Helping animal lovers clean up after their pets
By Jon Fernquest[Introduction | Vocabulary | Article | Reading Questions | Answers]
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Cleaning up after someone's dog may not be the most dignified way of making money, but it certainly shows to what lengths some people will go to dream up new business ideas.
In Thailand, like the United States, the pet care services industry is growing and promises to be more important in the future as people have less children and as aging populations live by themselves after their children leave home.
Pet waste removal is only one possible, and rather humorous, service.
In Thailand, especially in the provinces, it is difficult to get your pet trained or to travel with your pet. Few hotels will accept animals. In fact, a magazine or directory where you could find these services listed is not easy to find. All of these are business opportunities.
In the United States services there is a trend to outsource services to other countries with the internet where they cost less. Personal services like pet care services cannot be outsourced. This makes them resistant to foreign competition.
As people become more attached to their animals (some people don't even want to call them "pets" anymore) they will probably want to read more stories about animals and more non-fiction books about the animal world, yet more opportunities.
Today's article provides a good opportunity to think hard and brainstorm for offbeat imaginative business ideas, something one sees a lot of in Thailand.
Reading Questions
Here are some questions to guide your reading (See answers at end):1. What is the main factor keeping people from entering the pet waste removal business?
2. What does Doody Calls sell?
3. What larger industry is pet waste removal part of?
4. How was Doody Calls started? How long ago? Where? Has the business grown rapidly?
5. When was the franchise concept first added to the pet waste removal industry?
6. What factors are behind the recent growth in the pet-care services industry?
7. What are some other examples of luxury services offered in the pet care services industry?
8. Where is pet caste typically removed from? Inside or outside the house?
9. Is there a professional association for pet waste removal specialists? How many members does it have? Do they ever meet? What do they do when they meet?
10. What literary device is commonly used in the names of pet waste removal companies?
11. Does the money earned by a pet waste removal specialist depend on their skill?
12. Why is word of mouth not such an effective form of advertising?
13. What is an effective way of drawing attention to the service within a neighborhood?
14. What is one of the nice benefits of pet waste removal for a family during the summer months?
15. Has the business idea of pet waste removal caught on yet in Great Britain?
Bangkok Post Article: October 9, 2006
Profiting from poop
Some people in the US are turning scooping up dog waste into million-dollar businesses MATTHEW BARAKATDoug Barnhart was so repulsed by the notion of picking up dog poop that he hired a service to do it.
But he is gradually overcoming his revulsion now that he's planning to open his own scoop shop later this year in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
"I've been going into my neighbours' yards and practising, steeling myself,'' Barnhart said.
Barnhart is starting a franchise of Palmyra, Virginia-based Doody Calls, part of a small but rapidly growing niche in the pet-care industry focused on pet-waste pick-up.
Doody Calls launched in 2000 with two University of Virginia graduates who picked up dog waste on weekends. Now it has more than $1 million (37.6 million baht) in annual revenue and roughly 1,500 clients in seven states and the District of Columbia.
Until very recently, poop-scooping was the exclusive domain of small, locally based businesses, if service was offered in an area at all. But Doody Calls and Frisco, Texas-based Pet Butler - operating in 14 states with expected revenue of $2.5 million (94 million baht) this year - introduced the franchise concept to the industry in 2004 and are adding new locations at a steady clip.
Today, pooper-scooping represents a fraction of the pet-care services industry, which has grown at about a 10 per cent rate in recent years into a $2.7 billion (102 billion baht) industry, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. Baby boomers with expendable income and empty-nest syndrome have helped make the services sector the fastest-growing part of the pet industry. Much of that growth has come from luxury services like doggie day spas and in-home day care.
For some, outsourcing poop pick-up duties falls in the category of a luxury.
"If you think back 10 years ago and somebody told you you could develop a national franchise in scooping poop, you would have marvelled at the lunacy of it,'' APPMA president Bob Vetere said. "It truly is a luxury item when you can hire someone to come in and clean your yard when you could walk out back with a plastic bag and gloves and do it yourself.''
Deb Levy, vice-president of the Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists (Apaws) and founder of Yucko's Poop 'n Scoop service in St Louis in 1990, said pooper-scooping didn't really take off until 2000. Franchising is simply an extension of that growth.
Levy estimates about 400 companies nationwide offer scoop services in one form or another. The association counts 119 members, most with pun-heavy names like the Grand Poohbah and Scoop De Doo, and will hold its fourth annual convention January in Las Vegas, complete with scooping races, Levy said.
Doody Calls founder Jacob D'Aniello, 29, said that with 40 per cent of US homes owning at least one dog, he has found a gold mine in all those lawn land mines. Most people dismissed his idea as kooky when he started out, but he was convinced the business had money-making potential, he said.
"If everyone had thought this was an awesome idea, it would have been done 100 times already,'' D'Aniello said. "But when 40 per cent of the population is out there doing something they don't want to do, it's a business opportunity.''
Barnhart, a semi-retired shipping company executive who hopes to have his Virginia Beach franchise up and running by December, said he is not particularly concerned if the job doesn't carry much social status. "I'm married. I don't need to impress any women,'' Barnhart said.
The founder of Pet Butler, Matt "Red'' Boswell said he was insulted when his girlfriend first suggested to him the idea of a poop-scooping business.
