded more rapidly because we are part of a franchise operation than it would have had we set up our own. Head office have given us great support from day one; they are always on hand with help and advice plus we have 50+ other franchisees to talk to via our Facebook group, if we don’t know the answer, one of them definitely will!
She continued,
‘Being part of a nationally recognised brand is really important to us and as a Petpals franchisee we know that our website is kept regularly updated with fresh content, which in turn means people will find us more easily when they search for a pet carer on the internet. They also run PR and marketing campaigns, all of which means we get to spend more time caring for pets and earning money and less time worrying about websites and SEO, all of which suits us perfectly.’
Petpals is a pet franchise offer pet sitting, dog sitting, dog walking, pet boarding, dog boarding and cat sitting pet care services.