From left, Aleini and Jennifer Lacombe own a Petbar franchise in Texas.
Interested in the chance to do business together as a family, sisters in law Aleini and Jennifer Lacombe opened a Petbar franchise in Texas in early 2022.
“We’re both completely obsessed with dogs, and so we thought it’d be a good fit,” Jennifer said. “We enjoy spending time together and we figured that would be fun.”
Petbar is a pet wash and grooming franchise with 29 locations open in six states.
“It’s definitely something that I saw myself using as a customer,” Aleini said.
“It definitely a unique concept that we were both really drawn to because there’s no other business like it out there right now,” Jennifer said.
Aleini, who worked in sales before she was a stay-at-home mother, married Jennifer’s brother. Jennifer worked in corporate job for 18 years. The pair own four dogs between the two of them and are in the process of opening a second location. They have the rights to open three stores.
“We’re very close,” Jennifer said of the duo’s relationship. “Then in a business setting, seeing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, we learned to play off of them.”
Petbar’s appointment-based booking was a huge turn-on to the brand, Jennifer said. “You don’t drop off your dog in the morning, not to be seen until the evening,” like other groomers, she said. “That was a huge problem for me with one of my Shih Tuzus. Towards the end of his life, he just wasn’t doing well, and having a place to take him that I can get in and out in a specific time, to me that was just great.”
The franchise also offers bath memberships, priced by the size of a customer’s dog. “Having a membership, to be able to bring my dog in to have her cleaned every week is amazing,” Aleini said.
Pet wash and grooming franchises are growing in popularity and some brands have received significant investments in recent years. Pet Supplies Plus bought Wag N’ Wash, a pet grooming, wash and supplies brand, in 2022. Pet Supplies Plus had $1.5 billion in sales across 603 stores in 2021. Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming gained an investment from private equity firm Garnett Station Partners in June 2022.
New players in the pet grooming space include Minneapolis-based Bubbly Paws, which started franchising in 2021. There’s also Salty Dog, which is targeting hair stylists from Paul Mitchell schools to convert them into pet groomers.
Jennifer Lacombe loves Petbar’s appointment-based business model.
Related: New Franchise Bubbly Paws Wants to Change Dog Grooming’s Reputation
In the beginning, the pair were in the shop every day, “getting it off the ground, getting it running, getting the word out, talking to clients and customers,” Jennifer said. “We were really, really involved.”
Since then, they’ve hired a store manager, so the two can work on larger scale projects, like marketing.
“It’s been a really fun adventure for both of us,” Jennifer said. “We’re really, truly enjoying it and we’re having a good time as we do this together.”