Bubbly Paws offers self-service grooming and employee-serviced grooming.
Minneapolis-based Bubbly Paws started because owners Keith and Patrycia Miller kept getting the same question at their doggy daycare business: “Can we use your tub?” Dog owners wanted to wash off their pups after visiting the dog park, and the daycare was convenient for a lot of folks, Keith Miller said.
“Bubbly Paws was kind of born out of that,” he said.
Bubbly Paws is a dog grooming franchise with options for guests to use tubs and cleaning supplies themselves, or have a groomer pamper their pets. Pricing varies from location to location, but at the Minneapolis spot, self-service grooming ranges from $20-$30, depending on the dog’s size. Employee-serviced grooming prices are based on breed, size and other factors.
The brand has five company-owned stores open in Minnesota and Idaho, and it started franchising about a year ago. Bubbly Paws has deals signed with eight franchisees to open 14 stores in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Texas and California.
“It really comes down to the franchisee and actually liking them,” Miller said about the states Bubbly Paws is expanding to. He and his wife need to see passion and excitement from someone to feel good about partnering with them. He turned down a couple in Los Angeles who wanted to open Bubbly Paws in half the state of California, but “You could tell they weren’t in it for the right reasons. They were in it because pets are trendy and cool and make money.”
Customers come back because of the brand’s service, Miller said, and it’s service, or lack thereof, that’s also driving franchisee inquiries. Franchisees tell him they’re interested in investing in Bubbly Paws because their experience with local dog groomers hasn’t been satisfactory.
“It’s dark, dirty, nobody sees it,” he said. “It’s like where you would take your dog in the ‘70s, and it never adapted to the 2020s.”
Bubbly Paws has five company-owned stores open in Minnesota and Idaho.
At Bubbly Paws, guests see everything that’s going on with their dogs while it’s happening. The atmosphere is bright and airy, like a modern hair salon might look.
The investment required to open a Bubbly Paws franchise ranges from $195,009 to $368,520. The brand’s four company-owned Minneapolis-area stores brought in between $399,760 to $517,355 in gross sales in 2021.
The pet grooming sector is growing, as more people are adopting pets and pampering them. Pet retailer Pet Supplies Plus purchased grooming brand Wag N’ Wash earlier this year. Aussie Pet Mobile, ranked No. 465 on the Franchise Times Top 500 list this year, had system sales of $37.1 million in 2021.
Miller said the best and worst thing about Bubbly Paws is how new it is to franchising. It’s not a nationally recognized brand, but the first franchisees will help shape the company into what it will become a few years down the road, he said.
“We’re a younger brand, so you have an owner that’s very hands on, not just sitting behind a desk,” Miller said. “I think that’s how we want to keep it as we grow.”
Bubbly Paws isn’t trying to be the No. 1 dog grooming business. The team is perfectly happy being No. 2 or No. 3 if it means they’re staying true to the brand’s mission of “changing the way dog grooming is seen and how it can be done.”