Dogtopia is breaking away from the "immature and childish" trend of pet care facilities looking and sounding like children daycares, according to an executive with the company.
Dogtopia went through a rebranding phase after it was acquired in 2012 by a franchise company out of Phoenix. The 15-year-old company has locations in Lafayette and Highlands Ranch and plans to expand to 12 locations in the Denver metro area in the next three years.
"A lot of the industry, including us early on, copied a lot of language from childcare. Everybody spoke and copied things that children daycare operators had. The way they spoke. What colors they use. All of that," said Alex Samios, vice president of franchise development.
Dogtopia offers webcams so pet owners can see their dogs play. The facilities offering daycare, spa and boarding services have multiple rooms to separate dogs by size and temperament. A day of dog daycare during the week goes for about $30, according to the company's website.
"We really got in the game to really raise the standards of professionalism, be more sophisticated and really take this industry and innovate it to what pet parents want tomorrow — not what they wanted yesterday," Samios added.
"A huge dog-loving community, Denver has proven to be an ideal market for Dogtopia," said Peter Thomas, Dogtopia chairman, in a statement. "I'm eager to see Dogtopia expand its footprint throughout the market."
Nationwide, Dogtopia has 53 locations and plans to grow to 70 before the end of the year. Then the company plans to really explode, growing to more 400 Dogtopia locations over the next five years.
Denver's recently seen other companies enter the market to try to gobble up the billions of dollars Americans are spending on animals annually. Texas-based CityVet has plans for at least three locations in the area. And the dog walking app Wag! joined the market last year.
"It's booming. We can't build these fast enough," Samios said. "We really want to get ahead of the curve and get into communities and build awareness. And quite frankly, we a lot of demand on our franchise side."
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Business & data reporter Adrian D. Garcia can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/adriandgarcia.