"I saw myself in Armani suits,'' said Boswell, who at the time was holding down three jobs, including Cadillac salesman. "But once I got over the pride factor, and really got into it, it was the best job in the world. I was outside, in nice yards. Low stress.''
Boswell said he employs seven full-time scoopers for his company-owned franchise, which covers Dallas and Fort Worth. Their annual salary can surpass $30,000 (1.13 million baht), plus use of a company truck.
D'Aniello said his scoopers earn similar amounts, with the wage depending in part on how many yards they clear in an hour.
Early on, D'Aniello and his wife Susan, a co-founder of the company, did much of the scooping themselves. The business grew slowly at first, and word-of-mouth advertising was slow because many customers didn't like to admit they paid somebody else to clean up after their dogs.
Slowly, though, as neighbours see the brightly painted trucks on the street and more neighbours sign on, a street reaches a sort of tipping point. "The service as a whole is gaining acceptance,'' he said.
Prices can vary depending on numbers of dogs and yard sizes, but Doody Calls generally charges $15 (564 baht) a week for weekly scooping services.
Laurie Conroy, a Doody Calls customer in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with four dogs, said the service is worth it at almost any price.
"It's a nice luxury to have. I did not enjoy cleaning up after my pets,'' said Conroy, who signed up with a local service several years ago in Connecticut and immediately looked for a similar service when she moved to Wellesley. "Our yard is so much cleaner. The kids can run around barefoot in the summer.''
John Bright, originally from Manchester, England, opened a Doody Calls franchise in the famously dog-friendly city of Alexandria, Virginia. He said the franchise dovetails nicely with his UK business, supplying and managing pet waste stations in public areas like parks.
In England, though, poop-scooping hasn't caught on.
"People aren't willing to spend money on this sort of thing over there,'' he said. AP
Vocabulary
poop - dog waste
revulsion - disgust, makes you feel sick when you see it or think about it
scoop - pick up
steeling oneself - getting ready to deal with something unpleasant
a franchise - selling a proven way of doing business to other people in exchange for part of the profits or an annual fee (See Wikipedia on franchising)
a niche - a specialty
the pet-care services industry - services provided to pets ranging from bathing, cutting, and styling fur, to kennel services like a dog hotel for people going on vacation, to dog training
pet-waste pick-up - picking up the dog poop scattered around someone's yard
dog waste - dog poop
at a steady clip - quickly
American Pet Products Manufacturers Association - See website
baby boomers - "someone who was born during the period of increased birth rates when economic prosperity rose in many countries following World War II," many of these people now have children who are leaving the home so they might start raising pets to replace them (See Wikipedia)
expendable income - more money than you really need
empty-nest syndrome - children have left home already
doggie day spas - a spa for dogs
in-home day care - taking care of dogs in the owner's home
marvelled at - were amazed and surprised by
lunacy - craziness
dismissed the idea - don't accept the idea
kooky - crazy
awesome - great
word of mouth advertising - free advertising from people telling their friends about a product
clean up after - clean a mess that someone else made
tipping point - changing point
gaining acceptance - people are increasingly accepting it and finding it a reasonable idea
barefoot - not wearing shoes
dovetails nicely with - works with
hasn't caught on - not popular
Answer Key:
1. What is the main factor keeping people from entering the pet waste removal business?
Revulsion or disgust at picking up pet waste.
2. What does Doody Calls sell?
Doody Calls sells franchises for pet waste removal businesses.
3. What larger industry is pet waste removal part of?
It is part of the pet care industry.
4. How was Doody Calls started? How long ago? Where? Has the business grown rapidly?
It was started six years ago in the United States by two people on the weekends as a part time job. The business has grown rapidly with 1,500 clients in several states and over $1 million in revenue.
5. When was the franchise concept first added to the pet waste removal industry?
In 2004.
6. What factors are behind the recent growth in the pet-care services industry?
Baby boomers with:
a. Expendable income (extra money that they don't know what to do with).
b. Empty-nest syndrome (no children at home anymore, so they raise pets)
7. What are some other examples of luxury services offered in the pet care services industry?
a. Doggie day spas.
b. In-home day care.
8. Where is pet caste typically removed from? Inside or outside the house?
It is typically removed from yard outside the house.
9. Is there a professional association for pet waste removal specialists? How many members does it have? Do they ever meet? What do they do when they meet?
Yes, it is called the "Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists" or APAWS. There are 119 members who are having a convention this year in Las Vegas. They will have a pet waste removal competition at this competition.
10. What literary device is commonly used in the names of pet waste removal companies?
The pun. ("pun-heavy names like the Grand Poohbah and Scoop De Doo")
11. Does the money earned by a pet waste removal specialist depend on their skill?
Yes, their earners depend in part on "how many yards they clean in an hour."
12. Why is word of mouth not such an effective form of advertising?
People are ashamed to tell others that they don't remove their own pet waste.
13. What is an effective way of drawing attention to the service within a neighborhood?
Brightly painted trucks.
14. What is one of the nice benefits of pet waste removal for a family during the summer months?
Children can run around barefoot on the lawn.
15. Has the business idea of pet waste removal caught on yet in Great Britain?
No yet.
