Kennelwood Pet Resorts
St. Louis, Missouri (corporate HQ)
By Roxanne Hawn

Combing through the long history of Kennelwood Pet Resorts, founded as Kennelwood Village in 1973 by the late Donald Danforth, Jr., a clear theme emerges: forward thinking. Current company president Alan Jones, CKO, remembers Danforth asking him every day “What’s new?” It wasn’t a “how you doing?” question. Danforth really meant what’s new? As in what’s going on with the company, what are clients asking about, what’s up and coming in the industry?

The grandson of William H. Danforth, the founder of Ralston-Purina, Danforth seemed to know long before others caught on that pets were going to be huge. So, he built a big facility with 300 runs from the get go. Historically speaking, the large facility stood out in an era where smaller mom-and-pop kennels were the norm.

In addition to many runs, the original location also featured a gift shop, a grooming salon, a boarding school for dogs, a 60-occupant cattery, and an animal hospital set on 4.5 acres of land. Danforth kept an active interest in the company until his death in 2001.

Today, five of his children and Jones own Kennelwood, which was a charter member of the Pet Care Services Association and is poised for being an early adapter into pet resort franchising. But first, here’s a recap of what’s already in place.

Kennelwood currently operates six company-owned facilities: three pet hotels and three depots. The depots offer every service except boarding. However, clients can drop-off and pick-up their pets at a depot location. Staff simply transports the pets to one of the pet hotel locations for their stay. All six facilities are on the Missouri side of the St. Louis area.

Since the second and third pet resort locations will be the model for future franchising, Jones offers these details. Each is approximately 7,200 square feet, with all indoor Snyder Suites and separate outdoor, concrete exercise yards. The 5- by 6-foot and 5- by 8-foot suites are cleaned by hand, and therefore do not require drains. “We wanted to get away from water and moisture and high-powered hoses,” Jones explains. “We felt like that made the environment one where it was harder to keep the dogs clean, and we felt that it increased the odds of things like tracheobronchitis. We felt like the more we could make it home-like, the better.” These suites, therefore, get away from that industrial look of older kennels.

Cleaning is done daily and as-needed should a pet soil a suite.

Jones says another reason Kennelwood chose Snyder Suites is because they have value. In other words, if you build a facility with constructed runs or rooms with framed walls and such, they stay put if the site shuts down. With modular suites, if a site should move or close, those suites can be reused or sold.

Each suite also features a toddler bed and a television set to Animal Planet. Dogs get water from stainless steel bowls and eat from paper bowls that are removed after each meal.

Each hotel has a lobby, cattery, manager’s office, training area, dog boarding area and grooming room. Capacity at each location is 100 dogs. Heat comes from a ceiling mounted radiant source, but Jones admits he’d recommend radiant floors to others since it’s most important to keep pets, who are usually under 24 inches tall, warm. Epoxy broadcast flooring (Desco Flooring) includes enough grit to prevent slipping. Fiberglass reinforced panels cover interior walls, which are damage-proof and easy to keep clean. Outside, there are two large DayCamp play yards and 16 smaller individual play yards for the boarding dogs.

Feline guests share four TVs mounted in the cattery, and the cattery areas use a special air exhaust system from each cat room. “Cats are very susceptible to airborne illness,” Jones says. “So, we put an exhaust system that brings air out of the cage and exhausts it outside, so if a cat sneezes in its room, it doesn’t go into the larger room, where other cats would be exposed.”

All boarding guests are offered grooming upon departure for an additional fee. If a pet should require a bath in the interim, it’s done free of charge. Still, Jones says that grooming represents more than 40 percent of revenue for the company. In addition to traditional bathing and styling, Kennelwood offers SHED-X®, healthy skin and coat treatments, spa treatments, nail filing and teeth brushing.

“About 60 percent of people who board with us have their pet groomed on the way out,” Jones says.

The biggest jump in grooming income came in 1994 when Kennelwood focused services on shedding breeds, rather that simply trimming breeds. “We made that adjustment, and grew our business tremendously,” Jones says.

