Family ties are an important part of life and for one Florida franchisee, they’ve turned into a lucrative business.
Palm Beach Pet Wants franchisee Steve Beck bought his franchise in the summer of 2015 after he heard about it through a family member. Once he started looking into the industry, he knew his relative was onto something.
“I thought the business opportunity was terrific,” Beck said during a recent interview from his warehouse in Palm Beach.
The franchisee knows a thing or two about terrific business opportunities. Upon graduating college in 1985, Beck jumped into the entrepreneurial deep end by immediately starting his own business. The Pet Wants franchisee said he’s worked for himself his whole life, and sold his original chemical distribution business a couple of years ago.
Beck, who also owns another franchise from a different brand, said he likes being a part of a franchise because of the built-in support network. When comparing his franchise experience with his independent business ownership experience, he said being a part of a franchise makes things a lot easier when running a business.
Choices
Pet Wants has two different models: a storefront & delivery model and a delivery-only model. Beck chose the delivery-only model and once everything was approved, he went for a week of training at the Pet Wants home office in Cincinnati, OH.
Being brand new to the pet food industry, Beck had a lot to absorb in that week.
“You talk about brain overload, I had tons of stuff to learn, but they did a good job with it,” he said.
For ongoing support, Pet Wants continues to develop the franchise’s e-commerce system, provide marketing materials and build strong referral networks to help franchisees draw in customers. They also provide simple business coaching and act as a sounding board for any franchisee questions and concerns.
Retirement
Although Beck technically considers himself retired, not being interested in any of the usual retirement activities means running his Pet Wants business is what he does for fun.
“I don’t golf, I don’t play tennis and I don’t fish, so I have to have something to have fun with and this is fun,” he said.
The people he’s met through running his franchise have been terrific, Beck noted, adding that Pet Wants isn’t a business where you’re selling something to consumers. He described it as helping people to make informed decisions on how best to care for their non-speaking family members.
For anyone interested in joining the Pet Wants franchise, Beck said he would tell them that he doesn’t know a business that offers as much blue sky opportunity as Pet Wants when compared to the initial investment.
The ownership of the company has a good background and a solid record, Beck said, and he would tell interested individuals that the business is going to be a home run.
In the Beginning
Pet wants was founded by Michele Hobbs after her dog came down with sever skin allergies and no veterinarian seemed able to help, according to the Pet Wants website. She discovered the dog food she was using was not fresh, not all-natural and was severely lacking in nutritional value. On top of all that, it was full of unnecessary ingredients and by-products.
To counteract the plethora of questionable dog food on the market, Hobbs created Pet Wants, which creates fresh, all-natural pet foods and delivers that food to customers on a monthly subscription basis. Supplying it on a subscription basis ensures the food is fresh and also guarantees franchisees consistent and on-going revenue streams.
And dog food is just one of those revenue streams. Pet Wants also supplies cat food and pet accessories like treats and salves. The estimated 170 million cats and dogs in the United States ensures Pet Wants is in an industry with high growth potential and the numbers bear that out, with Americans spending $58 billion on their pets annually, $22 billion of that being spent on pet food and treats.
Many Americans think of their pets as family and those family ties can provide a lucrative business opportunity for the right entrepreneurs through Pet Wants. Just ask Steve Beck.