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FETCH! Pet Care(TM) Realizes 241% Sales Growth as It Celebrates the Benchmark Launch Into Its 100th Franchise Territory
America's First and Only Franchised Pet Care Provider Announces an Astounding Array of Fiscal and Other Corporate Milestones That Mark the Rise of a New Franchise Category Amid a $41 Billion Industry
| Source: FETCH! Pet Care
BERKELEY, CA--(Marketwire - August 7, 2007) - FETCH! Pet Care (www.fetchpetcare.com),
America's largest and most sophisticated pet care franchise offering
home-based professional pet sitting and dog walking services, today
announced the benchmark launch of its 100th franchise territory. In
aggregate, FETCH! Pet Care's unsurpassed network of more than 1,500
professional pet sitters -- currently equating to approximately 20% of Pet
Sitter International's entire industry membership base worldwide -- now
service more than 7,500 active clients throughout 1,200 cities and towns in
31 states across the U.S. To date, there are more than 17 additional
FETCH! Pet Care franchises contracted to open later this year.
Aggressive corporate development strategies implemented in 2007 have proven
fruitful for FETCH! Pet Care. The company now contracts an average of 5 to
10 new franchise locations monthly -- growth that has resulted in 85% of
2006 gross sales having already been realized in first half of 2007 alone.
Indeed, the rapidly proliferating company logged 241% gross sales growth in
first half of 2007 as compared to first half of 2006, even after 2006 gross
sales jumped 243% over that realized for 2005.
According to the American Pet Products Manufacturing Association (APPMA),
the pet industry is the 7th largest retail industry in the U.S.,
surprisingly exceeding the jewelry, candy, toy and hardware industries.
Approximately 63% of U.S. households, or 71 million homes, now own at least
one pet, up from 64 million just five years ago. The result? Americans now
spend a whopping $41 billion on pets -- "more than the gross domestic
product of all but 64 countries in the world" according to reports -- with
annual spending expected to hit $52 billion in the next two years,
according to consumer research company Packaged Facts.
After consumer electronics, pet care is the fastest growing category in
retail, expanding about 6% a year. APPMA's findings that only 19% of
owners bring their pets along with them when traveling, and a mere 5% take
their pets to work each day, bode well for FETCH! Pet Care's network of
franchisees, who are capitalizing on a unique opportunity to combine their
love of animals with a proven, turnkey home-based business for one of the
lowest capital investments in the franchise industry today.
"With these converging milestones, our franchise business model has been
proven successful and our approach to pet care has been validated," said
FETCH! Pet Care founder and CEO Paul Mann. "These accomplishments
exemplify that we are succeeding in our mission to build a true nationwide
network of readily available, professional pet sitters, while concurrently
establishing FETCH! Pet Care as 'the' go-to pet care service provider brand
for pet owners everywhere."
Earlier this year FETCH! Pet Care launched a comprehensive initiative to
form strategic national and localized affiliate partnerships in a selection
of specialized industries, including corporations, veterinarians, groomers,
pet stores, realtors, and travel agencies, as well as pet friendly hotels,
resorts, concierge services, apartment buildings, and condominium
associations, for whom the lack of reliable pet care for its customers and
employees presents specific business challenges and is limiting their
revenue potential. FETCH! Pet Care has created key relationships with
regional divisions or locations of a variety of Fortune 500 companies in
the banking, hospitality, pet care and manufacturing sectors.
To assure accelerated growth for its affiliate partnership program and the
brand overall, FETCH! Pet Care recently hired Kari Miller, who will serve
as the company's vice president of business development. In this capacity,
Miller is charged with creating and managing strategic and affiliate
partnerships that will help drive B2B vertical channel-based business to
each FETCH! Pet Care franchise location throughout the United States. "I'm
excited to be a part of this burgeoning, multi-billion dollar industry with
infinite corporate and affiliate partnership potential, and a high degree
of demand related thereto," Miller notes.
Other FETCH! Pet Care corporate development strategies have included
partnering with FranGrowth Corporation (www.frangrowth.com), a division of
Dynetech Corporation -- among the nation's premier brand development
companies -- who provides strategic marketing, sales, event management and
enterprise development services to accelerate FETCH! Pet Care's franchise
expansion efforts. Earlier this year the company also signed a partnership
agreement with Caregivers On Call (www.caregiversoncall.com), a nationally
recognized provider of corporate employee benefits services, through which
FETCH! Pet Care's services are promoted among Caregivers On Call's
comprehensive suite of employer offerings currently utilized by more then
250,000 employees throughout the United States. This alliance marks the
first time a pet care-related company has been formally inducted into a
national employee benefits initiative.
FETCH! Pet Care provides pet owners with a range of services that meet
their every need and budget, including boarding and daycare in the sitter's
home, overnight sitting and daily visits in the client's home, private and
group dog outings, pet taxiing, Go FETCH! four-legged fitness, yard pet
waste removal, and miscellaneous home care. A free in-home consultation
permits clients, pets and sitters to get pre-acquainted and address each
pet's unique needs. To assure operational efficiencies, FETCH! Pet Care
employs a sophisticated telephone dispatch system and advanced software
that tracks assignments and delivers real-time electronic client order
confirmations and automated sitter assignment reminders. In addition, each
sitter undergoes a thorough criminal background check, references review,
and training regimen, and each location is fully licensed, bonded and
insured.
Consumers and interested business affiliates can reach FETCH! Pet Care
through its Web site at www.FetchPetCare.com or via toll-free telephone at
1-866-FETCH-ME, where they simply enter their 5-digit zip code to be
quickly connected to the FETCH! Pet Care office nearest them.
About FETCH! Pet Care, Inc.
Founded in 2002 and with over 1,200 service areas across the United States,
FETCH! Pet Care is the pet sitting industry market leader -- the new face
of pet care in the 21st century. The company, which has been featured in
Small Business Opportunities magazine's top 20 "Boom Businesses" to get
into in 2007, named among Pet Product News International's "25 to Watch in
2007" and included in Entrepreneur magazine's coveted Franchise 500 list in
January 2007, offers a humane alternative to kennel boarding by providing
loving, in-home overnight and/or daily care to any kind of pet in the most
professional and reliable manner possible. FETCH! Pet Care's carefully
selected, screened and trained pet sitters and dog walkers, who are all pet
owners themselves, have serviced over 7,500 clients this past year alone.
For franchise information or to find a location near you, visit the
company's Web site at www.FetchPetCare.com or call the corporate office at
1-866-FETCHME.