In addition to offering grooming to boarding clients, marketing materials such as newsletters and emails always include special grooming offers. To keep grooming appointments at a steady rate, Kennelwood also offers DayCamp clients day-of special offers if grooming isn’t booked up for a given day.

Other special services include:

Personal play times

Yappy hour (with cookies and Frosty Paws)

Bizzy bones (stuffed with a secret recipe)

Catnip tea time

Howl-a-day parties

These activities stem from questions from clients way-back-when about what their pets did all day while boarding. Originally, Kennelwood came up with the idea of Play School, where staff took dogs through a fun course that featured a variety of activity stations.

“In addition to creating extra revenue, these services enrich the pet’s stay with us and reduces any anxiety the owner may have,” Jones says.

Jones quotes one of Kennelwood’s slogans “The proof is in the pulling.” In other words, pets pull their owners into the facility, rather than drag them out the door home. “When dogs are with us, we want them to have a great time and pull their owners through the door,” he says. “If they do that, we don’t have to worry about the owner being sold on us. The dog is doing the selling for us.”

Still, Jones admits that you can’t just do a good job and expect clients to find you. Hence the 9 percent of revenue spent on marketing, including TV commercials aired 40 weeks of the year. “We’ve been doing TV advertising for 12 or 13 years now,” Jones says. “It’s a huge investment. The first year you do it it’s kind of scary. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but the company is growing year after year. We’re opening new facilities. You like to think because you do a good job that people know about you, but that’s not the case. You have to tell people you’re there. You have to tell them what you do. We’ve found that TV, for us, is the best vehicle.”

But, the work doesn’t stop there. The four-member marketing staff also oversees print and direct mail efforts, email campaigns, web advertising and links as well as local event sponsorships and presence. Kennelwood raises money for various charities and makes in-kind gift donations each week to various silent auctions and events. For example, in 2007, Jones says they raised $5,000 for Kirk’s Fund Golden Rescue. Kennelwood also has an active veterinary relations program, and staff work hard on keeping good relationships with area dog breeders, rescue groups and humane organizations. For 26 years, Kennelwood has hosted a Santa photo event. “It has become a tradition in St. Louis for many families,” Jones says.

In addition to a total rebranding campaign from Kennelwood Village, which said nothing about pets, to Kennelwood Pet Resorts, which focuses on the trend toward upscale pet hotels, the marketing team also makes sure that only certified hotel staff give tours and that everyone knows every client interaction is a marketing opportunity—good or bad.

To reinforce this concept, Kennelwood drives home its credo “Trust. Commitment. Loving Care,” which says “I will earn our client’s trust based upon my commitment to the loving care of their pets.” TCLC awards are given to three people each week. Each award is worth $5, and cumulative bonuses are paid for TCLC awards each quarter.

Perhaps the most important business management tool at Kennelwood is the proprietary software. “Through the years, we used three different software packages. All of them did most of what we wanted, but none of them did everything,” Jones explains. “As we looked into the future and franchising into a national company, we realized that if we wanted it to do what we wanted it to do, we’d have to create it ourselves.”

For example, the software allows clients to drop off pets at one location, for boarding to be done at another, and for payment to be made at either location. “It gets complicated,” Jones laughs.

He adds, however, that they also wanted software that allowed for user-friendly access to all manner of reports.

As neat as the software is, don’t expect to see it on the broader market. The plan is to use it only at corporate and franchise locations.

On the human resources front, Kennelwood added a full-time HR director in 2002. The job includes recruiting and screening candidates before sending the most qualified on to department heads and managers. If needed, candidates may be asked to complete a paid day or two working interview.

New employees go through a one-day orientation, covering benefits, policies, procedures and expectations. A pet handling safety course is also included. There are training manuals and apprenticeship programs for positions as well.

Kennelwood sees typical turnover for some entry-level positions, but many of the staff has five years of experience. Senior staff has been on board for 15 to 31 years, including Jones who joined the company in 1976. In the mid-1990s, he was a company vice president, and in 1997, he became one of the owners.

In addition to health insurance, paid vacations and paid sick leave, Kennelwood offers full-time employees, over age 21, profit-sharing after one year of service. Each year the executive team calculates an amount to be shared among employees who qualify. “Everyone has a stake in our company’s profitability,” Jones says. “Hopefully, that translates into employees who are more engaged in their jobs.”

With help from iFranchise, a consulting firm based in Chicago, and a local franchising attorney, Kennelwood began setting up a franchise system in 2007. In August, Joe Zuccarelo, director of franchising, began accepting applications. During Jones’s December 2007 interview, he reported being mere days away from signing the first franchisee deal. The goal is to open 12 franchises in 18 months.

“We looked at different models for growth, and it takes quite an investment every time you open a pet hotel,” Jones says. “Plus, I feel like it’s good to have ownership on the property, managing the property. Everyone who owns a franchise has invested money in it.”

Those investments include an initial franchise fee and any build-out costs for the facility. Then, once they are up and running, each franchise pays royalties (a percentage of income) to the company and pays into a national advertising fund.

“In terms of the speed of growth, we just felt that the time is now,” Jones says. “The industry is very hot. A lot of people are looking into the pet industry, wanting to get into the pet industry, so we projected we could grow at that rate. Being around for 30 years, we have a lot of depth in the team. So, we just feel like we can maintain that growth as we go forward.”

Currently, Kennelwood is registered in 38 states, so franchises all over are possible. The first one, however, will likely be geographically close to the corporate headquarters in Missouri. The model is based on converting existing buildings into Kennelwood Pet Resorts rather than building from the ground up, since a build-out is faster and less expensive.

With only a handful of other national players in the market, Jones feels confident about Kennelwood’s future plans. Whatever comes next, they’ll be ready.

Each week, senior managers hold Creative Advantage Team meetings. They not only look at services being offered and how to improve them, but they’re looking at what’s the next great thing clients want.

“The obvious thing,” Jones says, “are upscale suites, with lots of services. That’s what people are looking for. We’re going to see a change from the typical indoor-outdoor kennel. Everything is going to be more homelike in the future.”

Ultimately, Jones says, “We’re always looking for new growth and have accepted that there was always room for improvement. We are always striving to do what we already do better, while at the same time looking for new opportunities.”

Services: Dog and cat boarding, grooming, day camp, transportation, obedience training, retail sales, Invisible Fence sales and franchising

No. dog enclosures: Original location (1973) – 300 indoor/outdoor enclosures, 50 suites; Second location (1995) – 65 deluxe suites, with unattached outdoor exercise yards Third location (2003) – 70 deluxe suites, with unattached outdoor exercise yards

No. cat enclosures: Original location – 50 deluxe rooms; second location – 16 deluxe rooms; third location – 20 deluxe rooms

No. of Employees: 177 full-time employees, 40 part-time employees (facilities staffed 24/7); Plus, two of the six company owners work full time

Owners: Carol Danforth, Kathy Hollo, Laura Barnes, Donald Danforth III, Chris Danforth (vice president of brand management), and Alan Jones, CKO (president)

Intake Rules: · Pre-entry exams, including fleas, skin conditions, ear and eye infections, coughing and weight check (Pets are weighed every three days to check for weight loss); · Annual dog vaccinations include rabies, DHLPP and bordetella (Extended vaccination schedules and/or titer tested dogs not accepted); · Annual feline vaccinations including rabies, feline distemper, rhinotracheitis

Feeding & Exercise: · Six popular brands are offered as part of hotel packages. Clients bring food from home in baggies pre-portioned for each meal; Dogs get walked from their rooms to an outdoor exercise yard four times per day.

Reservations & Customer Service: A $50 deposit is required for all deluxe accommodations; Two rules: The customer is always right. If you think the customer is wrong, refer to rule number one.